Learn Better audiobook cover - Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or, How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything

Learn Better

Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or, How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything

Ulrich Boser

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Personal DevelopmentEducation

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Core Premise+
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The Six Steps to Mastery+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8
What did the 2006 Washington University study on 'self-quizzing' reveal about its effectiveness?
  • A. It is less effective than reading a text multiple times because it causes cognitive fatigue.
  • B. It is significantly more effective at making ideas stick in long-term memory than simply re-reading.
  • C. It works best only when combined with physical activities like throwing darts.
  • D. It is an outdated method that has been entirely replaced by visual learning techniques.
Question 2 of 8
According to the first step of learning ('Value'), how did a psychology professor successfully motivate students to learn statistics?
  • A. By offering them financial rewards for getting higher grades on their exams.
  • B. By having them write essays about how statistics could enhance their personal interests and career prospects.
  • C. By breaking the complex formulas down into small, easily memorizable chunks.
  • D. By showing them a series of visually engaging fractal patterns.
Question 3 of 8
Why is it essential to build a foundation of basic knowledge before setting smaller goals to master a skill?
  • A. Because you cannot properly grasp a new subject or set achievable goals without understanding the fundamentals.
  • B. Because innate intelligence requires a baseline to function correctly.
  • C. Because setting goals without basic knowledge leads to 'victory disease.'
  • D. Because complex concepts can only be learned through constant, mindless repetition of the basics.
Question 4 of 8
How did brain surgeon Mark Bernstein drastically reduce his team's surgical error rate?
  • A. By practicing surgeries on virtual reality simulators before the actual operations.
  • B. By reading medical textbooks four times before each surgery.
  • C. By monitoring and recording every mistake in a database to improve awareness and receive feedback.
  • D. By blocking out external noise in the operating room using earplugs.
Question 5 of 8
Which of the following is recommended as a technique to 'extend' your knowledge and memorize complex concepts, as demonstrated by comedian Bob Harris?
  • A. Recording yourself reading facts and listening to them while sleeping.
  • B. Visualizing bizarre and highly memorable images in your mind's eye.
  • C. Spacing out your learning over several weeks instead of cramming.
  • D. Writing essays relating the topic to your childhood experiences.
Question 6 of 8
What did Charles Judd’s 1908 underwater dart experiment demonstrate about skill mastery?
  • A. Practicing the exact same physical movement repeatedly is the most efficient way to learn.
  • B. Understanding the underlying relationship between concepts, such as the physics of refraction, improves performance.
  • C. Visualizing the target before throwing increases accuracy by 50 percent.
  • D. Innate intelligence plays a larger role in physical tasks than previously thought.
Question 7 of 8
What is 'victory disease' in the context of learning and performance?
  • A. A phenomenon where individuals learn too quickly and forget the foundational basics.
  • B. The tendency to overestimate past performance and familiarity, leading to overconfidence and mistakes.
  • C. A psychological block that prevents experts from accepting feedback from novices.
  • D. The physical exhaustion that occurs after achieving a major learning milestone.
Question 8 of 8
What actionable advice does the author give for studying for an important exam?
  • A. Study in one long, uninterrupted session to maintain deep focus.
  • B. Space out your learning into several sessions over time to allow your brain to store new information.
  • C. Only focus on the topics you find most difficult and completely ignore what you already know.
  • D. Read the source material exactly four times to ensure it enters your long-term memory.

Learn Better — Full Chapter Overview

Learn Better Summary & Overview

Learn Better (2017) upends traditional approaches to learning skills and obtaining knowledge. Learning was once thought to depend entirely on the innate ability and intelligence of the learner. Rote learning was the order of the day. We now know there are much more effective ways to learn. In fact, there are six simple steps to better learning.

Who Should Listen to Learn Better?

  •  Anybody with learning difficulties
  • Teachers, professors and students
  • Anyone who needs to master a skill

About the Author: Ulrich Boser

Ulrich Boser has worked as an editor, writer, reporter and education researcher. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Wired and Newsweek. As a child, he was categorized as a “slow learner” by his teachers, which sparked his later interest in the science of learning. His other books include The Gardner Heist, Learn Better and The Leap.

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