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Bootcamp Day 1: Never Forget an Idea Again with the Feynman Technique
Hey,
How often have you felt you understood a concept, only to forget it on a test? Today’s tactic fixes exactly this problem. I used this technique extensively when trying to learn MIT’s physics class in under five days.
Click here to watch the video (~4 minutes). Read the transcript here. Download scanned examples here.
The technique is fairly simple:
- Pick an idea or topic you want to understand. This could be a formula, concept, method or theory. Write it at the top of a piece of paper.
- Begin writing down the idea, as if you were about to teach it to someone who had never heard it before. Pretend you’re writing lecture notes for an upcoming presentation about the topic to beginners.
- Whenever you get stuck explaining the idea, go back to the textbook or teacher to learn it. This technique can quickly pinpoint the exact ideas you’re missing from a complete understanding.
- Wherever you make wordy or complicated explanations, aim to either simplify the language used or create an analogy to help describe it.
In the video, I do a live demonstration of the tactic as well as show actual examples of how I’ve used the technique in a real class.
livio nakano
Well, just arriving from Boot Camp 2012, I see many things here that makes me recall the 5-year old method.
If I need to explain to someone else, I may find that in Feynman, is advised what to do when you get stuck in explaining “the Idea” – all other features, between these two terms, seems to be very much alike.
I am missing some point here ?
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