I highly recommend the free online course Learning How to Learn by Oakley and Sejnowski. The concepts and techniques presented in the course offer significant dividends for all future learning endeavors. This would have been invaluable to know in college, high school, and earlier. Like an investment account, the sooner you start, the more time it has to grow with compound interest.
Illusions of Competency
One concept that really stuck out to me was the concept of “illusions of competency." These are things that make us feel like we’ve learned something but in reality the action doesn’t really lead to retention of material. A prime example is underlining or highlighting text in a book. Physically moving the pencil to underline a sentence feels like we’re learning, but it’s just an illusion. Instead, one of the most effective techniques for retention is “Active Recall.”
Active Recall
One of the easiest examples of Active Recall is to look away from a page or two you just read, then try to remember the material. Ask yourself: “What were the key concepts?”
The retrieval process is the important aspect of this technique. The act of recall reenforces the deep learning.
So remember to practice Active Recall when you’re studying. This applies even when you are reviewing your own notes. I’ve found if I can reproduce and summarize a version of my previous notes from memory, then that’s a good sign that I understand the material.