How the Top 0.1% Learn in Lectures

Summary

This video script delves into the strategies top learners employ to maximize their academic performance in lectures. It emphasizes the importance of natural intelligence and the potential for growth through training, rather than relying solely on IQ. The speaker highlights the significance of self-discipline over IQ and suggests that many students fail to reach their potential due to a lack of it. The script outlines techniques such as priming, asking non-obvious questions, and filtering information to manage cognitive load effectively. It stresses the need for learners to understand the principles of learning and to develop personalized methods that optimize their intellectual potential, rather than merely copying successful peers.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Intelligence and IQ: While IQ is associated with academic performance, it's not the only factor. Research shows that intelligence can be developed and is not fixed.
• 💪 Self-Discipline Over IQ: Self-discipline has a significant impact on academic success, often more so than IQ. Developing self-discipline can lead to improved performance.
• 📈 Potential for Growth: Everyone has the potential to improve academically. With the right training and techniques, significant improvements are possible.
• 📚 Effective Learning Techniques: Most people have not been trained on how to learn effectively. By adopting better learning techniques, one can become more effective.
• 🤔 Cognitive Load Management: Learning is about managing cognitive load — the mental effort required to process information. Keeping cognitive load optimal is crucial for effective learning.
• 🚫 Avoid Passive Learning: Passive learning, like rereading and rewriting notes, has a low cognitive load and is not effective. Active learning strategies are necessary for better retention.
• 🔍 Prime Yourself: Before attending a lecture, it's beneficial to prime your brain with basic knowledge to reduce confusion and cognitive overload during the lecture.
• 🤓 Ask Non-Obvious Questions: To deepen understanding, ask non-obvious questions that challenge you to explore and connect concepts in new ways.
• ⚖️ Filter Information: Top learners are selective about what they learn. Filtering information based on your current level of understanding can prevent cognitive overload.
• 🔄 Build on Fundamentals: Start with simpler concepts and gradually build up to more complex ones. This approach helps in solidifying knowledge and avoiding unnecessary repetition.
• 🕒 Time Management: If recording lectures, note the times of complex sections to revisit later, which can be more effective than speed-watching the entire lecture.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on how top learners engage in lectures, the importance of natural intelligence, and strategies to make lectures more valuable.

What is the relationship between IQ and academic performance?

IQ is strongly associated with academic performance, but research suggests that it can be trained and grown over time.

Why is self-discipline considered more influential than IQ in academic success?

Self-discipline is a significant influencer because it drives consistent effort and improvement in learning methods, which is crucial for reaching one's intellectual potential.

What is the role of cognitive load in effective learning?

Cognitive load refers to the mental effort required to process information. Managing cognitive load effectively is key to learning, as it helps maintain an optimal state for learning without being overwhelmed or under-challenged.

What does the video suggest about copying top students' techniques?

The video suggests that simply copying top students' techniques is not advisable because what works for them may not work for others due to differences in individual learning levels and contexts.

What is the concept of 'priming' in the context of lectures?

Priming is the process of preparing oneself before a lecture by familiarizing with key terms and concepts to reduce cognitive load and make the lecture less confusing.

Why is asking non-obvious questions beneficial for learning?

Asking non-obvious questions forces the brain to explore various relationships and concepts, which enhances understanding, memory, and the ability to apply information.

What is the importance of filtering and screening information during learning?

Filtering and screening information helps learners focus on concepts appropriate for their current level, avoiding cognitive overload and ensuring more efficient learning.

How does the video relate the concept of cognitive load to the strategies discussed?

The video relates cognitive load to the strategies by explaining that managing cognitive load is central to effective learning, and the strategies discussed aim to optimize cognitive load for better learning outcomes.

What is the video's advice on how to handle information that is too detailed during a lecture?

