Mental Models For School: Learn Faster, Do Better

Reversible decisions—choosing a course to explore—and irreversible decisions—selecting a major or dropping out—demand different decision-making processes. Reversible ones can be made quickly. You can course-correct. Pivot if necessary. They are low-risk and adjustable. Whereas irreversible decisions demand careful analysis due to their impactful, long-term consequences. Picture them as one-way doors. Be agile when it’s reversible. Cautious when it’s not.

Leverage amplifies effort. It emphasizes the use of strategies and resources that maximize the input-output ratio. Combined with the 80/20 rule or Pareto principle, which concentrates on the top 20 percent of actions—key concepts, essential readings, assignments due—that drive 80 percent of results, you can optimize study time and reduce wasted effort. Delete time wasters. Concentrate on the vital few. Delegate the unrelated, low-impact tasks. Leverage flashcard and spaced repetition software.

Inertia reflects the tendency to stick with familiar routines. Even if they are not serving you. To excel, you need to break out of these bounds. Unshackle yourself from last-minute cramming. Replace those bad habits with productive systems that inaugurate and maintain momentum. Rely on systems that work. A consistent study schedule or regular self-assessments are textbook cases. You have been told a million times that learning progressively is better than learning on the deadline. Put that in vivo.

Backward chaining begins with the end goal. That could be mastering a subject or earning your degree. Work backwards. Outline the steps you “took” to get there. What obstacles “got in your way” while achieving it? Ask questions in reverse and you might get answers you wouldn’t have thinking forward.

Akin to backward chaining is second-order thinking. Evaluate not only the short-term consequences, but the long-term implications of your actions. Skipping a lecture saves you some time right now. But it might result in a gap in knowledge that ruins your exam grade. Considering downstream effects is how you make better decisions over time.

Classical conditioning helps you put those healthy study habits into practice. Associate positive states and emotions with studying. Make it a fun time. Listen to your favorite playlist. Have an amazing cup of coffee or tea. Curate a dedicated study space. Reward productive sessions and pair difficult tasks with enjoyable rituals. The heart of the matter is to associate learning with reward. Help your brain form that link, and it’ll help you learn. Using Pavlovian principles will make you seem like a super disciplined person when, in reality, you just built habits according to science. Biology is awesome.

Proximate-root causes and five-whys are both tools to deepen your thinking. Crucial in academic struggles and learning alike. There are proximate—surface-level symptoms—and root causes of problems. Effective solutions don’t merely alleviate the pain for a short while. They cure the infection. That’s why you employ the five-whys framework—asking “Why?” repeatedly—to dig problems down to their core. This is how you diagnose issues like poor time management or lacking knowledge in foundational concepts. Try it right now on a problem, like being late to class or not understanding a particular topic. It works. Fast.

Similarly, apply a combination of circumambulating and abstraction laddering if the five-whys was not enough. Circumambulating involves approaching a topic from multiple perspectives. Circling it. Explore the same concept through different sources, formats, and contexts. Climb up and down the abstraction ladder. Zoom out to see the big picture. Hone in on the details thereafter. For example, grasp the broad principles of a theory before you dive into specific applications. Read about it in a book. Watch a video about it. Circumambulate it. Then, once the concept is clear, deal with the intricacies. Up and down you go.

To make the process easier, you might apply the concept of dividing and conquering. Take a subject. You can’t learn an entire subject in and of itself. Break it down. Dissect the complex topic into a simpler, manageable set of sections. Dumb it down as much as necessary. Dividing topics like this reduces overwhelm and encourages steadier progression through the material. More often than not, workbooks are only optimized for one thing: to be easy to write for the author. Walk around that by dividing and conquering.

Now don’t overdo it. Diminishing returns should caution you as a student to recognize when additional effort does not yield significant benefits. That is when productive learning turns into undue, excessive, wasted time. This is typically the point of perfecting minor details. It is when you are detracted from your main objective—learning broader concepts and subjects to get a sound grade and understanding. Knowing when to stop is crucial. Else your priorities go out of whack.

Acknowledge the existence of unknown unknowns while you’re at it. There are some things you know you know. The sky is blue indeed. Other things you know you don’t know. Perhaps this is how to perform an open heart surgery. Not everyone is a specialized heart surgeon, and that’s okay. And there is a third, scary category: the things you don’t know you don’t know. Gaps in knowledge you are not yet aware of. This is why you engage with diverse sources, ask questions, and seek feedback from others. Sometimes you don’t even see where you need to grow. How can you water invisible soil?

The next few will tie learning together for you. The half-life, when concerned with knowledge, mainly reckons with how information becomes outdated or forgotten. The renowned forgetting curve. This is why you engage in spaced repetition. Regularly revisit material. Stay updated on the relevant knowledge. Use software algorithms to break up your study sessions if you wish. The point is to maximize your efficiency: least time studying for the biggest results.

This works because of the compounding nature of knowledge. Small, consistent efforts compound over time. Timely study sessions, incremental learning, and revisiting material frequently results in greater retention and mastery compared to cramming. Slamming it down all at once has little-to-no long-term impact. Learn slowly. Thirty minutes per day throughout the semester is better than two all-nighters before the exam.

To accelerate the process, practice deliberately. Concentrate on weaknesses. Weave feedback loops. Target what you don’t yet know. As a student, this means reviewing your mistakes, practicing under exam conditions, and seeking guidance and sources to fill gaps of knowledge in challenging areas. Deliberate practice is far from the traditional way of dry repetition. It’s hard, but it’s the most effective way to learn anything, be it a physical skill or psychological concept. Deliberate practice is how experts come out above amateurs in the long run.

Last but not least, think you don’t know anything. You read that right. Apply the newbie mindset. Learn with the gleaming, innocent eyes of a beginner. This encourages you to be curious and humble. To explore the topic like a child with an open mind. Rather than fearing mistakes, view them as opportunities. You don’t know what can happen. Do it. Fall. Get up. Try again. Embody a novice, even if you are a recognized expert in the field. This opens you to learning opportunities beyond comprehension. You know that feeling of taking something up for the first time. Foster the same state of mind when learning, even if it is a topic you are familiar with. Watch the process speed up.