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

Your octopus gets tired if it has to keep switching its focus from one set of brain-links to a completely different one. So try to avoid distraction and task switching.

Interleaving: Interleaving means practicing different aspects of what you are trying to learn so you understand the differences between the techniques. Chapter 4 in your algebra textbook may introduce you to one set of problem-solving techniques, while chapter 5 introduces you to a different set of problem-solving techniques. Interleaving means alt

Store it. Find a way to relate the information to things you already know. Find an anchor. This allows you to put the pictures into your brain in places where you can easily retrieve them. Even

Remember—don’t just look at the answer. Pull it from your mind (the “active recall” technique), only

Creating sets of brain-links helps you think complicated thoughts.

the only thing Leaf has used is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Leaf is applying the wrong technique to solve the problem, because he hasn’t studied and practiced when he

Cognitive load: Cognitive load means how much mental effort is being used in the working memory. If you have too big a cognitive load because you are being presented with too many new ideas at once, you can’t take in new information very easily. Deliberate practice: Deliberate practice means focusing on the material that’s most difficult for you. T

Just work on this problem a minute or two—however long it takes until you feel like you’re stuck.

“When you don’t understand some item you are studying, maybe a mathematical formula, or a really long sentence . . . just write it down, once, twice . . . Sometimes this helps you make sense of it. Writing it down can help you jump mental barriers and install the information deeply in another place in our brains where it is processed differently.”