Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens

by Barbara Oakley

You have to learn so you can keep your options open for the future. You get to learn so you can go on and follow your passions. You get to learn so you can discover more about the mysteries of the universe. You get to learn so you can fulfill more of your amazing potential each week.

You get to learn so you can help humanity solve some of the world’s problems.

You get to learn because you are an inquisitive human being. Of course, there are other possible answers. But in ...

It works a lot better when you can see positive reasons for taking an interest in your learning, rather than just avoiding punishment.

We find ourselves on this mysterious rock called Earth, in a particular place and time. And we have (probably) the most advanced technology in the universe within our skulls.

But wouldn’t it be a crazy waste of our time on Earth not to make the most of the astonishing tool between our ears?

The younger you are when you learn how to learn more effectively, the longer you have through your life to enjoy the benefits. Learning is a privilege. In some parts of the world, children have no access at all to books or computers or teachers. I believe that we owe it to those people who don’t have access to school to make the most of our opportunities. I want to encourage you in your learning for all of those reasons, and more. After all, as Terry says, you never know when your learning is going to come in handy. Learn how to learn so you can follow your passions. But don’t just follow your passions. That was my mistake when I was young. There’s a lot of learning you can do that will open doors you can’t yet imagine. Broaden your passions—learn and enjoy new subjects beyond the one you originally thought you could learn. You’ll put yourself in a better place for whatever life may throw your way. The world is changing quickly, and it’s going to be changing even faster. Learning how to learn is one of the very best abilities you can have.

Third, Santiago was flexible. Super-smart learners can get too used to being right. It feels nice to be right, but that feeling can also be addictive.2 Santiago saw that some super-smart learners jump to conclusions quickly. (They’ve got “race car” brains, after all.) But if their conclusions are wrong, it can be hard for them to admit it. They can even deliberately avoid discovering whether they are wrong. All this feels nicer than admitting they might be mistaken. They can fall into a “rut think” of rightness. Santiago wasn’t a genius. So he got a lot of practice correcting his mistakes. Later, when he became a scientist, he actively looked for ways to determine whether he was right or wrong. When he was wrong, he changed his mind. This was an important part of what allowed him to make the groundbreaking discoveries that won him the Nobel Prize.

The hippocampus is especially important in helping you remember facts and events.

When BDNF is added to the brain, the dendritic spines grow tall and broad.

Exercise does the following: Helps your brain to produce BDNF, which is like a fertilizer that helps your neurons grow. Improves your understanding, decision-making, and ability to focus. Helps you to switch between tasks. Helps people to recover from mental illness. Releases chemicals that help you get new ideas.

Plan on a firm quitting time for your studying. This will help you to concentrate more effectively when you are studying.

Action and spatial video games help improve your thinking. Action video games help improve your ability to focus, and your vision. Spatial video games improve your ability to rotate objects in your mind’s eye.

The bad aspect of video games is that they can be addictive. So they should be used in moderation.

The most important step before a test is to make sure you get a good night’s sleep!

In the hard-start technique, you should leave a difficult problem when you are stuck and begin to grow frustrated.

When you feel panic rising before a test, practice deep breathing from the belly. Also, shift your thinking from “This test has made me afraid” to “Th...

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016). Learning often involves being able to focus intently, and Cal’s book gives great ideas along those lines. I Am Gifted, So Are You!, by Adam

Occasional memorization, such as the multiplication tables, can be helpful. This is because your brain naturally begins to analyze the patterns and relationships it sees as you embed the tables in your brain. The embedding process helps you to get a naturally better feel for the numbers and how they relate to one another. But as always, it’s never a good idea to just memorize without having an understanding of what you’re doing. (It’s like memorizing a word in a foreign language without understanding what it means. How would you ever be able to use it later on?) And the more you practice using a variety of problems, the deeper and richer your feel for the numbers will become.

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Psychologists call this general idea “Einstellung” or “functional fixedness.” But these can be hard words to remember, so we prefer “rut think.”