Understanding vs Memorising | Productivity and Study Tips #1

In this video I talk about a concept that changed dramatically changed my approach to studying - the different between memorising vs understanding - and how I try to actively foster this in my study sessions.

This is the first in a series of videos on my approach to studying effectively - subscribe to be notified when new videos are released.

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Who am I?
I'm Chris Lovejoy, a junior doctor based in London working to bring machine learning to healthcare. I make videos about all things machine learning and medicine, as well as videos about productivity, careers and finances.

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[doublehsword]

I just needed someone to confirm my bias toward understanding and not memorizing content 😅 . Thanks for being that person. Great vedio!

[albertmarshallagyare]

This is by far the best explanation I've gotten concerning understanding what you read or study.

[alexanderlange]

I am a teacher in France, and It seems to me that in too many instances, we privilege memory over thinking and understanding. In my specific field (French literature), a colleague had students writing down pages of the daily lesson and telling them to memorize them, ( like "magisters" did in Roman times), even though they didn't know what the pages were about. It worked for those who have very good memorisation skills - which is not my case- but for the others it was a tremendous source of unnecessary stress and a disaster in terms of grades. Furthermore students who performed well in the evaluation had forgotten everything in a matter of a few weeks. That is why this video is so important: to remind people that understanding is the key to real learning. Someone who understands a concept, will think that she or he owns it. Empowering learners is essential.

[ragibperwez]

Thank you for highlighting this topic more, this topic really popped up in my head out of nowhere or just because i am somewhat good in memorizing things rather than learning 😄 so i tried to find out which is more better and helpful for a human and then i found your video, in my vague experience i ll say memorization and understanding go hand in hand with each other but yes understanding something is better than the latter

[IoniB]

i'm at 3:16 but this is the exact issue I'm struggling with. When learning something I WANT to and I NEED to understand it right from the beginning in order for my brain to actually understand it. So if I'm learning about how the processor in a computer works i need to know every single little bit about it from the beginning and probably the back history of it for me to think that I understand it. Which for some things isn't possible. Like even an Intel processor, even the workers there don't fully understand all of it. So it gets overwhelming for me, I don't know how to learn every single thing about something ;-;

[abdelmahmoudMD]

We got another amazing talent for the productivity YT world! 2020 is going to blow bro <3

[Darlzie]

This is really brilliant! Thanks so much. I have a couple of degrees too and I’ve become much better at retaining and reproducing information specific to my area quite well at this point in my life. I have never reconciled my increased understanding with my improved results until right now. Omg. I have lightbulbs going off in my brain thanks to you 😀 Cheers Chris, that was the best 5 or so mins of my life *subscribed 👌👏🤓

[MiniPeugot]

But how does understanding work? Is it the way the neural connections are made? I understand how an internal combustion engine works, but I don't understand quantum physics no matter how much I'd like to. Where does intelligence come in to play?

[amakakaren]

This is the best guideline i have seen so far....Thank you so much Sir...This just sink into my head because I have been battling with this issue of memorising and it's been bothering me..

[theexplorersjourney]

Remembering secondary consolidation
Memorizing compaction.

[sunilyaduvanshi]

Excellent, don't worry about subscriber count, just keep sharing good stuff....(and I know that's what you already are doing..)

[aayushdhakal]

I spent my whole life memorising those books and now I regret not having fun with those interesting contents

[linaycionaycilarose]

I'm having trouble remembering stuff so I'm trying different techniques to help me

[luqman]

Thank you so much sire. Great information and info here, from Malaysia 👍✨😁

[itz_medwin]

what happens if you understand but cannot give a perfect answer but rather if u memorise modal essay u will get the marks

[Docendodiscimus]

Well I have to memorise in Geography staff like names of places, rivers, mountains, etc..

[joevinith]

I have one doubt... the thing we understand also get stored in memory or where does it stores

[minidaniel]

can anyone share me differents methods for understanding concepts

[michellement]

What about teaching kindergarten ? Ages 4-5 ? Can I just teach them to memorize the letters and sounds or is there something deeper they need to understand about the letters?

.. idk why but I’m heavy on repetition and memorization but I hope I’m not doing it wrong

[mohsinalikhan]

Brilliant efforts love and respect from pakistan 🇵🇰♥️ Ubauro city