Saturday, May 10, 2008

On Learning More Efficiently

Wired has a really interesting article this month, Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm. It seems the hard part isn't learning but remembering. The article follows recluse Piotr Wozniak and SuperMemo, the software program he developed to improve learning.

"SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you've learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you've forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you're about to forget. Unfortunately, this moment is different for every person and each bit of information. Imagine a pile of thousands of flash cards. Somewhere in this pile are the ones you should be practicing right now. Which are they?"

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