HOW YOU CAN RETAIN UP TO 90% OF WHAT YOU READ / LEARN.

By Matthew Ujah-Peter
The next time you pick up a book to read, just remember the followings:

1. Your brain usually gets stuck at the first obstacle it encounters. To understand this concept, pick any book and read it twice or more and you will find out that  you have missed out at least two or three concepts in just the first few minutes at the first reading. It is hard to believe this  at first, but as you keep rereading the same chapter over and over, you will find you are finding more and more that you have missed.
This is because the brain gets stuck at the first new concept which becomes an obstacle. It stops and tries to apply the concept but struggles to do so. But you continue to read the book. The brain got stuck at the first point, but more points keep coming. And of course, without complete information, what you have is incomplete information. This problem is not peculiar to reading alone. It also applies to listening to lectures in class or on the video or audio device.This can easily be fixed by making the mistake first hand. People learn slowly or quickly forget what they learn because they fear or refuse to make mistakes. So they don’t learn.

 
2. Your brain needs to make the mistake first hand. No matter how good the explanation, you will not get it right the first time. You must make the mistake. And this is because your interpretation varies from the writer or author. You think you have understood  what you read or heard. But the reality is different. You have only interpreted what they wrote or said, and more often than not, the interpretation is not quite correct. You can only found out how much off the mark you are by trying to implement or teach the concept.


3. The best way to remember a concept better is to experience it. It is not real learning if it stop just at reading or hearing alone. Real learning comes from making mistakes and mistakes come from implementation. It has been generally agreed among experts that:
You remember 10% of what you read
You remember 20% of what you hear
You remember 30% of what you see
You remember 90% of what you do


The Learning Pyramid Concept.
The Learning Pyramid was developed in the early sixties at NTL Institute, Bethel, Maine campus, after a research was carried out about how humans learn and retain what they learn. The research, as represented by the learning pyramid, shows that people remember:



90% of what they learn when they teach someone else or use it immediately.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
10% of what they learn when they have learned from them from reading.
5% of what they learn when they’ve learned them from lecture.

 
The simple solution is to:
Write an article about WHAT you read or heard, teach people WHAT you read about, discuss IT with others or put IT to practice as the case may be. Do not  just read or just learn  SOMETHING. It needs to be discussed, talked, written, felt, etc