Ask HN: How do you learn?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2126751

by colourfulclock • 16 years ago

12 7 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

A lot of you on Hacker News are successful, particularly academically, so I though I'd ask some advice. How do you learn? How do you study for exams? How do you learn every little fact or understand every physics concept?

I read this post (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2125742) and it got me thinking!

coderdude• 16 years ago

>I read this post (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2125742) and it got me thinking!

I think you've just answered your own question in a way. People who learn a lot tend to do a lot of reading. Reading and absorbing, reading and absorbing. It's a process that you repeat ad nauseam (not literally, as most people who read a lot enjoy it).

To expand on this, as younata mentioned programming, learning some things also requires a liberal amount of practice. That is especially true with programming and many other tech-related fields.

younata• 16 years ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2125742

your link is clickable.

I learn by doing. If it's math, then I'll get a textbook, and just go through the problems. Then I'll check them. If it's anything programming, then I'll find a tutorial and then build stuff from there. If it's writing, then I'll write and ask others to critique it.

Swizec• 16 years ago

Well I think there are actually two questions in your question. First you're talking about learning, then you're talking about studying for exams.

For me those two are distinctly different concepts.

As far as learning goes, I usually take the route of reading a lot about a subject, dabbling with it, trying to find a pet project to do in the field. Usually just going through a bunch of wikipedia stuff and trying to mingle with the people more knowledgable than me. This process can take months, sometimes years or decades. But it is very effective and it plays to my eternal learning and slight polymathic side.

Then there is studying for exams. That is a short term process (and the knowledge is a lot more superficial and short term ish). This involves a lot of quick reading[1], cramming as much wikipedia in my head and doing as much practice as I can to get a good enough grasp on the subject to pass. This usually takes a few days, a few tens of hours that is. Depending on how difficult I find the exam/subject.

[1]my method of quick reading is a very simple subvocal technique, I can only do about two pages a minute. Not something fierce like some people can. It also involves first going through the book just reading the titles, then just reading the first paragraph under every title, then the first page under every title. Then the whole book (twice-ish). This structurally builds up the data in my head well enough that I can then at least sort of know what I'm looking at when taking the exam.

And now some anecdotal evidence that my way of studying for exams works: Last year I passed 8 exams (more than in the two years prior to that), while also doing a startup full-time and part-time freelancing.

unignorant• 16 years ago

I learn best by doing. In an academic sense that means going to class and:

* If math/science, then solving the homework or problem sets.

* If humanities, then writing about whatever it is you've been reading.

* If computer science, then coding up whatever you've been studying.

I rarely study for exams explicitly. Following the above and going to class seems usually to be sufficient. "Studying" for me is something active rather than passive, and it occurs over time, rather than in one night of desperate cramming.

Whenever I've deviated from these rules (it happens ;-) the results have not been to my liking.

nmaio• 16 years ago

I learn best by failing. Sometimes it takes failing over and over again until I learn one little thing. But eventually my repetitive failures lead to small successes.

znt• 16 years ago

"Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach" - Einstein

Learning is actually self-teaching, so checking out the examples about what I'm trying to learn has worked out well for me so far.

aDemoUzer• 16 years ago

it _depends_ on the course material, the teacher and past experiences I got B and C on physics, so nothing for that. I don't learn every little fact, I usually learn what I think is most likely to be on the exam and focus on it. I go through the process of figuring out the key material by paying attention to teacher when it is announced what will be on the exam. During the class, the teacher would spend more time on certain concepts than others because they are likely to be the key concepts.

I tend to go over the course's lecture notes and write a condensed version for myself. I tend to write in my own words because then I can better understand it. When you have to summarize the content well, you have to be able to understand it. If you try to half-ass it, you will pay for it later, so I am assuming that you are willing to spend the time to study and do it right. Once you understand the concept, then it comes down to memorization. If you have the time, doing some application would help. That is why there are physics lab. For CS, we have our computers to write out the needleman-wunsch algorithm and try it out, if hand-simulation is not enough to learn the concept. For math, you will need to solve the equations, right the proof, draw the graph and trace out the algorithm. For english, you would go through examples in the book.

The best situation is when the teacher provides a sample exam, which has same problems as the final exam, but the variables are different. Then you would just try to re-do sample exam.

I also like to go over the homeworks and make sure I understnad why I was made to do them and what I learned from them.

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