Start from fundamentals
Write the basic assumptions or relationships. Connect new ideas back to them.
Master First Principle
Develop a list of basic axioms in your subject that you can always work back to -relate all future concepts back to them.
Elaborative Interrogation
Deeply understand the reasons behind a concept, keep asking why/how? Until there’s no info left to cover
Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve
Retention of new knowledge falls steeply right after the first encounter - successive reviews slows the rate of forgetting.
The Skeptical Second Party
Imagine (or better, get) someone who disagrees on the topic - then, reply to every objection with facts and logics from the material you learned.
Incremental Learning
Associate new knowledge with existing knowledge to increase memory and recall.
Triangulating Genius (perspectives)
Pick two to four brilliant experts with differing perspectives about a specific topic that you are learning and try to understand their viewpoints and how they argued their sides to understand the topic better.
Elaborative Interrogation (knowledge depth)
Ask yourself questions about how and why things work, and then produce the answers to those questions.
Feynman Technique (knowledge quality)
Take something that is hard to understand and try to clarify it in your mind by explaining it as if you were talking to a child.
Second brain
Method for saving and systematically reminding us of the ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections we’ve gained through our experience.
Inversion Learning (conceptual topics)
Look at problems backwards – instead of looking for the right answer, figure out what about the questions would make it incorrect.
Spacing Effect
Make your study sessions spaced out – studies have shown that learning in this method is more effective

Turn a full week of material into a repeatable routine for understanding, practice, and recall.
Write the basic assumptions or relationships. Connect new ideas back to them.
Explain why each step works. If you cannot, identify the missing concept and ask for help.
Teach a concept in plain language. Define unfamiliar terms and build an example.
Look for a counterexample or a changed assumption that would make your conclusion fail.
Explain why a change in a discount rate changes present value. Then calculate two cases, compare them, and describe the difference in words.
Return to topics across several sessions rather than leaving every review for the night before an exam. Keep notes and practice questions in one system you can maintain.