Learned right, which means understanding, which means connecting in a meaningful way to previous knowledge, information almost cannot be forgotten anymore and will be reliably retrieved if triggered by the right cues. Moreover, this new learned knowledge can provide more possible connections for new information. If you focus your time and energy on

A technique called self-explaining or elaboration can help.7 With this technique, you actively try to explain, in your own words, what you’re learning. When working on numerical problems, for example, stop at every step and ask the question “Why am I doing this step?” and then try to come up with an explanation. In one experiment, students who expl

The Feynman technique is a specific application of elaborative interrogation. Remember, the goal is not to actually answer the questions; it’s to see what you are unable to answer—that is the information it provides. It has four steps.