Learning How to Learn

The ability to understand, design, and optimize your own learning process so you can acquire any skill or knowledge domain faster and more effectively over time.

Learning how to learn is the meta-skill that accelerates every other skill. It involves recognizing how you currently learn, applying evidence-based strategies such as spaced repetition and active recall, building personalized learning systems, and continuously refining your approach through metacognitive reflection. Grounded in the Plan-Monitor-Evaluate cycle from cognitive science, this skill transforms passive experience into deliberate, compounding growth.

Self Development

7 Levels

Published: Feb 21, 2026 · Updated: Apr 18, 2026 · v6

Levels

You are at the Tacit stage of Perkins' metacognitive learner model: learning happens, but you have not examined how or why. You rely on whatever methods feel natural: re-reading, highlighting, or simply repeating until something sticks. If you've checked off most of this list you start observing your own learning behavior, identifying when you focus well and when you drift, and asking the foundational question: "How do I actually learn?"

Can list at least 3 specific things you learned in the past month and describe how you learned each one
Can name 3 or more learning methods you currently use by default and explain when you tend to use each
Can set a concrete learning goal for the next 2 weeks and write it down with a measurable outcome
Can identify the time of day when your concentration is highest and provide evidence from personal observation
Can list at least 3 factors that regularly disrupt your focus during study or practice sessions

What Comes Next

If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Aware Learner stage, exploring evidence-based techniques like spaced repetition and active recall and tracking their effectiveness in a learning journal. Oakley & Sejnowski's Learning How to Learn course suggests starting with one technique at a time, keeping it small enough to stick as a daily habit.

References

Barbara Oakley & Terrence Sejnowski (UC San Diego / Coursera)Competency Framework

World's most enrolled online course on learning science, covering chunking, spaced repetition, and focused/diffuse thinking modes used to calibrate L1-L4 technique progression

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDanieltextbook

Evidence-based learning strategies grounded in cognitive psychology research, providing scientific basis for checklist design across retrieval practice, interleaving, and metacognition

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)Proficiency Scale

Plan-Monitor-Evaluate cycle framework for metacognitive skill development used to define L3-L5 self-regulation and teaching progression

Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning — Education Endowment Foundation

Science (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011)academic_research

Landmark Science-published study experimentally demonstrating that retrieval practice produces superior long-term retention compared to elaborative studying, providing academic evidence for L2-L4 checklist items on self-testing, spaced repetition, and retrieval-based learning.

Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping

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Learning How to Learn

Levels

Level 1#LearningHabit#PatternAwareness#GoalSettingLearns by instinct and habit without a deliberate strategy, but begins to notice and question personal learning patterns for the first time.

Level 2#SpacedRepetition#ActiveRecall#LearningJournalActively explores evidence-based learning techniques, experiments with multiple approaches, and begins tracking study habits to move beyond passive learning.

Level 3#PlanMonitorEvaluate#StrategySelection#SelfRegulationSelects learning strategies based on the goal and content type, runs a Plan-Monitor-Evaluate cycle independently, and tracks learning efficiency with personal metrics.

Level 4#Metacognition#LearningSystem#CognitiveBiasReflects deeply on the learning process itself, builds a personalized learning system with tools and routines, and optimizes that system through data-driven iteration.

Level 5#CrossDomainTransfer#LearnerMentoring#AdaptiveGuidanceTransfers learning strategies across unrelated domains, teaches and mentors individual learners with tailored guidance, and adapts methods to fit different contexts.

Level 6#MethodologyDesign#OrganizationalLearning#LearningScientistDevelops original learning methodologies, designs learning programs for organizations, and earns recognition as a thought leader in the field of learning.

Level 7#LearningParadigm#EducationalInnovation#GenerationalInfluenceChallenges and redefines how society understands learning, creates work that shapes educational systems or learning technology, and leaves a lasting cross-generational legacy.

References

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