How To Learn Fast & Master New Skills Quickly

For some, finding the focus to learn and retain information can be difficult. Without proper methods and techniques which suit your learning style, picking up a new skill could take far longer than it needs to.

To help you master quick learning, we’ve listed out some of the most effective learning tips for adults. From taking a course to making sure you’re well rested, we’re covering some great insight which may just be exactly what you need.

1. Take a course to learn from an expert

2. Write notes by hand

3. Say it out loud

4. Take regular breaks

5. Take a test

6. Teach someone else

7. Switch up your learning methods

9. Use mnemonic devices

10. Get plenty of sleep

An adult course is a great way to learn a new skill quickly, as you're able to receive direct teaching from tutors who are trained to help you retain information. If you’ve previously been using an online tutorial, or reading a book or article, you may have found learning tricky as these methods only present the information to you.

Learning from an expert allows you to benefit from their professional experience. You can ask them questions directly and get clear feedback to reinforce your learning. 

Plus, educational courses for adults are often designed with fast learning in mind. Many of the techniques in this list will already be implemented into the curriculum of a course, backed up with a depth of information about your chosen skill.

Plus, educational courses for adults are often designed with fast learning in mind. Many of the techniques we've listed below will already be implemented into the curriculum of a course, backed up with a plethora of information about your chosen skill.

What are adult courses?

Adult courses are courses designed for people above the school age. At City Lit anyone over the age of 19 can enroll onto one of our courses. Adult courses are usually part-time or self-paced allowing you to learn and gain new skills without putting your life on hold. Learn more about the benefits of adult courses here.

︽

If you’re working on a new skill, you can’t underestimate the power of putting pen to paper. While you might type faster than you write, noting down important points can improve your understanding of the subject matter. This is because it forces you to process the information more slowly, as you transfer the information you’re hearing into notes on a page.

According to a study at Princeton University, handwritten notes can help you to listen more actively, enabling you to extract the key takeaways and recall the information later on.

︽

Speaking aloud can improve our memory of information as we tend to remember our conversations more clearly than our thoughts.

As speech improves memory, you’re likely to learn things more quickly if you discuss them with a colleague or friend. However, if you’d prefer to learn alone, you can use the same method by writing small summaries of your learning material and reading them out loud.

While it may sound counter-intuitive, taking regular breaks can help you to learn a skill more quickly. When you’re learning a physical skill, most improvements take place during the breaks between practice sessions.

Learning in short bursts over a longer period of time encourages your brain to hold on to information, as it encounters it more regularly. Taking a break every 15 minutes or so can be immensely effective but studying consistently over a few months helps too.

Studies show that self-testing is a valuable tool when learning a new skill. Try finding example test questions and quizzes around your chosen topic (or write your own) and answer them without checking your books. This will speed up your learning in two ways:

1. When you answer a question correctly, you strengthen the memory of that information as your confidence grows.
2. When you get a question wrong, you remember the error and do extra research to find the right answer. Next time you encounter that question, you’re more likely to recall the correct answer.

Also known as the protégé effect, learning by teaching is a great way to master a new skill or subject. Teaching someone will force you to break the information down into small, manageable chunks, so a fresh pair of eyes with little or no prior knowledge can comprehend it.

Explaining and demonstrating your knowledge helps to reinforce your own understanding. You might also encounter some areas you don’t feel confident teaching — so you can identify which topics you need to spend more time on too.

If you find yourself hitting a wall which is preventing your quick learning, don’t be afraid to change your learning methods. For example, try adding alternative methods of learning to your routine on different days, so you don’t end up repeating the same practice again and again.

You could spend one session reading about your chosen skill and writing up the key points, and another creating a presentation to deliver these points to someone else. Changing your learning methods like this should help to keep you interested and encourage you to plan your learning.

When learning a new topic, try and relate it to information or concepts you already understand. Comparing it to similar subjects that you’re comfortable with can help you process the new information much quicker. By attaching new theories or facts to a concept you already understand, you’re treating it as an extension, which will make you more likely to remember it.

For example, if you’re learning a language and you know a few simple words or phrases already, try and use any new vocabulary alongside those terms. You might know how to say “hello” in French, so you could learn to ask, “how are you?” as a natural follow-up rather than a different, unrelated question.

︽

Mnemonic devices are a very popular learning technique, which involves creating a pattern or association that helps you to recall specific information. These devices can take the form of just about anything — from songs and poems to acronyms or visualisations.

Mnemonics can seem a bit complicated at first, but you’ve likely used them often in the past without realising. For instance, singing the alphabet, remembering North, East, South and West as ‘never eat shredded wheat’, or spelling ‘necessary’ by thinking of a t-shirt with one collar and two sleeves.

That’s right — getting a good night’s sleep has a significant effect on how well you retain any information you learned on the same day. Research[4] suggests that there’s a direct link between REM sleep, Slow Wave Sleep and the strengthening of memories, so if you’re sleep-deprived, your memory could be negatively impacted.

While it might be tempting to cram in a few extra hours of revision or practice before bedtime, it could be a wasted effort if you’re sacrificing sleep. How you spend your time when you’re not learning can be just as important as your chosen learning methods.

︽