A lot of you have writ to me requesting for studying tricks
How is something learnt?
Come, let us see
First, I'd like to give you some background information
I believe that if there's something I'm good at, then it is- reading, researching, understanding, learning
And then making you understand
Because this is what all my videos basically entail
For a fact, I have completed my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering
Presently, I'm pursuing a Bachelors in economics, political science and business management
I've completed a Masters in renewable energy
So, over the course of my life, I've almost studied all types of subjects
Mechanics, material science, electronics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, civil law, corporate law, accounting,
biology, which I've studied till 12th
And International relations, micro economics, macro economics
For the purpose of this video, I'll classify all these subjects into four categories
The first category is understanding concepts
There are some subjects that involve understanding concepts
The second category is memorization
Some subjects involve rote learning
The third category is that of Languages
Languages is a separate category on its own
The fourth category is Application based subjects
which involve the application of concepts
Constant practicing is required
Come let us see the subjects of these four categories
What are the different tricks that will help you study, understand and learn from them
The first category is understanding concepts
This involves subjects like Physics, thermodynamics and economics
which require a deep understanding to grasp their concepts
The trick which can be used in this is that of Feynmann Technique
Feynmann was a Nobel Prize winning physicist
who, while studying in his university,
discovered a technique that has become very famous in today's times
which helps you learn something very easily
He made a notebook and on it, wrote down the topic which he was trying to understand
He studied about the topic and tried explaining it in his own words on a blank page in the notebook
For example, there is a concept in economics- Lorenz curve
which shows inequality
Now, I'll make use of the Feynmann Technique to understand the concept of Lorenz Curve
How will I do it?
First, I'll look through my study materials. I'll try and understand it from the books that I have
If I'm unable to understand then I'll look up Lorenz curve on Google
And then I'll look at the results. I could also look at videos to understand it properly
I could look at its definition
If the definition is complicated, which it does appear, when looked at,
Since it is a curve, I'll look at its images
I've taken a look at the images
Here in the image you can see that the bottom 29% of the population has 24% of total income
Looking at this, my understanding is that the population on x axis is 29%
and the income on y axis is 24%
So, Lorenz curve shows the distribution between population and income
My next step would be closing my study material
Open up a blank page in the notebook
I will write "Lorenz Curve" here at the top
and try explaining it in my own words
Whatever I have read on Google and my books
When I write it down here, then I'd be able to see the gaps in my understanding
This would become clear only upon writing
When I'd encounter gaps, then I'd go back and refer to see what it was
After this, the next step would be explaining out loud in words, whatever I've written down
I will not think quietly but say it out loud
It has been scientifically proven that speaking out loud ensures a better understanding
as compared to when you talk/ think quietly in your mind
Now, I'd explain imagining a person standing in front of me
In fact, you should imagine a five year old child standing in front of you
Your understanding should be enough to make a 5 year old child understand
Reading and understanding is a skill that you can practice even outside the purview of studies
You can even practice it in daily life. For instance, if you're reading the newspaper
Read any article n the newspaper and summarize to your parents at home
what the key points of the article were
This is going to enhance your skill of reading something and understanding its keypoints
Feynmann Technique can be used even outside the purview of studies to improve our overall learning
The second category is memorization
This includes subjects like civics, history, law, biology, medicine
All the subjects that involve rote learning
Actually , in India almost all the subjects involve rote learning somewhere
The first thing you need to understand about our memory
is that whatever our brains see or write
It cannot retain the written text very well
What are the things that our brains can retain well?
First is - emotional things
The things that we are emotionally attached to, the things that make us angry or happy or scared
We can retain these things better
Second is- the things that activate more than one of our senses
For example, you don't just eat your food but also smell it. It also has smell
Sometimes, there's also involvement of sounds in food
So, you can remember it better
Some things involve feeling, a sense of touch
So, you can remember it even better
The more number of senses you activate, the better you will be able to remember
The involvement of senses can be done by using your imagination
There are some techniques for this
One of the techniques is a Memory Palace
Memory Palace is a trick which involves using real life locations that you know of
through which you create imaginary objects and create associations with the thing that you want to remember
In Memory Palace, you make use of an existing location that you know very well
For example, the neighbourhood around your house
or your very own home
You will use this location in creating in extremely weird story line
Because you can navigate from the location. Assume this is your house
Now, I will use this house in creating a story line
The story can be funny, weird or absurd
Because emotional things and the things that activate multiple senses are better remembered by us
We also retain stories and images better
So, I want to learn the periodic table
Now, I'd make use of my house. Assume I get inside my house because it is very sunny
Sunlight means sun and the sun means Hydrogen
The periodic table begins with hydrogen
Now, what's the next thing you see after entering inside the house?
