You Keep Getting Stuck Trying to Climb Up from the Bottom

Does this happen to you too?

You memorized the first chapter carefully. Then the second. Then the third.

By the time you reached the fifth chapter, you suddenly noticed — the first chapter had almost been wiped from your memory.

You went back again. You moved forward again. And the syllabus just never seems to end.

Going around in this cycle month after month, a weariness builds up — the kind of weariness that sleep does not cure.

Today I will tell you: the fault is not in your perseverance. The fault is in the order.

There are six levels of learning. This is called Bloom's Taxonomy —

1. Remember — memorizing 2. Understand — grasping the meaning 3. Apply — putting into practice 4. Analyze — comparing and analyzing 5. Evaluate — judging, reaching a conclusion, and standing it up with reasoning 6. Create — creating something new

Each level unlocks a different kind of result. And for the best results, your goal should be at least level five.

Now let us come to the real point.

Almost all of us think — first I will memorize, then I will understand, then I will apply. That is, from the bottom to the top.

This is the biggest waste of time.

Because of knowledge decay and the forgetting curve — these two — what you learn at the lower levels fades quickly. As a result, most of your time while climbing up is spent relearning what you have forgotten.

You are indeed moving forward, but the ground behind you is slipping away at the same speed.

The solution: start from the opposite direction.

Start from level five (Evaluate) and work your way down. The surprising thing is — the lower levels get fulfilled on their own, as a bonus.

Why? Because to judge an idea, you have to understand it, you have to compare it, and you have to remember the key facts too. The very process of judging pulls all the other levels along with it.

What does it look like in practice?

Suppose a chapter has three theories. With the conventional method, you would memorize the definitions of the three.

With the reverse method, you will ask — "Which of these three gives the strongest explanation? Why?" "In what situation does each one break down?" "If I had to choose only one, which would I choose — and what is my reasoning?"

While searching for the answers to these questions, you will end up learning the definitions of all three — but this time you will not forget, because they have settled into a framework of reasoning.

Now, a word of caution.

Higher-level thinking will certainly feel hard and slow. In the beginning it will seem like "This is taking more time, and it isn't working."

Do not take this as a mistake. This misinterpreted effort trap is what keeps most students stuck at the lower levels. Feeling that it is hard means the brain is working deeply.

And one practical tip.

Tell ChatGPT or Gemini your subject and your level of study, and ask for questions at a specific level of Bloom's. For example: "I am studying the photosynthesis chapter in HSC biology. Give me 5 questions at the Evaluate level of Bloom's Taxonomy."

Question-setters think in exactly this framework too. So this way you can make your own practice questions, and you can also guess the style of the exam in advance.

In short: when you begin studying, do not concentrate your attention on memorizing or understanding. Give most of your attention to evaluate. The remaining levels will come along with it on their own.

Tomorrow, Day 06 — Emotion, Sleep and Exercise: the three foundations of learning, without which no technique stands.

Today, take one chapter and begin with this question: "Which is more important, and why?" You will notice the difference.

May Allah grant us wisdom. Ameen.

This piece is taken from a part of the book "The Art of Learning". The full framework, the remaining chapters, and the section on Knowledge, Dua and Ruqyah are in the book — See the book