The video advises learners to recognize when information is too detailed and set it aside for later study, focusing instead on information at the right level of detail during the lecture.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 The Role of Natural Intelligence and Self-Discipline in Learning

This paragraph discusses the importance of natural intelligence and self-discipline in academic success. It challenges the notion that top learners are inherently smarter, instead suggesting that their engagement and memory retention are due to effective learning strategies. The script highlights that while IQ is associated with academic performance, it's not fixed and can be developed. Furthermore, self-discipline is identified as a significant factor, with a lack of it being a common reason students do not reach their full potential. The speaker shares personal anecdotes and observations from working with students to illustrate the impact of discipline and consistency on learning outcomes.

05:26

📚 Effective Learning Techniques and Cognitive Load Management

The second paragraph delves into effective learning techniques, emphasizing the importance of understanding the principles of learning rather than merely copying top students' methods. It introduces the concept of cognitive load, which is the mental effort required to process information. The speaker explains that managing cognitive load is central to effective learning, and suggests strategies such as priming, which involves preparing the brain with foundational knowledge before a lecture to reduce the need for deep processing during the lecture. The paragraph also touches on the ineffectiveness of passive learning, like rereading notes, and encourages active engagement with the material to optimize cognitive load.

10:27

🤔 The Power of Asking Non-Obvious Questions for Deep Learning

This paragraph explores the concept of elaboration in learning, which involves deeply understanding a concept by exploring its edges, applications, and subtle relationships. The speaker suggests asking non-obvious questions as a method to trigger this type of thinking. By seeking connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, learners are forced to consider multiple hypotheses and pathways, which strengthens their understanding and memory. The process is likened to solving a maze, where the journey through various paths helps reinforce knowledge. The paragraph also relates this technique back to cognitive load, noting that focused thinking on specific questions can reduce the load and improve learning efficiency.

15:27

📉 Filtering Information to Manage Cognitive Load and Improve Learning

The fourth paragraph discusses the importance of filtering and screening information to manage cognitive load effectively. It emphasizes that top learners are selective about what and when they learn, avoiding the pitfall of studying everything in-depth from the start. The speaker advises learners to simplify information they encounter, ensuring it's appropriate for their current level of understanding. If information is too complex to simplify, it suggests learners should focus on foundational concepts first, building a strong base before tackling more complex details. This approach prevents unnecessary repetition and enhances the efficiency of learning, allowing for a gradual and structured increase in the level of detail as the learner's understanding grows.

20:29

🔍 Prioritizing Information During Lectures for Optimal Learning

The final paragraph continues the theme of information management but applies it specifically to the context of lectures. It advises learners to identify the level of detail that is appropriate for their current understanding and to defer more complex details for later study. The speaker suggests using lecture recordings to revisit skipped details efficiently. The paragraph also dispels the myth that faster playback speeds in lecture recordings lead to faster learning, emphasizing the importance of comprehension over speed. The speaker concludes by encouraging learners to apply the strategies discussed in the video to enhance their learning experience.

Keywords

💡Natural Intelligence

Natural intelligence refers to the innate cognitive abilities that individuals possess, which can include problem-solving skills, pattern recognition, and the capacity to learn and understand complex ideas. In the context of the video, it is mentioned that while natural intelligence or IQ is associated with academic performance, it is not the sole determinant of success. The script emphasizes that intelligence can be developed and improved over time, challenging the outdated notion that it is fixed.

💡Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is the ability to control one's impulses and delay gratification in order to achieve long-term goals. The video script highlights self-discipline as a critical factor in academic success, suggesting that it may even be more influential than IQ. The speaker shares personal anecdotes and observations to illustrate how developing self-discipline can lead to significant improvements in academic performance.

💡Cognitive Load

Cognitive load is the mental effort required to process and understand new information. The video discusses the importance of managing cognitive load to optimize learning. It suggests that an overload can lead to confusion and poor retention, while an underload may result in ineffective learning. The script provides strategies for maintaining an optimal cognitive load, such as priming, asking non-obvious questions, and filtering information.

