Book quiz
Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Quiz
Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your CareerScott H. YoungScott Young completed MIT’s computer science curriculum in a year using open materials, then learned to speak four languages in another year. From his projects and other people’s stories, he assembled nine principles of learning. This book explores why years of study sometimes barely advance a skill and what you can…
Question 1 of 5
Two weeks in Paris are coming up. Where would Young suggest starting with French?
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Right answer: With what you need: talking in cafes and shops
Metalearning: first work out why you want the skill and what it involves. The goal decides which part of the subject comes first and what you can almost skip.
Question 2 of 5
What does Young suggest when you can't make yourself sit down to study?
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Right answer: Agree with yourself to stick it out for five minutes
Resistance is strongest in the first minutes. Agree to bear it for just five minutes and allow yourself to quit after: often you no longer want to stop.
Question 3 of 5
Two years on a language app, yet live speech is still hard to follow. What would help faster, per Young?
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Right answer: Talk with native speakers, even from a phrasebook
Directness: learn as close as possible to the situation where the skill is used. Knowledge gained in one setting does not always carry over to another on its own.
Question 4 of 5
A guitarist plays a whole song and stumbles at the same transition every time. What would Young advise?
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Right answer: Practice that one transition on its own
A complex skill is often held back by one weak part. Direct practice shows where it is, and separate drilling helps strengthen it.
Question 5 of 5
After a presentation you want to know what to improve. Which question to a colleague is more useful, per Young?
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Right answer: "At what point did you get bored?"
A general reaction only says how it went overall. More valuable is feedback that points to a specific mistake and how to fix it.
Want all of the book's key ideas? Read or listen to its retelling in Livria.