Rote memorization is an inefficient way to learn. Just retaining a single formula can mean pounding the same information into your skull dozens of times. If your computer hard drive had this accuracy, you’d probably throw it out.
Unfortunately, we’re stuck with our brains. The good news is that we don’t need to learn by memorization. The vast majority of information is better stored in our head using a completely different system—learning through connecting ideas together.
1. Get Creative with Metaphors
Connect ideas together by relating them to something you already understand. Relate complex physical equations to their real life counterparts. Imagine a derivative as the speedometer on a car. See a binomial equation as a game of Plinko.
You can do the same thing with less technical subjects. When I read the book The Prince, I related Niccolò Machiavelli’s thoughts on politics to my own social life. If you relate an abstract example to something more commonplace it’s easier to understand. You’re effectively creating a bridge between what you understand intuitively and the things you struggle with.
2. Draw a Diagram
Create diagrams showing the relationships between ideas. This is a manual way you can create connections. The importance is that you explore as many different ways to connect ideas as possible, not just repeating the same diagrams. If you have varied connections, then if you happen to forget one, you’ll remember the ideas through another.
Diagram ideas based on time and place, author, or other similarities they have. If you’re learning a comprehensive subject, like chemistry or physics, diagram how all the ideas relate. Many equations are counterparts or derivations of each other, so you can learn complicated formulas more easily by connecting them to simpler forms.
3. Use the “Like, But …” Method
Another way to link ideas is to relate one piece of information to another, noting their difference. “It’s like this, but it has that instead.” Using this method of understanding can link ideas together, even if you don’t have a perfect metaphor or relationship to diagram.
Examples: Confucius was born around the same time as Socrates, but lived in ancient China. Amortization is like an asset version of a loan payment, except there’s no interest. Acceleration is like gravity, but in any direction.
