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The HARD way or the EASY way?

Fast, Fun Learning
A practical guide by Pascal Etcheber

www.substancepublishing.com

Copyright 2012 by Substance Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

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INDEX

Obtain the 4 items to know about the examination

Knowing the target

Assess how much there is to learn

Assessing the workload

Cope with a mountain of learning Plan what to learn when

Making choices

Extract the 15% of information that matters Sort information so that the mind digests it with ease Assimilate 100 new distinct facts every weekday Drawing mind maps

Deal with complex comparative tables Remember any tedious list no matter its size

Memorizing lists

Revise using the correct time spans for full retention

Reviewing

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How to use this guide?

INSTRUCTIONS

TOOLS

Shortcuts The position of the character indicates the process steps being discussed
Highlight of Key concepts

Helpful Advice

EXAMPLES Personal experience of the author EXAMPLES

ANSWERS

Inspiring quotes

List of process steps

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What is it about?
If you are a student or a professional facing a test or an examination tomorrow based on knowledge, this guide will , not help you. However, should you have weeks or better still months ahead of you and follow the method presented you will achieve the highest grades, no matter your talent or grades, perceived lack of it.

Who is it for?
The main principles behind this book can be succinctly stated: The key ingredient to intelligent reasoned useful thinking is simply the systematic regular use of a proper knowledge acquisition method. The correct method is one method. that takes into account how the mind digests and retains information and allows for its timely retrieval. Such method . necessarily involves understanding. It is easier to memorize understanding. something that makes sense. Memorizing information that is inaccurate, irrelevant or insufficient would be a very inefficient way of learning. One would simply be expending a lot of effort and still end up with a poor grade. The good news is that the method proposed is fun, fast and effective effective. The bad news is that it requires time and discipline. If you are passionate enough about a subject matter or dedicated enough to your own success, then not only will you obtain stellar results but will also enjoy yourself in the process. lts

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework. Thomas Edison

Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work.

Albert Einstein

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How is this book different?

Plenty of books expose theories on learning to learn, on memory and on exam preparation techniques. What is lacking is a practical guide that takes someone through the process and actually gets one started. In the case of learning to learn, apart from academic reasons or sheer academic curiosity, explaining how and why something works becomes secondary when it suffices to try and see for oneself that it does work. Several books on learning test the reader in order to assess his or her learning style. They claim that there is not a single fit all method of that learning. However, even someone with apparently weak visual skills can still drive to work and find his or her way back home. Such task is so mundane that few people realize its complexity or marvel at the ease with which the brain achieves such feat. This is why the method proposed here engages the learner by focusing specifically on spatial and visual skills. All human beings have brains and this commonality is sufficient to render universal any learning method that facilitates how the brain processes information.

Follow the method, have fun and get results. Soon you will no longer perceive an exam as an obstacle to dread but as an opportunity to shine.

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Writing from personal experience

Despite being a Frenchman with no particularly brilliant school grades, I successfully attended a prestigious British university. The handicap of language English was my worst English subject in high school led me to read all ct the books I could find on learning and on memory techniques in order to prepare myself to face the challenge. I dissected the theories and built a practical method from a number of them. This was about 30 years ago. From that moment, I have never been beaten in any exam. Other students came to accept this as fatality. They thought I was from another planet when in fact I simply had the dedication to follow an effective method. I was not a geek working all night. I limited myself to 3 hours of new learning a day, did plenty of extra extracurricular activities, including sport, leading roles in plays, and was romantically involved. A fellow student who had failed and had to retake an exam after the summer came second after I shared with her the method I was using. She even got close to beating me!

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What you need to know about each exam

4 items you need to find out 1. 2. 3. 4. The timetable The scoring method The scope The granularity

1.

Write down the date of the next test or exam

TIMETABLE

2.

Work out the number of weekdays left

Consider each test and each exam as a separate entity. Best to look one year ahead

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THE SCORING METHOD

1. List the sections for the exam 2. Indicate the allocation of points

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THE SCOPE

3.

List the themes for the exam Indicate what they include
a. b.

4.

Time period Geographical area

c. Subject matter

If the exam is based on a textbook or on reference books, simply list the relevant chapters

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THE GRANULARITY

If the exam is based on a textbook or on reference books, the granularity is the level of detail presented therein

1. Read past test questions to evaluate the level of details required 2. List the requirements

See a question as a particular of a greater group which the requirements must describe

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EXAMPLE 1

Exam Format
There will be two sections to the exam. The first will consist of 40 matching items short descriptions of presidential backgrounds, accomplishments, and leadership attributes which you will be asked to match to the president being described. Each correct answer will be worth one point. Items will include descriptors such as as- First president to view himself as the direct voice of the people Died a month after giving a to long inaugural address in bad weather too-long This father of the Constitution was only a so president so-so

One of the countrys strongest presidents, he was elected with just 39% of the vote Only president to serve two non non-consecutive terms

A professor of political science who wrote extensively on government reform Sworn in by his father in his rural Vermont home by the light of an oil lamp. President of Hollywood union First American presiden to visit Communist China president

The second section of the test will consist of three essay questions (from a choice of four) that will each be graded on a 20 20-point scale. Essays will include questions similar to the following following Why is Washington (or Lincoln or Roosevelt) considered one of the hy greatest presidents? Contrast the Roosevelt and Eisenhower leadership models and note the strengths and weaknesses of each.

