Scientific Way to Learn 15x Faster (from a Med Student)

Summary

This video script introduces the Feynman technique, a learning method that simplifies complex subjects for efficient understanding. The speaker, a med school student, demonstrates the technique with a step-by-step guide on understanding cancer, emphasizing the importance of breaking down concepts and refining knowledge with 'why' and 'how' questions. The script also highlights the use of AI for personalized feedback and knowledge base expansion, suggesting tools like ChatGPT for enhanced learning. The video concludes with a promotion for Brilliant, an interactive learning platform, and a call to action for developing top student habits.

Takeaways

• 📚 The Feynman technique is a reliable system for understanding difficult subjects efficiently, allowing for faster learning and time for other interests.
• 🤔 The first step in the technique is to identify what you want to understand and express it simply, as if explaining to a child.
• 📝 Turn the topic into a question and start by writing down your current understanding, which can reveal gaps in knowledge.
• 🔍 Analyze your initial explanation to identify oversimplified areas and unclear definitions that need further exploration.
• 🧐 Break down your analysis into key questions to find answers, which helps in building a foundational understanding of the topic.
• 📈 The technique involves building layers of understanding by questioning and interrogating your knowledge with 'how' and 'why' questions.
• 🔬 Use the Feynman technique to delve into the details of a subject, which is applicable to any field, including physics as demonstrated by Feynman himself.
• 🧬 For example, understanding cancer involves learning about abnormal cell growth, the threat it poses due to its destructive nature, and the variety of treatments available.
• 🔄 The process of refining your understanding involves repeating the 'why' and 'how' questions until you can explain the fundamentals thoroughly.
• 👨‍🏫 AI can enhance the Feynman technique by providing personalized feedback and acting as a knowledge base to direct you to the right resources or explanations.
• 🎨 Visualization is crucial for easier learning; platforms like Brilliant offer interactive lessons that can complement the Feynman technique by providing hands-on exercises.
• 🔗 The script also promotes the use of Brilliant for a 30-day free trial and mentions a discount for the first 200 users, highlighting its utility for students.

Q & A

What is the Feynman technique mentioned in the script?

The Feynman technique is a learning method used to understand complex subjects efficiently by breaking them down into simple, understandable concepts that even a child could grasp.

How does the script suggest starting the Feynman technique?

The script suggests starting by choosing exactly what you want to understand and writing your current idea of it as simply as possible, ideally in the form of a question.

Why is it important to simplify the explanation of a topic to a level a child could understand?

Simplifying the explanation helps to identify gaps in understanding and ensures that the fundamental concepts are clear, which is crucial for building a strong foundation of knowledge.

What is the purpose of analyzing your initial explanation in the Feynman technique?

Analyzing your initial explanation helps to identify areas that have been oversimplified or are not specific enough, which are then targeted for further research and clarification.

How does the script propose to improve understanding of a topic?

The script proposes improving understanding by breaking down the analysis into key questions and searching for answers to those questions, thus building a stronger web of connections around the topic.

What is the role of questioning 'how' and 'why' in the Feynman technique?

Questioning 'how' and 'why' helps to build a deeper level of understanding that is personalized to the individual's knowledge foundation, allowing for a more detailed and nuanced comprehension of the subject.

How does the script relate the Feynman technique to the process of refining understanding?

The script relates the technique to refining understanding by suggesting that one should keep repeating the 'why' and 'how' questions for their explanations until they can answer any question on the fundamentals of the topic.

What is the benefit of visualizing concepts in the context of the Feynman technique?

Visualizing concepts makes learning easier as it helps to understand abstract ideas better than just thinking of words or numbers, thus enhancing the overall learning process.

How does the script suggest using AI to enhance the Feynman technique?

The script suggests using AI for personalized feedback by asking it questions related to the topic and using it as a knowledge base to direct to the right resources or explain concepts that might be unclear.

What is the script's stance on the effectiveness of the Feynman technique for studying?

The script posits that the Feynman technique is highly effective for studying as it helps in understanding and remembering topics for longer, making it easier to tackle difficult subjects.

