0:02 there are six levels or types of
0:05 thinking that every student or learner
0:07 of any age should master and each of
0:11 these six levels leads to a different
0:14 level of result unfortunately most of
0:16 the students I work with stuck in these
0:19 first few levels of thinking and the
0:21 reason that they struggle to reach top
0:23 results is because they are thinking at
0:25 the wrong level when this happens it
0:27 causes a lot of stress it wastes a lot
0:30 of time it can be very frustrating it
0:32 feel impossible to reach top results
0:34 with any degree of confidence and with
0:36 enough time we can start thinking that
0:39 maybe we're just not cut out for it but
0:42 that probably is not true and for me
0:44 learning how to think deliberately at
0:46 the right level is one of the main
0:48 reasons I was able to achieve top
0:50 academic results in both medical school
0:52 and for my masters of education and
0:55 trust me I'm certainly not a genius I've
0:58 seen similar results with thousands of
0:59 students and professionals that have
1:01 trained over years and by the end of
1:02 this video you'll be able to see what
1:05 level you tend to operate at and how you
1:06 can get to the level that you need to be
1:10 and FYI the level you need to be is
1:13 probably higher than you think but we'll
1:16 get to that later so the first level is
1:18 all about memorizing things this
1:22 involves a lot of rereading uh rewriting
1:24 it is usually very repetitive it can
1:27 feel very tedious it often makes us feel
1:30 drowsy and this level is called
1:33 remember it is the level of roote
1:34 learning and repeating hundreds and
1:37 thousands of flash cards this is the way
1:40 I and maybe you studied for like most of
1:43 High School uh and it's maybe the reason
1:45 why you might have hated studying and
1:47 when you do this level of thinking and
1:50 studying then it unlocks level one
1:53 result which is
1:56 regurgitate the regurgitate level is all
1:59 about listing defining stating facts
2:02 it's the kinds of questions that are
2:03 less common as you go through our
2:06 University and become semi useless in
2:08 professional life confusingly even
2:09 though this first level is called
2:11 remember it's actually not a very good
2:14 way to hold on to and retain the things
2:16 that you learn uh but we'll talk about
2:18 that later the second level of learning
2:21 is about really trying to comprehend
2:23 what you are learning rather than just
2:25 like repeatedly smash it into your brain
2:28 this is the level that we call
2:31 understand now there's a reason I've
2:34 been saying these are levels of thinking
2:36 uh and not different levels of studying
2:39 and that's because your intentions
2:41 really matter you could have two people
2:44 doing exactly the same technique and for
2:47 someone looking at you it can look
2:48 exactly the same and then when you ask
2:51 them hey how are you studying they might
2:53 both just say I'm just reading my
2:56 textbook but mentally it's different for
2:59 the person at level one by reading they
3:01 actually mean mean I'm reading it again
3:03 and again so I can try to get it stuck
3:06 in my head whereas for the person in
3:09 level two what they mean is I'm reading
3:11 it so I can understand what it's trying
3:13 to say and wrap my head around it and so
3:16 naturally at level two thinking
3:19 understand what we unlock is level two
3:22 result which is
3:24 explain this allows us to answer
3:27 questions that require us to explain our
3:29 understanding of a concept or a process
3:30 these these types of questions often
3:33 make up the bulk of most assessments up
3:35 until around later in uni now if this is
3:37 sounding familiar to you so far it's
3:38 because it's described in a framework
3:40 called Bloom's revised taxonomy which
3:42 was first published in
3:45 1956 and then later revised in 2001 and
3:49 even though it is 70 years old uh it is
3:51 still one of the most underrated
3:53 principle that most students have never
3:55 heard of and if you have heard of it
3:56 stick around because I'll teach you a
3:58 way of using it that helped me double my
4:01 learning efficiency so level three is
4:04 about using what you have leared to then
4:07 solve problems and this is a level that
4:10 we call apply now this is where things
4:11 can get a little bit confusing because a
4:13 lot of people misunderstand this about
4:15 Bloom's taxonomy there are lots of
4:17 different ways that you can apply your
4:19 knowledge to solve problems so for