💡Deep Processing

Deep processing involves engaging with information at a deeper level, making connections, and understanding the underlying principles. The video script contrasts deep processing with surface-level learning, suggesting that students who engage in deep processing are more likely to achieve academic success. It is implied that top learners often employ deep processing techniques during their studies.

💡Priming

Priming is the process of preparing the mind to receive and understand new information. In the video, priming is presented as a technique to reduce cognitive load during lectures by familiarizing oneself with key concepts and terminology beforehand. This allows for a smoother learning experience and better retention of the material presented in the lecture.

💡Non-Obvious Questions

Non-obvious questions are inquiries that push beyond the surface level to explore less apparent relationships and nuances within a topic. The video script encourages the use of non-obvious questions as a method to deepen understanding and promote elaboration on a subject. This approach is said to enhance memory and the ability to apply knowledge.

💡Filtering Information

Filtering information involves critically assessing and selecting the most relevant and manageable details to focus on during learning. The video emphasizes the importance of filtering out information that is too complex or detailed for one's current level of understanding. This selective approach helps to prevent cognitive overload and allows for more efficient learning.

💡Interleaving

Interleaving is a learning technique where different topics or skills are alternated in the learning process, rather than focusing on one topic at a time. The video script touches on interleaving as a method that can be used to explore various relationships and concepts, which can reinforce and consolidate knowledge.

💡Passive Learning

Passive learning refers to activities that involve minimal cognitive engagement, such as rereading notes or listening to lectures without actively processing the information. The video script warns against passive learning, stating that it has a low cognitive load and does not effectively promote learning or retention.

💡Academic Performance

Academic performance encompasses the various outcomes and achievements of a student in an educational setting, often measured through grades, test scores, and other assessments. The video script discusses factors that influence academic performance, such as natural intelligence, self-discipline, and learning techniques, and suggests that these can be developed and improved to enhance performance.

Highlights

Natural intelligence and IQ are not the only determinants of academic success; self-discipline plays a more significant role.

Intelligence can be trained and improved contrary to beliefs from 50 years ago.

Research shows that self-discipline has a greater influence on academic performance than IQ.

Students often fail to reach their intellectual potential due to a lack of self-discipline.

A personal anecdote illustrates the transformative effect of self-discipline on academic performance.

Many students lack consistency in improving their learning methods and techniques.

Most students can significantly improve their academic performance with proper training.

People often use ineffective, haphazard learning techniques without proper training.

Learning is similar to learning a new sport; with training, most can improve their performance.

Copying top students' techniques may not be effective due to individual differences.

Understanding the principles of learning and self-evaluation is crucial for efficient learning.

Effective learning techniques often revolve around managing cognitive load.

Cognitive load is the mental effort required to process and understand information.

Maintaining an optimal cognitive load state is key to effective learning.

Passive learning, like rereading notes, has a low cognitive load and is less effective.

Priming oneself before a lecture by familiarizing with key terms and concepts reduces cognitive load.

Asking non-obvious questions about lecture material can enhance learning and memory.

Filtering and critically screening information is a hallmark of top learners.

Learning should be gradual, starting with simplified information and building up complexity.

During lectures, focus on information at the right level of detail and revisit more complex topics later.

Recording lectures and noting times of complex topics allows for targeted review later.

Watching lectures at faster speeds does not equate to faster learning.

