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.
Elaborative Interrogation: When Asking “Why” Pays Off
You probably assume that asking why a fact is true always helps it stick. It helps most when you already know enough about the topic to answer well. On hard new material, one study found it lost to simply reading the lesson twice.
Elaboration: Why Connecting What You Learn to What You Know Changes Everything
You can space and quiz a weak memory all you want, but the review only protects what you encoded. Elaboration decides how good that material is in the first place, and most learners skip it without realizing.