4:22 example you have what we I would say are
4:24 simple problems uh these are the types
4:26 of problems where you learn something
4:28 and then you just directly use that
4:29 thing that you learned to solve a
4:31 problem so for example in math or
4:33 physics you learn an equation or formula
4:35 and there is a problem that you need to
4:37 solve by just using that equation or
4:40 formula then again there are what I
4:42 might call a little bit more advanced
4:44 problems and these are the ones where
4:46 you actually have to think about the
4:48 best way to tackle the problem there are
4:51 a combination of Concepts that you need
4:53 to apply in a certain sequence and
4:55 there's a lot more strategic thinking
4:59 involved at level three we're mostly
5:02 talking about the first one simple
5:06 problem solving and so we unlock that
5:09 level which is the simple problem
5:11 solving result we're now able to solve
5:14 what I call One to One problems where
5:17 there is one concept you learn and the
5:19 problem requires that one concept to
5:21 solve and you can get to this level
5:25 level three by just literally solving
5:27 questions and solving problems lots of
5:30 practice papers and quizzes have
5:32 questions at the apply level for
5:34 something more procedural like coding it
5:36 might be building a simple function with
5:38 a few simple variables but what about
5:41 the harder and more complex questions
5:43 the types of problems that are Advanced
5:46 this is where level four thinking comes
5:48 in we're entering into the territory of
5:51 higher order learning people who know
5:54 how to think at level four tend to do
5:57 pretty well but level four thinkers are
5:59 not common and you'll see why why that
6:02 is soon level four thinking is all about
6:05 comparing and contrasting it's about
6:07 looking for similarities and differences
6:10 we call this level analyze it's the
6:12 first time that we're not just looking
6:14 at information by itself but we're
6:16 looking at it in relation to another
6:18 piece of information and there are
6:20 countless techniques that help with
6:24 level four analyze Vin diagrams making
6:26 tables making summaries that explain the
6:28 similarities and differences using mind
6:31 maps so in problems and questions that
6:33 force you to compare one Concept in
6:35 relation to another all of these things
6:38 are going to be helpful really any
6:42 technique is effective as long as it
6:46 forces you to compare and contrast one
6:49 thing against another thing so unlocking
6:53 level four accesses the level four
6:57 result which is the comparison level and
6:58 instead of just giving you some examples
6:59 of what comparison looks like like I'm
7:02 going to do one bit and show you this
7:04 great little study tip that you can use
7:07 go on to something like chbt or Gemini
7:10 and type in this prompt give me
7:13 questions at the educational stage that
7:15 you want so let's say second year
7:19 university level for the subject so
7:23 let's say in this example we'll say uh
7:29 microbiology at blooms revised taxonomy
7:30 level in this case it's going to be
7:33 level four and these are exactly the
7:35 types of questions that test you at
7:37 level four and you'll see that every
7:39 single option forces you to compare
7:42 ideas against each other now the reason
7:44 that this technique is actually useful
7:46 to use in your studying is because
7:49 Bloom's revised taxonomy was not created
7:53 for people like you like a learner they
7:56 were created for educators and exam
7:59 writers and internationally almost every
8:03 single curriculum is designed around
8:06 Bloom's taxonomy or a similar taxonomy
8:07 they're all pretty similar to each other
8:10 which means your exam writer is thinking
8:13 in this way to create the questions that
8:15 are going to filter out the good versus
8:17 the great Learners which means you can
8:20 now predict the types of questions
8:21 they're going to ask you and even create
8:25 your own practice papers but here is why
8:29 level four thinkers are not common as
8:33 soon as you jump from level three to
8:37 level four you will 100% notice that
8:40 this level of thinking requires more
8:42 mental effort it is harder to do you're
8:45 thinking for longer and more deeply than
8:47 the previous levels which is a good
8:48 thing because it means that your brain
8:50 is forming deeper knowledge and stronger
8:53 memory but it can feel like you've
8:56 gotten slower and some people think that