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ANSWERS 1 In order to answer the first part one needs to learn: The names of all the US presidents Key points about their backgrounds o Nicknames o Place of origin o Education o Profession Their key achievements Leadership style In order to answer the second part one needs to be able to compare presidents in terms of achieveme and leadership achievement

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How to assess how much there is to learn

1. For each exam section evaluate the number of words of relevant material a. Look at relevant sources b. Count the number of words per line c. Count the number of lines d. Count the number of pages e. Multiply b*c*d

2. Evaluate the number of pages by dividing the number of words by 250

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Looking at the requirement over time

1. Chart the number of pages per weekday till the exam for each exam 2. Compare to the capacity at 8 pages per day

The capacity of

pages per day is a prudent guess which you may revise later if you are able to do more.

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ANSWERS 2 The graph above shows that overall there is not enough time to revise everything, particularly for test 2, 3, 5 and 10.

A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.

Charles Kettering

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Deciding what to learn when

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting ess what you get." Dale Carnegie

1. Chart the score per page to visualize the relative value of each section

The fact that one has a choice of essay questions means that it is not necessary to master the entire subject matter

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1. Write off low scoring per page themes if the pages to learn are above capacity 2. Use spare capacity to learn ahead high scoring items

Play around with what to learn when so that it is both feasible and worthwhile. It is not just a mathematical decision though. You must decide what feels right to you.

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Spare capacity

The iceberg of learning down the road may not be trimmed if you have enough spare capacity beforehand. Planning ahead allows one to avoid bad surprises

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In most cases, especially if the exams are based on specific textbooks, the courses have been designed with a steady achievable workload in mind

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I took a course in English Literature and made the decision early on to focus exclusively on prose and to skip poetry altogether, simply because as a non nonnative speaker, doing poetry, which was part of the final examination, would have been too time consum consuming.

[In the poetry section I was the only student who did not know who the poets were, who confused a classical poem with a romantic one. However, I was also the only student to attempt an analysis when everyone else simply gave the names of the poets and indicated which one was and classical and which one was romantic. The irony was that I got the highest marks even though my conclusions were false].

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Help your mind by drawing mind maps

The method proposed in this book uses mind maps which were ind popularized by Tony Buzan in the 1970s in the use your head BBC program in the United Kingdom. A mind map is a visual ordered representation of knowledge that isolates concepts. This technique makes it possible to classify information without the use of paragraphs and sentences. Since this is exactly what the mind attempts to do when one reads a text in order to make sense of it and to retain information, drawing mind maps naturally accelerates the learning process. More information can be learned process. more quickly using such method.

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Extracting the key relevant information

Your knowledge of the granularity allows you to assess what is the information that you need to retain for the exam. 3 steps are required prior to drawing a mind map: 1. Isolating the relevant data 2. Classifying the information 3. Building the structure

If you do not have a required textbook or reference book, choose your source carefully and privilege dense text that lay out facts in an organ organized manner.

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ISOLATING THE RELEVANT DATA

EXAMPLE 3

United States Constitution

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Constitution consists of a preamble, seven original articles, twentyseven amendments, and a paragraph certifying its enactment by the constitutional convention.

Created

September 17, 1787

Ratified

June 21, 1788

Location

National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Author(s)

Philadelphia Convention

Signatories 39 of the 55 delegates

Purpose

To replace the Articles of Confederation (1777)

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AUTHORITY AND PURPOS PURPOSE

"We the People", as it appears in an original copy of the Constitution. Main article: Preamble to the United States Constitution See also: wikisource:Constitution America#Preamble of the United States of

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the insure common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The Preamble sets out the origin, scope and purpose of the Constitution. Its origin and authority is in We, the people of the United States. This echoes the Declaration of Independence. One people dissolved their connection with another, and assumed among the powers of the earth, a earth, sovereign nation-state. The scope of the Constitution is twofold. First, state. to form a more perfect Union than had previously existed in the perpetual Union of the Articles of Confederation. Second, to secure the blessings of liberty, which were to be enjoyed by not only the first generation, but for all who came after, our posterity.[20] This is an itemized social contract of democratic philosophy. It details emocratic how the more perfect union was to be carried out between the national government and the people The people are to be provided (a) justice people. justice, (b) civil peace, (c) common defense (d) those things of a general defense, welfare that they could not provide themselves, and (e) freedom. A y . government of "liberty and union, now and forever", unfolds when We begin and establish this Constitution.[a][22]

