Learning effectively: Why reading your notes isn't enough and how to revise better?

"You know, I couldn't do it. I couldn't reduce it to the freshman level. That means we don't really understand it."

R. Feynman

In this article:

  • Understanding Edgar Dale's cone of learning to study better,

  • Why reading and re-reading your notes isn't enough to memorize effectively,

  • How to learn more efficiently and retain information in the long term,

  • Concrete techniques to test your knowledge and memorize better.

If you spend hours studying without results, this article will help you study less, but better.

Written with the help of Nicolas Augst, a learning optimization geek.

Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning

This cone can have a huge impact on your exam success. It explains that:

  • We retain only 10% of what we read,
  • We retain 50% of information when we discuss, ask questions, and become proactive,
  • We retain 75 to 90% of information when we test our knowledge using past papers, MCQs, flashcards, and especially when we teach the concept we want to internalize.

Many of us think that reading and re-reading our course notes before exams is the solution to passing.

But be careful: "Recognizing" is not at all the same thing as "Knowing," and at best, the information will only stay in your head for a few days.

Reading and re-reading your notes is not the right option

Reading your notes serves only 2 purposes:

  • getting a feel for the material with an initial pass to seek understanding and get an overview of what is important,
  • looking for information that you missed or that you don't have,

    • And nothing else!

    How to work effectively

    Let's look at 3 steps to stop wasting time "simply" reading, so you can work less but better.

    Step 1: Understand first, learn later

    During lectures, take notes and ESPECIALLY ask questions. Lectures are for understanding.

    If you only have a PDF, aim to understand everything first and don't hesitate to ask a classmate to explain things to you.

    Understanding is already 50% of the learning process.


    Step 2: How to verify your knowledge with a blank sheet of paper


    When it's time to review your course at home, for example, a course on the myology of the arm, you must start by testing the knowledge you think you have retained:


    The blank sheet exercise comes into play! It scares many, but it is devilishly effective...

    And even if the information doesn't come out in the right order, that's perfect. Memory is being actively mobilized; this is the beginning of learning: knowing what we don't know. Then, the idea is to compare with the provided teaching material to correct yourself.

    How to start this blank sheet exercise:

    First, do a general overview and then detail this overview with what you know, otherwise the barrier to entry will be too high. For example, you know and remember the anterior compartment of the arm and you have faint memories that a posterior compartment exists.

    Before diving back into your notes, try to detail that compartment with the muscles you remember, then describe each muscle's origin, insertion, action, and why not its innervation!


    The more difficult the course is for you, the smaller the content you should challenge yourself on.

    The more you perform this exercise, the more deeply the concepts will be acquired, and we can then move on to the final step.


    Step 3: The Feynman Technique

    "If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it."

    - Yogi Bhajan


    Teach the concept you want to learn. Teaching is applying the blank sheet technique, but in an organized way.


    As if we wanted to turn it into a lesson, then teach it to our little 8-year-old cousin.


    The more we are able to explain something simply, in our own words, the more it means we have understood it. A little tip that could help greatly: you can do it in writing (the blank sheet), record yourself via voice memo, video, or actually explain it to your little cousin Arthur (or to your classmates who didn't get this advice, to become the strongest in the program).


    Note what you struggle to explain or simplify well and look to understand it better (with the course, YouTube videos, "in-the-flesh" Instagram posts) before testing yourself on it again. Do past papers, make your flashcards (I'll come back to this soon), but the principle is to continually quiz yourself on the information you want to ingest.

    It's your turn: understand to learn better.


    You now know that reading and re-reading your notes isn't very useful, and neither is copying out your notes to make a summary sheet you'll just read again. If you want to become a top student, I advise you to switch to "blank sheet" mode.


    I look forward to your feedback!


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