Foundations & Method · learning how to learn
The Atelier of Mind
Every other school teaches a subject; this one teaches the mind that studies it.
The Instruments — working tools, not descriptions of tools
The Memory Palace — place ten things in a house, then walk it
Type up to ten items to remember, drag each into a room, then walk the house and recall what you left where.
The Feynman Studio — explain it, and the ink pushes back
Explain any lesson in your own words. The Studio flags sentences over 25 words and jargon you used but never defined.
The Exam Countdown — a review plan that respects forgetting
Give it your test date; it schedules reviews at 10–20% of the days remaining — the successive-relearning rhythm.
The 25·5 timer
Twenty-five minutes of ink, five of air. It rides along inside every lesson — look for “25·5 timer” in the folio tools.
A century of memory research, read closely: what the evidence says about studying, and why so much common practice ignores it.
5 Study Systems & Note-TakingCornell pages, card boxes, slip boxes, and calendars — systems that carry the remembering so attention can go to the thinking.
5 Focus, Motivation & ProcrastinationWhy starting is the hardest part, what attention can and cannot do, and how to build days on which work reliably happens.
5 Critical ThinkingHow to weigh a claim, name the flaw in an argument, and change your mind at the right speed.
4 Reading Faster & DeeperSpeed is a byproduct of skill: how strong readers preview, question, and keep what a page gives them.
4 Test-Taking & PerformancePreparation you can trust and nerves you can steer — exam performance treated as a craft, not a temperament.
4 Learning Differences & Accessible StudyDyslexia, ADHD, and the range of minds between — what the research supports, and how to shape study to fit.
4 Learning by TeachingThe sharpest test of understanding is an audience: tutoring, explanation, and the protégé effect put to work.