I want to share with you something that
will really help you in your exams.
It's named after Richard Feynman, Professor
Richard Feynman.
He figured out a very simple technique to master a subject and remember it in a quick and simple way
without getting caught up
with all the stuff he already knew.
He wanted to master new knowledge and this is how we did it.
It was a way of understanding concepts really simply and remembering those concepts.
I'm going to show you how you can make it even more powerful with a mind map.
So in his biography it explains the four
steps to his technique.
Step one is to write everything you know on a sheet of paper.
Once you've done that add any new
information you get from your studies
your books your lecture notes.
Step two is to pretend to explain it to an
imaginary class.
Stand up there and literally, in private, speak out loud and explain your subject to an imaginary class.
While you're doing that you will start noticing those
bits that start tripping you up, where
you start using complicated language
or you just freeze and you're not quite
sure what that means.
In your notes, you mark those areas that you've got a bit
stuck the gaps in your knowledge.
That's the goal; to find the gaps, not go over all the things you know already, but to find the gaps.
Step three you have
found those gaps and you fill those gaps.
You fill them by going back to your
notes or your books and rereading them
around that little gap, not reading the
whole thing, but just around that
particular gap you've identified and
fill it in.
Often that gap needs filled in with the fourth step, which is an example.
A simple word or a simple example. Sometimes it is a complicated word or terminology or concept.
That is your task then; to find a simple
explanation for it using the real world
like; it's like a bicycle, or it's like
walking up a hill, or something falling
off a cliff. Use something that's real
and an example.
And then you go back to the beginning, step 2, where you explain it again.
So you get your notes out, you stand there in front of your imaginary class and you explain it all over again.
This time, with your simple words and your simple examples,
you will make the breakthrough where it
clicks and you've got it.
You know you've got it because you can explain it simply to your pretend class.
That's his technique and he just keeps repeating that until he feels totally mastered that subject.
He can really explain that
to someone on a simple level.
Sometimes people asked him to go and
explain something complex.
He'd go away and he'd try and make it straight forward to a basic level.
He'd find he couldn't and that would be a sign
to him that he had to study that area more.
And that's what he would do. Now
let's think about how you can do that as
a 14 or 15 year old doing your exams
with a mind map.
With a mind map, stage one is very simple.
You've got your note map from your
lecture or your and textbook. Once
you've drawn that, you've done stage one.
You've got your notes written down.Then
stage two; to pretend to teach your class.
That's really simple with a mind map
because you just point to the next word
explain that, point to the next word and
explain that, until you've
explained your whole mind map in three
or four minutes, for example.
While you're doing your mind
map when you get stuck or there's a gap
in your knowledge, you mark
that down with a question mark or an
asterisk, whatever mark you want.
You go back and you study it again and you enrich the same mind map.
This time, often, it's with an example that has a clear image like let's say "it's like a knife".
You write that and draw a little knife.
Often those are the key points
that become really important in
remembering something for a test or an
exam.
Those gaps become your best friends because they have, hidden behind them,
an example or something that's waiting to come out
from your imagination, or your friends, or your teacher. You pull that out.
Once you've got those four steps, you've built
those gaps, you go back and you repeat
the process and explain it to your
imaginary class until all those gaps are
filled.
And you've got a mind map that isn't just words it's got examples in it
and images in it.
And that's something that can lay the foundation of an a map
you can take into your exam because it's got those images and examples.
That's the Feynman technique and combine it with a mind map is really beneficial
because a mind map gives you;
step one: the summary of the information,
then you use your mind map to point and
explain the pretend class.
Then you use
your same mind map to enrich that mind
map with more information and an example
which is often a picture of some sort, you've got your picture.
Then you explain it again the fourth time
with these examples and analogies and you've got it.
You've not just got a really good explanation.
You've got a strong mind map that is a step closer to being
something you can actually use to take
into your exam in your imagination.
So I want you to practice that.
I want you to take a mind map you've got right now, pick it up.
Find somewhere private and just explain that mind map out loud to your pretend class.
And identify those
areas you've got gaps and just mark them in.
You don't have to go and study all
the gaps, just now. I just want you to
know. Practice that pretending to teach a
class
by pointing at the words and speaking out loud.