How does the script relate the Feynman technique to the broader context of student life and habits?

The script relates the technique to student life by suggesting that while understanding topics is crucial for exam performance, it is also important to develop top student habits for a productive student life, which includes effective studying and working on personal goals.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Mastering the Feynman Technique for Effective Learning

This paragraph introduces the Feynman technique as an efficient method for understanding complex subjects, particularly adapted for students. The speaker shares personal experience using this technique throughout their academic journey and offers a step-by-step guide on its application. The initial step involves identifying a topic and explaining it in simple terms as if teaching a child. The example used is 'what is cancer and why is it difficult to treat?' The speaker emphasizes the importance of refining this initial understanding by identifying gaps and seeking answers to key questions, thus building a stronger conceptual framework.

05:02

🔬 Deepening Understanding with the Feynman Technique and AI

The second paragraph delves deeper into the Feynman technique, focusing on the refinement of understanding through iterative questioning ('why' and 'how'). It illustrates how this process can be applied to the example of cancer, exploring the reasons behind different treatments and the nature of uncontrolled cell growth. The speaker introduces the concept of using AI to enhance the technique by providing personalized feedback and acting as a knowledge base, which can direct learners to relevant resources or clarify concepts. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the importance of visualization in learning and a promotion of Brilliant, an online learning platform that offers interactive lessons in various subjects.

Keywords

💡Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique is a learning method attributed to physicist Richard Feynman, which involves explaining a concept in simple terms to ensure true understanding. In the video, it is adapted for students to efficiently understand complex subjects. The script uses the example of explaining 'what is cancer' to illustrate the technique's application.

💡Understand

Understanding, in the context of the video, refers to the process of gaining knowledge or comprehension of a subject. The script emphasizes the importance of understanding as a key to learning faster and more effectively, particularly through the Feynman Technique.

💡Cancer

Cancer, as mentioned in the script, is a collection of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and division of abnormal cells. It is used as a worked example to demonstrate the application of the Feynman Technique in gaining a deeper understanding of a complex medical subject.

💡Treatments

Treatments in the script refer to the medical interventions used to address diseases, specifically cancer. The video discusses the difficulty in treating cancer due to the varied nature of the disease and the need for different treatments based on the type of cancer.

💡Mutations

Mutations, as explained in the script, are changes in the DNA sequence that can result in uncontrolled cell growth, a characteristic of cancerous cells. Understanding mutations is crucial for grasping why cancer cells behave differently from normal cells.

💡Receptors

Receptors, in the context of the video, are protein structures on the surface of cells that can be targeted by certain medications to combat cancer cells. The script explains that different cancers may have different receptors, which is why treatments can vary.

💡AI (Artificial Intelligence)

AI, as discussed in the video, can be utilized to enhance the learning process, particularly when combined with the Feynman Technique. The script suggests using AI for personalized feedback and as a knowledge base to direct learners to the right resources or explanations.

💡Brilliant

Brilliant is an online learning platform mentioned in the script that offers interactive lessons in various subjects, including sciences, maths, and computer science. It is highlighted as a tool that can aid in visual learning and applying the Feynman Technique through guided lessons and exercises.

💡Conceptual Understanding

Conceptual understanding is the ability to comprehend the fundamental ideas and principles behind a subject. The script emphasizes building this type of understanding through the Feynman Technique, which involves breaking down complex ideas into simpler terms and exploring the details.

💡Personalized Feedback

Personalized feedback, as the script suggests, is a form of learning support tailored to an individual's needs and current level of understanding. In the context of the video, AI can provide this by offering specific prompts and explanations that match the learner's educational grade.

💡Knowledge Base

A knowledge base, in the script, refers to a resource that contains information and data from which learners can draw to expand their understanding. The video mentions using AI as a knowledge base to direct learners to the right resources or provide direct explanations for concepts they might be missing.

Highlights

Introduction to the Feynman technique as a reliable system for understanding difficult subjects.

Adaptation of the Feynman technique specifically for students to learn faster and more efficiently.

The importance of choosing exactly what you want to understand and expressing it simply, even for a child.