Some people encounter the kitchen first
Imagine that your mother is blowing up balloons inside the kitchen
She's blowing up a big red balloon. Why? Because the balloons have helium
So, after hydrogen comes Helium
So, I'm imagining a very weird thing because the more weird and emotional it is, the more you''ll retain it
After hydrogen and helium, comes Lithium
To imagine batteries, visualize your younger brother has strewn batteries all around
Whatever comes beyond the kitchen in your house
Next, imagine Beryllium
Now, Beryllium cannot be associated with a real life thing
So you can use its word. For example, Beryllium has the word "berry" in it
Now, from berry you can imagine turning towards your bathroom next
and seeing stains of berries on your T shirts
Here, I'm using the locations to remember the order
First I came inside the house- that was hydrogen
then came helium and after that lithium
I'm making use of these weird situations to make an emotional impact so that I can remember them
So, here you are making use of your imagination and existing memories to remember a new thing
This technique is effective when you have to learn a lot of something
It is obviously not of much use for smaller things
For example, other techniques are better for learning the periodic table
A mnemonic trick is widely used to learn the periodic table
For example, there's one "Kalu Nath Ca Mali Aloo Zara Feekay Pakata Hai"
So, from Kalu , we'd see K, which stands for potassium
Nath would be Sodium
Next comes calcium, magnesium, aluminium
You must have heard of this trick in school. This trick is widely used in India
So, I will not talk a lot about this trick because almost all of us already use it
You must also be using it. You can use it in any kind of thing
If someone else does not make the mnemonics, then you can make one for yourself that are self created
The third category is that of Languages
Languages have also been my weak point
I've only failed in 1 subject in the past year
And that subject was Spanish
I know English Hindi and German fluently
But I know Spanish only upto the intermediate level
But I failed because language isn't something that you can study for 10-20 days and pass
Language requires an everyday learning in small quantities
and it requires a lot of practice
Language can be divided into four categories
Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking
Reading and listening can be practiced easily
You can merely go on the internet and read any entertaining stuff in that language for practice
Anything that you like reading
You can practice listening similarly
by watching your favorite movie in that language with subtitles
But there's a lot of requirement of practice
There's a wonderful app for practice and learning grammar called - Duolingo
It is a completely free app
You can learn any language on it
Speaking is something which is very difficult to learn, sitting at home
There's a wonderful app for this- Cambly
Cambly is an app on which you can have a one on one talk with native English speakers on a video call
This is the best way to learn any language because what could be better than talking to a native speaker?
The only thing better than this would be knowing and talking directly to a native speaker in real life
"And the type of people who come to you to learn from this app.. What kind of level are they normally at?"
"And how much do they improve, do you think?"
"They're all over the board"
"I have some people who don't speak any English.."
"okay.."
"What do Indians generally like to talk about?"
"They're more interested in job opportunities"
"Okay.."
"Like in Canada because we have a lot of east Indians in Canada"
"Okay.."
"So they're always asking me about how to get jobs. So I give them the Canadian government website"
"Canadian accent.. when you talk to someone , do you think people have problems understanding it sometimes?"
"They tell me, no problem"
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If you use the coupon code - dhruvrathee
The link to download the app can be found in the description
Download it and put in the coupon code-dhruvrathee
You will get 30% off on the paid things in this app
Here, I'd like to thank this app for sponsoring this video
The fourth category is Application based subjects
It involves problem solving and question solving
The theory is quite small
The problems and questions are more in number
This includes subjects like Maths, Accounting and Mechanics
There's only one trick to solve them and that is - practice, practice and practice.
In fact it requires so much of practice that you can ignore the theory most of the times
You can start studying these subjects by looking at the example questions
Look at how the example problems are solved
Recognize the pattern in the solutions and try and imitate it
when you are done solving some problems, then you can go back to the theory
to understand the theory of the entire thing
and what were the formulas being used in these questions
I'd like to give you a bonus suggestion here
Sometimes it so happens that you are reading something but you lose concentration
and it all goes above your head
because you don't find it interesting
A possible solution in this case would be trying to go to the depths of studying that thing
(try and find out) why are you actually studying it?
What is the purpose behind what you are studying? What is its history?
Why was such a thing made?
Why am I studying it today? Who was the first person to make it and why?
What was he thinking of (while making it)?
If you go to history, you'll understand the purpose behind its existence
and why are you studying it today?
One of the best examples of this is my video on share markets
Share market is something that is very boring to hear about
Why would anybody be interested in learning or reading about it?
But I've explained its history and purpose in this video
and if you go watch this video then you too would be more interested in learning about the share markets
I hope you would have learnt a lot from this video
You would have learnt "learning". What is the way to learn things?
how to study?
If you found it useful then share this video
You can even put it in your "watch later" or "favorites"
So that whenever you start studying, you can watch this video before you begin
So that you're able to make use of these tricks while studying and increase your learning speed by 10-15 times
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