8:58 that means they're doing something wrong
9:01 so even though most students can think
9:04 at level four most students choose not
9:08 to because it doesn't feel as easy this
9:09 is a phenomenon called the
9:13 misinterpreted effort hypothesis and it
9:15 prevents the majority of Learners from
9:18 ever really improving and this is even
9:21 more the case at level five level five
9:23 thinking is for the top Learners if you
9:25 can think at level five you will be
9:28 reaching those top results it's also the
9:30 level that people find the most
9:31 confusing so I'm going to make it really
9:36 simple for you level five is all about
9:39 Judgment at level four we analyzed we
9:41 compared and contrasted we found
9:44 similarities and differences at level
9:47 five we're asking so what what does it
9:50 matter who cares why is it important
9:52 level five is called
9:55 evaluate and learning to think at this
9:58 level unlocks the level five result
10:00 which is
10:02 prioritize so let's do that little AI
10:04 trick again and see the difference in
10:07 the types of questions we get so you can
10:08 see level four on the left and level
10:10 five on the right so notice that at
10:12 level five we are forming conclusions
10:14 and now we have to justify it it's not
10:16 enough like at level four just to know
10:18 that there are similarities and
10:20 differences we then have to use that
10:22 knowledge to make a decision level five
10:25 thinking takes much more effort uh and
10:27 you'll know that you are doing it right
10:29 when you are going back and forth
10:31 between the material trying to answer
10:34 the question in your head of why does
10:35 this matter how does it fit in with
10:38 everything else why do I need to care
10:39 you're going to be jumping between your
10:41 lectures and your textbook and doing a
10:43 Google search these are the signs that
10:45 you are operating at level five and it's
10:48 not as easy as the previous levels but
10:51 to reach level five results you need to
10:54 go through this and level four and level
10:55 five are the types of questions and
10:57 challenges you'll find in second and
11:00 third year university and Beyond on uh
11:02 and in postgrad studies most of what
11:05 you're assist at is level four and level
11:07 five also pretty much any senior
11:11 position in any profession will require
11:12 you to have level four and level five
11:14 thinking and much like before it's less
11:17 about what your Technique looks like and
11:19 more about what's happening inside your
11:22 brain for example for level five mind
11:26 maps uh teaching answering questions uh
11:29 creating summaries these are all
11:33 techniques that are great for level five
11:36 but you could also do all of those
11:40 techniques and still not do it at level
11:41 five if you're not thinking in the right
11:44 way for example it's easy to make a mind
11:45 map just connecting a bunch of lines and
11:47 arrows together between words forming a
11:49 few groups and categories here and there
11:51 and just call it done but that's not
11:53 level five thinking it's very different
11:56 to for example creating a mind map where
11:59 you're critically evaluating which lines
12:01 and relationships are more important
12:03 than other possible relationships and
12:05 you're thinking what is the best way I
12:08 can group these ideas together mentally
12:10 it's a very different process even
12:11 though physically it can look very
12:13 similar now level six I'll go through
12:15 this one pretty quickly because finally
12:17 enough it's actually less important for
12:21 most people level six is about creating
12:24 a hypothesis it's about synthesizing new
12:26 and novel information from what you
12:29 already know this level is called create
12:31 and when you unlock create it unlocks
12:34 the level six result which is
12:36 hypothesize now some people think that
12:39 level six create is any situation where
12:42 you have to generate anything with your
12:44 knowledge uh this is not true it's only
12:50 level six if you are creating a answer
12:53 for something that you don't think the
12:56 answer exists in your knowledge already
12:58 you're identifying a gap and you're
13:01 creating a potential answer that makes
13:03 sense based on what you do know and the
13:04 reason level six is not as important as
13:07 the previous levels is because most
13:11 people will not really be assisted uh at
13:13 level six unless you are at the highest
13:16 levels of Education or your profession