The process of turning a topic into a question as a starting point for understanding, exemplified by 'what is cancer and why is it difficult to treat?'.

Initial understanding of cancer as a deadly disease with treatments that don't always work.

Analyzing and improving understanding by focusing on oversimplified explanations and identifying key questions.

Breaking down the analysis into key questions to find answers and deepen understanding of cancer.

Learning that cancer is a collection of diseases with abnormal cell growth and its life-threatening nature.

Understanding the variety of common cancers and the different treatments available.

Building a second level of understanding by exploring details and asking 'how' and 'why' questions.

The discovery of DNA's role in controlling cell growth and the mutations leading to cancer.

Explanation of how medications attach to cancer cell receptors and the specificity of treatments.

The iterative process of refining understanding through repeated questioning until a fundamental grasp is achieved.

The use of visualization in learning to make concepts easier to understand.

Introduction of Brilliant as an online learning platform for interactive science, maths, and computer science lessons.

Personal experience with Brilliant for learning programming with Python and its hands-on approach.

Offering a free trial of Brilliant and a discount for the first 200 users through a special link.

Using AI for personalized feedback on understanding by asking specific prompts.

Utilizing AI as a knowledge base to direct to the right resources or explain concepts.

The benefit of understanding topics properly for long-term retention and easier navigation through difficult subjects.

Link to a video on developing top 1% student habits for a productive student life.

Transcripts

If you want a reliable system to  make any difficult subject easy to  

understand, then you're in the right place Coz throughout my undergrad and postgraduate  

degrees, and now at med school, I’ve been using  the Feynman technique to understand topics  

efficiently, so that I can learn faster and still  have time for more of the things that I care about 

And i’ve adapted this technique specifically  for students, so I’ll go through a step by step  

example of how to use this, and I have an extra  point at the end on how to use AI to understand  

things even faster with this technique So to start i have a question - if you’re  

struggling to understand something, what  do you usually do? A lot of students rush  

to research the topic in detail, hoping  that it would help them understand better.  

but they just end up with more unanswered  questions as they randomly read new things 

So the first part of this technique is  choosing exactly what you want to understand,  

and writing your current idea of it as simply  as possible that even a child would understand 

Wwhat i do, is make the topic i want to  understand into a question - so for our  

worked example, we’ll answer the question “what  is cancer, and why is it difficult to treat?” 

Feel free to pause this video and  answer this question or follow along  

with your own question - and to make it  as realistic as possible, a non medical  

friend of mine answered this worked example So, my friends answer for this first part of  

the method was that, cancer is a deadly  disease that can affect almost any part  

of the body, and that there are some  treatments but they don’t always work 

So this shows us a limited understanding  of the topic right now, and leads onto  

the next part of the technique, which is to  analyse and improve your understanding - and  

there’s a specific way to do this To build your first level of  

understanding, analyse your explanation  by focusing on what you oversimplified 

You can figure this out by seeing whether  you understand the definition of words, and  

seeing whether some bits aren’t specific enough Like in the example, life-threatening disease  

doesn’t explain why cancer’s so bad,  ‘any part of the body’ isn’t specific,  

and saying ‘there are some treatments’  doesn’t explain why it’s difficult to treat 

So to improve understanding, break down  your analysis into key questions to find  

the answers - so for this example,  that’s searching for what cancer is,  

why it’s life threatening, what treatments  there are and why it’s difficult to treat 

From this, my friend learnt  that cancer is a collection  

of diseases where abnormal cells  grow and divide uncontrollably 

And it’s life threatening because cells  are the building blocks of all living  

things - and cancer cells destroy normal  cells, so it’s effectively destroying you 

They also found that the most common  cancers are breast, lung, and colorectal 

And that there’s different treatments  depending on the type of cancer  

including surgery, and drug treatments So now you have an understanding that's  

one level higher - and compared  to the initial understanding,  

you can see there's a stronger web of connections  - which is part of the idea of this technique 

But it’s still surface level, so the next part  of the Feynman technique is building your second  

level of understanding by exploring the details This is by breaking your new understanding  

down by questioning and interrogating your  knowledge - and that’s by asking how and why 

