Imagine if you had a bucket of water. And every time you attempted to fill the bucket, 90% of the water would leak out instantly. Every time, all you'd retain was a measly 10%. How many times would you keep filling the bucket?
The answer is simple: just once.
The first time you noticed the leak, you'd take action
You'd either fix the bucket or you'd get another bucket, wouldn't you?
Yet that's not at all the way we learn.
Almost all of us waste 90% of our time, resources and learning time, because we don't understand a simple concept called the Learning Pyramid. The Learning Pyramid was developed way back in the 1960s by the NTL Institute in Bethel, Maine. And if you look at the pyramid you'll see something really weird.
That weird thing is that you're wasting time. You're wasting resources. You're just doing everything you can to prevent learning. And here's why.
To summarize the numbers (which sometimes get cited differently) learners retain approximately:
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
10% of what they learn when they've learned from reading.
5% of what they learn when they've learned from lecture.
So why do you retain 90% when you teach someone else or when you implement it immediately?
There's a good reason why. When you implement or teach, you instantly make mistakes. Try it for yourself. (In this article for instance, after I'd read the information, I cited the loss rate as 95% instead of 90% to begin with. I had to go back and correct myself. Then I found three more errors, which I had to fix. These were factual errors that required copy and paste, but I still made the errors).
So as soon as you run into difficulty and start to make mistakes, you have to learn how to correct the mistake. This forces your brain to concentrate.
But surely your brain is concentrating in a lecture or while reading
Sure it is, but it's not making any mistakes. What your brain hears or sees is simply an abstract concept. And no matter how clearly the steps are outlined, there is no way you're going to retain the information. There are two reasons why.
Reason 1: Your brain gets stuck at the first obstacle.
Reason 2: Your brain needs to make the mistake first hand.
Reason 1: Your brain gets stuck at the first obstacle.
Yes it does. And the only way to understand this concept is to pick up a book, watch a video, or listen to audio. Any book, any video, any audio. And you'll find you've missed out at least two or three concepts in just the first few minutes. It's hard to believe at first, but as you keep reading the same chapter over and over, you'll find you're finding more and more that you've missed.
This is because the brain gets stuck at the first new concept/obstacle. It stops and tries to apply the concept but struggles to do so. But you continue to read the book, watch the video or listen to the speaker. The brain got stuck at the first point, but more points keep coming. And of course, without complete information, you have ‘incomplete information'.
Incomplete information can easily be fixed by making the mistake first hand.
Reason 2: Your brain needs to make the mistake first hand
No matter how good the explanation, you will not get it right the first time. You must make the mistake. And this is because your interpretation varies from the writer/speaker. You think you've heard or read what you've heard/read. But the reality is different. You've only interpreted what they've said, and more often than not, the interpretation is not quite correct. You can only find out how much off the mark you are by trying to implement or teach the concept.
So how do you avoid losing 90% of what you've learned?
Well, do what I do. I learn something. I write it down in a mindmap. I talk to my wife or clients about the concept. I write an article about it. I do an audio. And so it goes. A simple concept is never just learned. It needs to be discussed, talked, written, felt etc. (I wrote this article, ten minutes after reading these statistics online).
The next time you pick up a book or watch a video, remember this .
Listening or reading something is just listening or reading.
It's not real learning.
Real learning comes from making mistakes.
And mistakes come from implementation.
And that's how you retain 90% of everything you learn.
Which is why most of the people you meet are always going around in circles.
They refuse to make mistakes. So they don't learn.
They'd rather read a book instead. Or watch a video. Or listen to an audio.
Their bucket is leaking 90% of the time.
But they don't care.
The question is: Do you?
Next Step
One of the biggest reasons why we struggle with our learning is because we run into resistance. Resistance is often just seen as a form of laziness, but that is not true at all. There are hidden forces causing us all to resist doing what we really should do. This slows us down considerably. Find out how to work with resistance, instead of fighting it all the time. Click here to get the free report on ‘How To Win The Resistance Game'.
The answer is simple: just once.
Actually, twice. The first time you discover the leak, then you fill the bucket a second time.
