How to understand important new concepts faster

Unfortunately, the learning curve is very steep. I’m sure everyone would like to skip ahead while learning to get to the “aha!” moment when you finally grasp a concept. It usually takes ages to get to the part where you understand the content fully, so if you want to understand new concepts faster, try out some of these tricks!

Read about the topic beforehand

Before you learn about new topics at school, it’s important to do some pre-reading. Essentially, this is when you read about the concept beforehand, either by reading the textbook or using online resources. This helps you get a brief overview of the basics so that you can later focus your attention on understanding the more complex parts.

Associate it to other things you know

By linking new content with things you already know, not only will you be more likely to remember the concept, but you’ll also be able to understand it quicker! You can also create other mental associations to help you remember a concept by using acronyms.

Make notes

Whenever I don’t fully understand a concept, I like to make notes. Making notes forces you to recall the information you know and write it in a simple way. By making notes on a subject, you’re engaging with the content even more, which can bring you closer to understanding it!

Explain it to someone

If you really want to speed up your understanding of a concept, then you need to explain it to someone. By explaining something in simple terms that anyone can understand, you’re able to test your own understanding of the topic, and work out if you have any gaps in your knowledge!

Revise it afterwards

Although this doesn’t help you learn new concepts, revising a topic after you’ve learned it can help you remember it for longer, meaning you won’t have to re-learn it. Make sure to utilise spaced repetition in order to remember new concepts for longer!