And look it works for any subject - like it did  for Feynman, a physicist - because these questions  

give you a slightly deeper level of understanding  that’s personalised to the foundations you built  

from the first part of this technique So for the updated example on cancer,  

that could be asking why are there  different treatments for cancer,  

how do they work, and why is cancer uncontrolled And from a simple search my friend found that,  

normal cells have bits of DNA that stops  them from growing too much, whereas  

cancerous cells have mutations in the  DNA resulting in uncontrolled growth 

They also learnt that some medications attach  onto things on the cancer cells called receptors,  

and that can lead to either death of  the cancer cell- and there’s specific  

treatments for different cancers because  they can have different receptors on them 

This is just the first cycle of this technique and  it’s still very simplified, but you can see the  

massive difference in understanding from less than  10 minutes of systematically searching for answers 

And you might notice that there are still some  gaps - like what is DNA, what causes these  

mutations, or why are there receptors on the cells But that leads to the final part of  

the Feynman technique, which is  where you refine your understanding 

The good thing is, since understanding is  effectively being able to answer why and how,  

just keep repeating the whys and hows for your  explanations until you can answer any question  

on the fundamentals of the topic - and using AI  which I’ll properly get to at the end helps you  

get the right level of understanding but generally for difficult topics,  

this takes me about 4 or 5 repetitions,  which doesn’t take that long 

because unlike cancer, this is a controlled  way to grow your knowledge through a systematic  

process so that you don’t waste time  researching random and irrelevant things,  

you start at the centre and work your way out So before the last point on maximising  

this technique with AI, being able to  visualise concepts makes learning easier,  

because it’s difficult to understand  by just thinking of words or numbers 

And look, you can trust what i’m about to  say, because I’ve been learning visually  

for the past 2 months to understand  complicated subjects - and the free  

and easy way you can do this too is through our  quick sponsor of the video, Brilliant, the best  

online learning platform to learn sciences,  maths, and computer science interactively 

I’ve used Brilliant every day for 60 days now,  and I’ve genuinely enjoyed learning how to  

programme with python, because Brilliant taught  me the basics of programming through a hands-on  

approach so that i had my foundations built like when i was doing the programming in  

python course, I had to manipulate a  math problem through coding which at  

first felt like something i couldn’t do, but  because Brilliant built my core knowledge of  

programming through an engaging process, I had  a good enough understanding to pass the problem 

and programming or not, there’s something  for everyone - because there’s thousands of  

lessons covering basic to advanced topics  in maths, sciences, engineering and more,  

with new lessons added every month And it’s a fun and modern way to apply  

Feynmen’s technique - like the guided lessons  helped me understand concepts through exercises,  

with helpful hints that filled gaps in  my understanding to get me back on track 

And you can learn a lot in just 10 minutes a day  of using it, whether that’s on your phone, laptop  

or tablet, so it’s perfect for busy students So to try everything Brilliant has to  

offer - free - for a full 30 days, visit  brilliant.org/salimahmed or click the link  

in the description. The first 200 of you will get  20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription 

So now you know how to use the  Feynman technique for studying,  

but i said that you can use AI to make it  even more effective, and that’s in two ways 

The first way is using AI software  like ChatGPT for personalised feedback 

All you have to do is copy your understanding of  a topic, and ask it one of the following prompts 

And to make it even more personalised, make it  aware of your education grade so that it knows  

the level of detail you need to know, so that you  don’t go down an endless spiral of the last part  

Feynman’s technique, constantly asking why and how The second way is to use it as a knowledge base,  

and that’s by using any of  the following prompts here 

this is gonna save you time by directing you to  the right resources, or just directly explaining  

things you might be missing out and again, make sure to personalise  

it to your education grade So understanding topics properly  

helps you remember for longer and makes it  easier to get through difficult subjects 

But understanding to perform better in exams  is just one part of studying as a student,  

and just one part of your student life - so  in this video here, I talk about how I’ve  

developed top 1% student habits to help me live  a productive student life, so that I can study  

effectively and work on more of my personal goals  - and you can do this too, by watching the video