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NATIONAL GOVERNMENT LEGISLATURE

Main article: Article One of the United States Constitution See also: wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article I Article One describes the Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. Section 1, reads, "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." The article establishes the manner of election and the qualifications of members of each body. Representatives must be at least 25 years old, be a citizen of the United States for seven years, and live in the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, be a citizen for nine years, an live in the state they represent. and Article I, Section 8 enumerates the legislative powers, which include: legislative To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereo thereof. Article I, Section 9 lists eight specific limits on congressional power. The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One to allow Congress to enact legislation that is neither expressly listed in the enumerated power nor expressly denied in the limitations on Congress. In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court read the Necessary and Proper Clause to permit the federal government to take action that would "enable [it] to perform the high duties assigned to it [by the Constitution] in the manner most beneficial to the people,"[23] even if that action is not itself within the enumerated powers.

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Chief Justice Marshall clarified: "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not end, prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional."[23]
EXECUTIVE

Main article: Article Two of the United States Constitution See also: wikisource:Constitution America#Article II of the United States of

Article II, Section 1 creates the presidency. The section vests the . executive power in a President. The President and Vice President serve identical four-year terms. This section originally set the method of year terms. electing the President and Vice President, but this method has been superseded by the Twelfth Amendment Amendment. Qualifications The President must be a natural born citizen of the United States ident or a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, at least 35 years old and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.[24] The first president to be born an American citizen was Martin Van Buren [25] Buren. Succession Section 1 specifies that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President is removed, unable to discharge the , powers and duties of office, dies while in office, or resigns. The . later 25th Amendment clarifies this. Pay The President receives Compensation, and this compensation may not be increased or decreased during the president's term in office. The president may not receive other compensation from either the United States or any of the individual states. e Oath of office The final clause creates the presidential oath to preserve preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution Constitution.

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Section 2 grants substantive powers to the president:

The president is the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces, and of the state militias when these are called , into federal service. The president may require opinions of the principal officers of officers the federal government. The president may grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeachment (i.e., the president cannot pardon himself or herself to escape impeachment by Congress).

Section 2 grants and limits the president's appointment powers:

The president may make treaties, with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of the senators who are present , agree. With the advice and consent of the Senate, the President may , appoint ambassadors other public ministers and consuls, judges ambassadors, of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States Court, whose appointments are not otherwise described in the Constitution. Congress may give the power to appoint lower officers to the President alone, to the courts, or to the heads o departments. of The president may make any of these appointments during a congressional recess. Such a " "recess appointment" expires at the " end of the next session of Congr Congress.

Section 3 opens by describing the president's relations with Congress:

The president reports on the state of the union. The Recommendation Clause[26]: The president has the power and duty[27] to recommend to Congress's consideration such measures which the president deems as "necessary and s expedient". The president may convene either house, or both houses, of , Congress. When the two houses of Congress cannot agree on the time of adjournment, the president may adjourn them to some future date.

Section 3 adds:

The president receives ambassadors ambassadors. The president sees that the laws are faithfully executed. The president commissions all the offices of the federal government.

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Section 4 provides for removal of the president and other federal officers. The president is removed on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors Article Three judicial branch

ANSWERS 3 Selecting the relevant parts in the article saves a lot of time (here 9% of the text is relevant). The actual data isolated represents 13% of the relevant part which is only about 1% of the total!

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CLASSIFYING THE INFORMATION

1 Sort the selected words by category

ANSWERS 3
preamble, seven original articles, twenty-seven amendments, paragraph enactment September 17, 1787 Philadelphia Convention 39 55 delegates replace Articles of Confederation Confederation(1777) social contract national government the people (a) justice, (b) civil peace, (c) common defense, (d) general welfa (e) welfare freedom Article One legislative branch Congress Senate House of Representatives Executive Article II, Section 1 four year terms Qualifications born citizen of four-year the United States least 35 years old resident 14 years fir Martin Van Buren first Succession removed dies resigns 25th Amendment Oath of office preserve protect defend the Constitution Section 2 powers Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces pardons except impeachment Treaties consent Senate two thirds senators two-thirds present agree consent Senate appoint ambassadors other public ministers judges Supreme Court Section 3 reports state of the union Recommendation convene either house or both houses receives ambassadors laws faithful executed commissions offices of the federal government Section 4 removal impeachment treason, bribery other high crimes Article Three judicial branch

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The 154 words highlighted in step 1 can be classified into 10 categories. The first 4 categories define the constitution and the . last 6 describe the content. The content is divided into 3 parts, the second of which contains 4 parts.

