Effective learning: Rules of formulating knowledge (1999)

Too bad Piotr Wozniak (inventor of SuperMemo) is such a hermit and uncompromising of his lifestyle choices, that most of his life's work was eventually superseded by open-source solutions (Anki + FSRS).

I had tons of material in SuperMemo for years. Gave up and fully switched to Anki.

At least I'm thankful for his spaced-repetition algorithms. Also, his articles restored my love for learning and helped me confirm that school was an insane waste of time and resources.

If I hadn't stubbled upon this essay and Anki, I think by way of a Wired article, I'm not sure I would have gotten into or passed medical school. They were eye opening and turned me from an average smart student into a leader of my class. I had planned to keep doing my cards after moving on to fellowship but alas, life gets in the way.

Related:

Rules of formulating knowledge in learning (1999) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22524122 - March 2020 (2 comments)

Effective learning: Twenty rules of formulating knowledge (1999) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18404150 - Nov 2018 (17 comments)

Effective learning: Rules of formulating knowledge (1999) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13047576 - Nov 2016 (35 comments)

Effective learning: Twenty rules of formulating knowledge (1999) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10785221 - Dec 2015 (1 comment)

If you wanna go deeper, I’d recommend checking out https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_Guru

It’s a bit of a treasure trove for us spaced repetition nerds!

It feels circular. How is learning different from understanding? How is understanding different from knowledge? I’m supposed to understand before I learn. How do I understand if not through learning? I’m supposed to understand to gain knowledge. Isn’t knowledge understanding?

I have notes with me for anything of importance. rule 2 and beyond is of no concern to me.

I got through uni on entirely point 1, and only relied on accidental memorization from the process of understanding.

I find alot of study advice under-emphasise point 1, and over-emphasise memorization techniques.

If you've used AI to create flashcards then you've probably encountered many annoyances. For example, AI-created flashcards tend to be too wordy. Share this article with them and ask them to follow the rules. It makes for better flashcards.