Transcripts

how do top Learners actually learn in

lectures you probably know there's

people that are at every lecture they're

super engaged they're never falling

asleep in class they are remembering way

more than you do even though you both

attended the same lectures how is there

something that they're doing that you

just can't see or are they really just

that much smarter well in this video I

want to talk about how important natural

intelligence really is based on the

research and some strategies that you

can use to make lectures much more

valuable first things first how much

does your natural intelligence or IQ

really matter most people are not really

extremely excellent deep processors but

don't worry it doesn't mean it's the end

of the world for you 50 years ago that's

probably what someone would have said is

that your intelligence can't really be

trained but fortunately that's not the

case research over the last two three

decades especially in the last 10 11

years has show that yes although your IQ

is strongly associated with your ability

to perform academically in some cases in

the research this is called the IQ

achievement link there's a lot we can do

within our IQ and our IQ can actually

grow but interestingly some other

research on this finds that self

discipline is actually more of an

influencer than IQ and one of the

studies even concludes that a major

reason for students falling short of

their intellect actual potential is your

failure to exercise self discipline

which in my case my personal experience

is very very true if I think about

myself back in high school like I didn't

have really any self-discipline to speak

of honestly I just play games all the

time and then when I entered into

University I was like really really

really disciplined like I stopped

playing games I went C- turkey on pretty

much everything I went actually really

over the top but as a result my academic

performance was like massively improved

and for a lot of students that I work

with I see a very similar thing not in

that they necessarily are lacking

discipline on a day-to-day basis a lot

of students are studying really hard but

where I see a lack of discipline

sometimes is a lack of consistency with

improving their methods and learning new

skills like they'll have a certain set

of techniques or methods of note taking

or handling lectures that they're used

to and even though it's not really

working they're not really consistent or

disciplined in working on a new method

to replace that and so inevitably they

just continue to get the same result

that they've always been getting and one

of the things that I've observed is that

while it's true that not every student

can become like this once in a

generation genius most students can

relatively improve compared to their

Baseline and that Improvement is often

surprisingly significant like someone

that is normally achieving you know like

40 or 50% in a test in my experience

they can go up to 70 80 90% with a bit

of training and the reason is because

most people in the mainstream have never

really been trained on how to learn

effectively they're just using like a

haphazard combination of techniques and

habits that they've picked up over the

years and so when you actually start

training them they become much more

effective at using their intellectual

potential and I sort of think of it like

learning a new sport not everyone can

become a NBA basketball player but most

people can be relatively bitter at

playing basketball if they actually

train and learn the right techniques so

the next question is what are the right

skills to use for example in lectures

well the easiest way to figure that out

is to look at what some top students are

doing and then copy them if you agree

with that statement you'll be wrong okay

so to explain why that that would be a

terrible idea to just copy success let

me give you a example let's imagine that

you are a doctor haven't put this on in

a while let's say that a pharmaceutical

company comes up to you and says that

they've got a drug it's called treatment

tall and treatment tall is meant to be

effective for a disease caus disease

itis now you've got patients with

disease itis and the pharmaceutical

company tells you that

99% of the people that have recovered

from disease itis took treatment all do

you recommend it to your patients think

about this let's say that there are a

million people with disease

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a reason for their success it might just

