Against the Curve
Most students study hard. The problem is that the strategies they often rely on are among the least effective ways to build lasting knowledge. I learned this the hard way: an MCAT score that put me squarely in the middle of the pack among admitted medical students, followed by a complete overhaul that carried me to the top 3% on every board exam since. This series breaks down what the research actually shows about how learning works, one principle at a time. No filler, no fluff, just the evidence, my personal takeaways, and how to apply these principles to improve your learning and performance.
New posts regularly.
The Neurobiological Bridge: What Brain Research Adds to How You Study
You might expect brain scans to be the real proof behind good study habits. Every method in this series actually earned its place in behavioral studies of learners. This last post shows how far brain research explains why those methods work, and where it stops.
Bloom’s Taxonomy: A Lens for Checking What You Practice
You can know every fact on a topic and still miss the question that asks you to use them. Bloom’s taxonomy describes the kind of thinking a task demands, which makes it a quick check on whether your practice matches what your exams ask.
Metacognition: Why “I Know This” Is an Educated Guess
When an answer looks obvious after you see it, you count it as known. That feeling is an estimate built from how easily things come to mind, and it is least trustworthy right after you study. Here is when to trust it and how to get a better reading.
Desirable Difficulty: Why the Strategies That Feel Worst Work Best
The study methods that feel most productive are usually the ones teaching you the least. The effective ones feel like failing while you do them; once you understand why, you stop trusting how studying feels.
The Forgetting Curve: Why You Don't Remember What You Studied
You passed the class. Six months later, you can't remember any of it. That's not a personal failing; it's a 140-year-old pattern, and it has a fix.