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Aristotles 4 causes (possible answers to the question why?): 1. Material cause (what is something made of) . 2. The formal cause (how one would describe it) . 3. The efficient cause (what created it) . 4. The final cause (the objective) .

ANSWERS 4

1 preamble, seven original articles, twenty-seven amendments, paragraph

enactment September 17, 1787 Philadelphia Convention

3 39/55 delegates 4 replace Articles of Confederation (1777) 2 social contract national government the people
(a) justice, (b) civil peace, (c) common defense, (d) general welfare (e) Using Aristotles 4 causes freedom can help identify areas Article One legislative branch Congress Senate House of Representatives where further research to the question why? is Executive Article II, Section 1 four year terms Qualifications born citizen of four-year required. Causes 14 years first Martin Van Buren the United States least 35 years old residen 3 and 4 resident are particularly weak here Succession removed dies resigns 25th Amendment Oath of office preserve protect defend the Constitution Section 2 powers Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces pardons except impeachment Treaties consent Senate two thirds senators two-thirds present agree consent Senate appoint ambassadors other public ministers judges Supreme Court Section 3 reports state of the union Recommendation convene either house or both houses receives ambassadors laws faithful executed commissions offices of the federal government Section 4 removal impeachment treason, bribery other high crimes

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BULDING THE STRUCTURE

The 154 words highlighted in step 1 (plus some missing category titles) correspond to 68 distinct ideas which must be organized hierarchically.

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This is another representation showing how over 100 distinct ideas (blue dots) are organized into different hierarchical levels

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1 Draw a tree like structure where every branch is a new category 2 Keep your mind maps in a folder in the order they were made

Better retention is achieved by drawing a mind map manually. However, several mind map software exist

See what best works for you. Mind maps with more than 7 branches and with more than 6 levels are not recommended

This guides mind maps use Xmind

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With practice one can translate 8 pages of relevant data into a mind map containing more than 100 distinct ideas organized hierarchically

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How to deal with lists of concepts

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1 Translate each concept into a single idea 2 Visualise it 3 Find memorable equivalences

The concepts have been turned into positive (i.e. Abortion instead of Abortion Restrictions) Restrictions)

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Playing with equivalence makes it possible to define a party with only 3 symbols representing concepts instead of defining the 5 parties according to their positions regarding 10 concepts

12 symbols are sufficient to define the 5 parties instead of 50

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Symbols are an integral part of the mind map because the mind finds it easier to recall a vivid image than a word

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How to deal with tedious lists

In order to cope with longer lists that do not bring up obvious visual clues, one must use Mnemonics systems.

1 For short lists memorize a visual for each number from 1 to 10 (use either the sounds of the numbers or their shapes to constitute your list) 2 To memorise lets say book as the fourth item in a list, simply visualise it on a door or on a sail boat (make the book large and vivid) 3 To recall the 4th item, the door or the sail boat first comes to mind (it is the peg for 4) and the image of the book associated with it should come right after The same peg list can be I have used this system to memorize for fun menus in restaurants in no time. used to memorize several lists. Apparently, scientists do not understand how the mind is able to do this!

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EXAMPLE 5 Can you guess what this is?

Clue: it is a different system than the sound or shape peg system

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ANSWERS 5 It is a partial list of US presidents

The 16th president of the USA is Abraham Lincoln (1861) the first is Washington in the 1789

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The Major system allows one to create number pegs at will.

This is the list I have used for the 44 US presidents

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All one needs to learn is the letters associated to the numbers from 0 to 9

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EXAMPLE 6 Can you decipher the list?

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ANSWERS 6

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Reviewing
The key to retention is reviewing. The 3 hours spent in drawing a . mind map are lost if revision does not occur within a few days On days. the other hand, 2 hours of revision spread over a period of one year (following day/following week/following month/following year) is all that is needed to be able to recall the mind map for ever.

If one must skip something, it is drawing a new mind map but not avoiding the revision.

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Retention is exponential

250 mind maps a year is an achievable aim

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1 start with a blank piece of paper and draw up the mind map from the day before/week before/month before/year before (for life-long learning) long 2 Compare with the original to correct any mistake

With practice one can revise a mind map in ones head without having to draw it

Keep a planning of your mind maps

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Practicing mock exams

The best way to put to use the knowledge one has acquired drawing mind maps is to practice potential exam questions. The answers for any question within the scope should be a number of pathways among the mind maps drawn up.

1 Practice any available exam questions 2 Make up potential questions

The structure of mind maps makes it easy to frame any essay (the answer to the question consists of X parts etc...)

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Congratulations! Exam success is within grasp now that you have learned to: