Ah, you’ve fallen for the understanding trap.
You
attend all the lectures. You probably leave each lecture thinking
“Yeah, good, I understood that.” That feeling is a seductive lie.
You study all the material. For most people, that means you reread
the material to make sure you understand it. You probably walk out of
your study sessions thinking “Yeah, good, I understood that.” That
feeling is a seductive lie.
Applying
knowledge is a skill, like basketball or carpentry or card magic. The
only way to get better at a skill is by practicing that skill. You can
watch Gordon Ramsay all day long, but you won’t learn how to cook unless
you actually go into the kitchen, break a few pots, serve mediocre food
to people, hear and learn from their criticism, go back in the kitchen,
break fewer pots, make better food, and so on. The only way to learn to do the thing is by doing the thing.
So
if you want to be better at applying your STEM knowledge, you have to
apply your STEM knowledge. To get better at solving problems, you have
to solve problems. To get better at taking exams, you have to practice
the skills that the tests ask you to demonstrate. That’s hard work, not
just because the subject itself is hard, but because you have to battle
your own self-image. (That frustrated feeling that you’ll never be able
to do this is also a seductive lie!)
So.
Find a bunch of problems to solve. (You can often find them in your
textbook, or in your instructor’s homework assignments.) Close the book,
turn off the internet, find some blank paper, write one problem
statement at the top of each page, and then start solving. When you get
stuck—and you will
get stuck— ask your teacher or fellow students or the internet or your
textbook for help, but not help solving that specific problem. Rather,
ask for help solving that kind of problem. Try to figure out why you’re getting stuck, and work on that cause. Repeat ad nauseam.
-Jeff Erickson, Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley (1996)
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