13:19 most people in their daily lives will be
13:22 at the top of their game just being able
13:25 to perform at level five consistently
13:26 but just for your knowledge here are
13:28 some examples of level six and as you
13:30 can see it's pretty Advanced you can
13:31 pause to read this a little bit more if
13:32 you like or you can jump onto your AI
13:34 and do this for your own subject now
13:35 here's the part that is going to blow
13:38 your mind if you want to get to level
13:41 five and level six there are actually
13:44 two different methods to get there the
13:46 first way is to start studying and just
13:49 to go through each level from bottom to
13:51 top first you remember it and then you
13:52 understand it and then you apply it and
13:54 then you analyze it so on and so forth
13:58 this sounds very logical but for most
14:00 people this will not work the problem
14:02 with starting at the bottom mastering
14:04 level one then mastering level two then
14:06 mastering level three Etc is that it is
14:10 very very time consuming and most people
14:13 do not have enough time to even reach
14:16 level five let alone Master it so in
14:17 reality most people will just do a
14:19 little bit of each level kind of back
14:21 and forth like for example in lectures
14:23 they might be doing little bit of level
14:24 one and then a little bit of level two
14:26 and then later when doing some quizzes
14:27 they might be doing a bit of level two
14:29 and a little bit of level three and just
14:31 sort of moving back and forth if they do
14:32 a more challenging question they'll be
14:34 doing a little bit of level four and
14:36 then level five and this doesn't really
14:40 work very well because we will always
14:42 forget things over time in research we
14:44 call this phenomenon knowledge Decay it
14:47 occurs because the memory has something
14:49 called a forgetting curve so basically
14:52 while you're doing level two and level
14:55 three our knowledge of level one will
14:58 slowly Decay away right we're going to
15:00 forget it and so instead of being able
15:02 to actually just move up the levels
15:03 we're going to be spending most of our
15:05 time just relearning the things that we
15:08 continuously forget so instead here is
15:11 the better way to reach the higher
15:13 levels instead of starting at level one
15:16 and moving up we're going to start at
15:19 level five and actually move down
15:20 remember level five because level six is
15:21 not relevant for most people and the
15:24 reason this works is because our brain
15:26 actually processes information and forms
15:30 memory more strongly at level five than
15:32 it does at level one and when we set our
15:34 sights at the top our brain will
15:38 actually fill in and achieve the lower
15:41 levels of results along the way as
15:42 almost like a side effect and this
15:44 doesn't work the other way around if we
15:47 are trying to just learn so that we can
15:49 regurgitate material our brain is not
15:52 going to then be able to automatically
15:54 compare or prioritize information but if
15:57 we are trying to compare and prioritize
16:00 then we will gain better memory so that
16:03 we can if we need to regurgitate explain
16:05 and solve problems now by the way the
16:06 science on this gets a little bit
16:08 complicated so if you want me to go
16:09 deeper in on this then let me know in
16:11 the comments like I said level five
16:14 takes more mental effort but it pays off
16:17 big time by forgetting less so this
16:19 means when we start studying don't focus
16:22 on trying to remember or understand
16:25 Focus most of your attention on trying
16:28 to evaluate which forces you to
16:30 understand and analyze it in the first
16:31 place now if you found this video useful
16:33 and you want to get the key points
16:35 summarized sent straight to your inbox
16:37 then I've actually got a newslet where I
16:40 distill my decade of coaching people to
16:42 learn more efficiently into bite-sized
16:46 emails each email covers one key concept
16:48 that I think every learner would benefit
16:50 from with some practical takeaways the
16:53 learnings from this video are also in
16:54 one of those newsletters too if you're
16:55 interested check out the link in the
16:58 description or go to Icon study.com
17:00 learning drop to sign up and you will
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17:04 straight away as always thank you so
17:06 much for watching and I'll see you in
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