be a common technique that a lot of

people use and they themselves might

have sufficient deep processing to allow

them to be successful regardless of the

technique that they use which is why I'm

always saying if you're wanting to

become a more efficient learner you have

to understand the principles of learning

and do your own evaluation what is your

level what are your weaknesses and your

strengths and create a method of

learning that is going to be optimized

for that not just taking what someone

else does in their own context with

their own brain and expecting to get the

same results yourself most of the time

it doesn't work like that now there's a

lot of research on what exactly is an

effective technique and a lot of

researchers have tried to isolate

exactly what works and what doesn't

research is very complicated here are a

few studies that I would recommend just

starting with if you're interested but

if you want to cut to the chase it's

really about managing what's called

cognitive load that's a central theme of

A lot of these effective techniques so

cognitive load is basically your mental

effort it's how hard you have to think

and how hard you have to try to like

organize something or process something

or make sense of the information like if

I start speaking to you in some obscure

language that you've never heard of

before then you're going to be exerting

a lot of mental load trying to figure

out what I'm saying likewise if I'm

teaching something and I'm teaching it

in a way that is very very hard to

follow and extremely complicated you're

going to be using a lot more cognitive

load uh it's the same for when you're

you know like reading a book if it's in

very very technical dense language you

need to use a lot more cognitive load to

try to get through it and the trick to

learning effectively is about keeping

your cognitive load in an optimal State

I've talked about this in a lot of other

videos before and the summary of it is

that you basically don't want your

cognitive load to get too high cuz then

you'll be overloaded but you also don't

want to be too low because that means

that you're not really using your brain

and therefore you're not actually

learning and that's kind of like the

worst waste of time a great example of

that would be like just reading and

rereading and then rewriting notes

multiple times the cognitive load

involved in that is very very low and

that's something that we call passive

learning and remember kids passive

learning will kill you or at least it's

pretty bad for you anyway cognitive load

management is something that is not easy

to do Straight off the bat and this is

partly because cognitive load can happen

for multiple reasons for example if

you're trying to study but then the

neighbor's dog is barking constantly you

now have to exert cognitive load to

ignore the Barking Dog so in this case

your cognitive load may be kind of high

but it's not high for a good reason it's

not high cuz your brain's trying to make

sense of it it's not high because you're

processing it it's just High because

you're distracted so that's not good

increase in cognitive load whereas if

your cognitive load is high because as

you're reading you're trying to piece it

together think about it connected relate

compare and contrast ideas these are the

things that produce high quality

learning so this this case cognitive

load would be high for a good reason so

we want our cognitive load to be

reasonably high for good reasons and we

want anything that creates cognitive

load for a bad reason to be reduced or

removed that might have sounded a little

bit complicated hopefully you could

follow that so let me give you some

examples I have some lectures here I

just found a random lecture slide about

network security don't ask me why I'm

studying network security it just

randomly popped into my head and there

are some free slides that I found here

from I think it was in state school so

if this is a lecture and let's say I've

got my lecture slides available before

the lecture if not maybe I've got some

textbook chapters maybe I've got

previous students notes that I'm using

or a course guide or something it

doesn't really matter just to give me a

basic idea one of the really effective

things that you can do before going into

a lecture is to Prime yourself priming

basically just means that you give your

brain a little bit more to work with so

if you're introduced to something really

really Technical and detailed you don't

need to exert so much cognitive load to

make sense of it so for example if I was

going into the lecture and I'm reading

this for the first time you know for me

cuz I'm a total Noob I don't know what

any other this stuff really means so if

I you know if I look at Transport

Security I I I know what an IP address

is IP protocol stack I don't really know

what that is IP layer security protocol

like again I don't really know what that

is these acronyms I like know what they

are but I again don't really like

understand and that's like just the

intro and if I go in and start learning

this for the very first time at this

level of detail I'm going to be very

overloaded because I'm not going to

really know what's going on and I'm

going to be overwhelmed very quickly in

other words my cognitive load is going

to overload probably almost you know

immediately within the first few minutes

and then for the rest of the lecture I'm

sort of dead you know like my brain's

not really doing anything and I'm going

to leave the lecture feeling more

confused than when I came in and so

we've really lost to begin with and so

the idea with priming is we want to give

ourselves just enough knowledge so that

when we look at this it's not so

unfamiliar now there's lots of ways that

we can do this I've talked about how you

could do this with nonlinear note taking

if you want to check that video out you

can have a look over this one uh but

there's also much simpler ways that you

can do it if you're not really too

comfortable with nonlinear note taking

yet but it all comes down to isolating

down what are the keywords what are

pieces of terminology get a general

understanding of those keywords and

terminology and start thinking to

yourself how they all fit together you

can do this by writing out a list of

questions that you want to prompt

yourself with during the lecture so for

example if I have a word that says IPC

processing here and I've got another

word that's like IPC implementation then

I might ask the question how are IPC

implementation and processing related to

each other or dependent on each other

you take the keywords you think about

how they might be related to each other

if you can represent that on some

nonlinear notes great it's going to be

more convenient for you alternatively if

you're not super comfortable with

nonlinear note taking yet you can just

write down some keywords write the

definition in the simplest terms that

you can possibly do you don't want to be

writing down definitions but then the

definitions are so complicated that

you're now exerting cognitive load to

just remember the definition if you're

going to write definitions you want to

make sure that is simple enough that

when you read it you're like yep I

pretty much understand what it means and

even if it's not at the technically best

level it's still better than not having

anything and it will be better than

having one that's really really

technical but so comp applicator that

you can't actually understand so write

down the key words write down some key

questions uh and then during the lecture

you can look at the questions and now

you've got certain Milestones of

thinking to help your brain sort of

process that information and because

you've already familiarized yourself

with some of that terminology the

lecture is less confusing and if you've

done well you've also thought about some

of the relationships between them so

when the lecturer talks about some of

the relationships again it's a little

bit more familiar so again this is all

about Prime yourself so now the second

thing that we can do is to take that

concept of asking questions and we can

actually extend on that a little bit

further there's a really effictive part

of learning that comes from having to

elaborate on something but elaborating

on something doesn't just mean

explaining it more or going in more

depth a big part of elaboration is about

figuring out how a concept is shaped

what are the edges where does it apply

where does it not apply and what are the

relationships that are less obvious and

so an easy way that we can try to

trigger this is by asking nonobvious

questions so an example if I use

information network security as an

example might be this term that says

authentication header so an obvious

question would be usually something like

what is authentication header or what is

the importance or significance of an

authentication hitter what is the

advantage of an authentication hitter

right so these are things that are

usually very factual and very discret

they may ask about how it relates to

other Concepts as well however the

answer is usually relatively simple and

it's something that most people will be

expected to know asking these questions

is valuable as well but most of the time

you're going to learn that anyway if we

are going to the effort of thinking of

questions to ask that are really going

to help us with our learning it's

worthwhile thinking about the questions

that people might not be asking and a

very quick and you know like kind of

reliable is way of doing this that I do

you know pretty often is I try to look

for the things that don't seem related

to each other at first glance for

example it could be something at the

beginning of the lecture like IPC

implementation and I might scroll all

the way down to something that seems a

little bit less relevant like Hub and

spoke VPN right so I might look at those

two things and again I don't actually

know if those two things are actually

Rel to each other but I might say well

how are those two things is related and

for most topics any concept is related

to any other concept even if that

concept relationship is indirect and

somewhat distant there's some kind of

relationship and forcing yourself to

think about that also forces you to

revise all the different relationships

and interactions along the way whereas

when you ask about questions that are

very very obvious and the relationships

between the ideas are like super super

apparent then it's so easy that it's not

really testing or challenging you

whereas if you ask about a relationship

between two concepts that are pretty far

apart then you have to go through

multiple different hypotheses to figure

out which path actually makes sense it's

kind of like solving a maze you know the

entrance is here you know the exit is

here but you're not really sure how to

go from the entrance to the exit so you

have to go through multiple paths in the

middle to try to figure it out and in

doing that it actually re enforces and

consolidates the knowledge and it also

allows you to whether it's before a

lecture during a lecture or after a

lecture hit that topic from multiple

different angles and all of these things

help to improve your memory and your

ability to apply that information this

is a really good one because it really

doesn't take very long you could think

of maybe four or five nonobvious

questions in just like one or 2 minutes

usually even if there's no real answer

to that question just the fact that

you're trying to answer the question is

valuable because it's making you explore

all these different options if you've

watched some of my other videos you

might see some similarities between this

and Inter leing and indeed this can also

be a method of interleaving if you

haven't checked out my inter leaving

video you can check that one out here

now I mentioned that all of these things

relate back to cognitive load the first

one priming it's obvious because that's

taking dense pieces of information

breaking it down

simplifying it and giving your brain a

little bit more to work with so that

it's not so overloaded during a lecture

and the second one reduces cognitive

load because when you ask these

non-obvious questions it helps your

brain think in a certain direction

instead of saying how does everything

fit together it gives it a little bit

more of a purpose a little bit more of a

focus your brain likes having a narrow

Focus so that also helps reduce

cognitive load because it means that you

can do productive relational thinking

which is good for building knowledge

without as much of the confusion of just

kind of mindlessly looking for

relationships but there's probably

nothing that helps quite as much as this

third thing which is to filter and

Screen information much more critically

so most top Learners are pretty

selective about what they're going to

learn and when they're going to learn it

well most top Learners are not going to

study absolutely everything at the

maximum level of depth from the very

beginning and if they are and that's how

they're able to be suc successful their

natural deep processing level is

probably completely off the chart and I

can guarantee you that that's just not

going to work for the vast majority of

people what we mean by filtering out

information is that when you read

through something there are certain

pieces of information that are going to

be more suitable for your current level

uh and what makes sense to you right now

and there going to be some things that

are so detailed that you're just not

ready to learn it yet and the way that

you can tell is very very simple which

is you simply ask yourself

do I know enough about this to make it

simpler so when you read it if you read

something and you don't understand it

enough to even make it simple you

probably don't have enough knowledge

about it to really consolidate it into

your memory and organize it so you're

probably going to then study it and that

knowledge is going to fade away and

you're going to wonder where all that

knowledge went so for me a complete Noob

knowing nothing about this when I read

this slide actually I can probably

simplify that but if I read uh if I read

this slide it's complicated enough for

me and I know so little that I don't

really feel like I can simplify this uh

and and make it easier to understand

while keeping it accurate and so as a

result it means that the information on

this slide for my current level is not

appropriate it's too detailed what I

need to do is I need to find an easier

version of the same concept or I mean in

this case cuz I've literally not studied

this before it would be maybe to go back

to some of these fundamental ones and

make sure that I understand some of the

more fundamental concepts but the way

that it works is that knowledge is like

building blocks they build on each other

so when you start with a building block

that is right at the very top at the top

level of detail there's nothing for it

to stack onto and then you're going to

have to spend more time rebuilding it

again and again but it doesn't matter

how many times you put the block at the

Top If there's no Foundation it's going

to fall every single time and that's

what causes a a lot of unnecessary

repetition and learning if you know that

as soon as you try to put it there you

don't even understand it well enough to

simplify it then you may as well just

dial it back to the version of that

information that is simple enough for

you to make sense of it and once you

have locked that in you can go up one

level of detail and up one level of

detail and so on a single slide there

might be multiple different layers of

detail some things are easy to

understand some things are difficult to

understand and your job is to filter out

what is easy enough for me to learn now

and what is harder so I will come back

to it later you can keep a list on the

side you can use Post-it notes to remind

you of the things that you have skipped

so that you do come back to them but

it's very very important that the first

time you learn something you do not

learn everything the first go because

some of that detail is going to be too

much for you to handle right now and it

is much more efficient for you to come

back to it later when your foundation

are stronger and the reason this is so

good for lectures is because if you've

been doing the other methods I told you

about just now and you've primed

yourself that means that during the

lecture you already have some

foundations there is a mid level that

you know is going to be appropriate for

you and then there is a extra level of

detail that the lecturer might talk

about that you know straight off the bat

is too much for you to hold on to and so

instead of exerting your precious

cognitive load and trying to understand

that you say okay that's the stuff that

I can come back to later when I'm

studying this later and you can direct

your focus on the stuff that you think

is at the right level of detail for you

at that time and you can come back to it

instead by looking at lecture recordings

or like lecture notes or slides or

whatever it is that you've got available

uh one thing that can help you is if you

are recording the lecture you can look

at your watch to see what time it is

when you decide that something is too

detailed and you can make a long of all

the time so that when you're going

through the lecture you can actually go

back to the particular moments that you

skipped which is probably a lot more

effective than just like watching a

lecture at triple the speed uh because

again just because you can listen to

someone three times as fast doesn't mean

that you can learn three times as fast

in fact most people probably can't learn

fast enough to catch up to one times

speed so you know again that's kind of a

misnomer uh watching a lecture faster

does not actually make you learn faster

yeah there a little bonus tip for you so

next time you're on lecture give these a

go thanks for watching and I'll see you

next

time