Or you could rephrase: “How many times would you keep filling the bucket?” to: “How many times would you refill the bucket?”
Hi, Sean.
Love your newsletter and articles (and have read and re-read The Brain Audit several times. I’ll have to get the new hard copy version one of these days).
Interesting that you embraced this particular topic/theme in light of the controversy around it. There are probably as many people who debunk the theory as there are who subscribe to it … no identifiable research supporting either side.
The fundamental question is “retain what” and “for how long”. I retain a lot of what I read (like the Brain Audit) and while I conduct workshops, I can’t do them until I have learned the material, which by definition, means I’ve retained it.
I don’t disagree with the concept — along the lines of “see one, do one, teach one” which refers to medical training, I think. I’d just like to know if there’s any real truth to it, or it’s just a myth.
Dave
Great article. It’s nice to know the numbers.
I explain something like this to delegates at the beginning of every course and every one nodds and agree’s how simple it is. Then only 2 or 3 actually practice out of class. It’s easy to see who heeds this advice and who doesn’t.
Kind Regards
Brilliant post, Sean. Thank you.
By the way, I am enjoying your testimonials course and just got a phone recorder so I can start collecting testimonials using your “Six Critical Questions.” Can’t wait to see the response.
I obviously used the information above in good faith, but apparently it’s flawed.
Great job, Sean D’Souza. I’m grateful for Wil Thalheimer’s article because it debunks long touted learning statistics. Despite their being fallacious, the amount of positive responses to Sean’s article implies that there is some validity to his points. I myself recognize the importance of what he had to say. Interest in the material and repetition are important, I agree. I like the suggestion that mistakes are essential for learning. What wasn’t mentioned here is the role of emotion. I find that I can retain something for years if I had an emotional response to it. On the other hand, even things that I have done repeatedly for years can be forgotten over time after I stopped doing them. But something highly emotional, like asking my wife to marry me, I recall today 25 years later.
Hi,
Interesting article – never seen numbers attached to the various methods of learning and the emphasis on making mistakes is valid although I would perhaps use the phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ in this context as well.
For many years I ran my own construction company and before that my own factory – both relatively small businesses.
I eventually developed a training plan where I would limit each session, run by myself, to 20 minutes. I then cut that to 10 minutes and in some cases as low as five minutes – all acompanied by practice afterwards, sometimes during.
I cut the training time from 20 to 10 mins because I’d found that if I couldn’t explain and demonstrate something in 10 or 5 mins, that was mainly because I didn’t really understand it deeply enough myself, or I hadn’t thought about what the essence of the task was or that the task itself was uneccessarily complex.
Consequently, I came to really know all about every task, many of which I can stilll recall in minute detail some 20 years later.
So I fully endorse the principle of ‘learning and retaining by training and explaining’
Don Kiddle
Actually Sean, you’re both “wrong” although you’re more right than Cath is.
You fill the bucket and discover the leak. That’s once.
If you get rid of that bucket, you’ve only filled it once.
If you fix the bucket, you fill it (and refill it) many times.
And the difference between “refill” and “keep filling” is merely idiomatic semantics.
Keep up the GREAT work. Absolutely love getting your newsletters.
I’m a teacher, so I know exactly what you mean. I have learned five or six languages other than my mother tongue, but I have only retained one, French. That’s because I taught French for several years.
Writing practice exams helps you a lot while preparing for a big test because, you learn from your mistakes and never forget the subject again!
Thank you so much
G’Day Sean,
Thanks for posting this. It’s a further reason to specify, in measurable terms , what “trainees” are going to be able to actually do at the end of a training activity that they couldn’t do at the start.
The important word is “do:” not understand, appreciate, gain insight about or even learn how.
I’ve yet to see any web based training or instruction which commences with the words, “at the end of this training, course, program or whatever, you will be able to………”
And it helps explain why most of the training I’ve seen–and sadly paid for in some cases– on the web ranges from very ordinary to outstandingly poor in quality.
Anyway, make sure you have fun….
Happy Christmas
Leon
Good post. No one taught me this – I had to learn the hard way… making mistakes. Being dyslexic I made many mistakes in my learning. Maybe because of those many mistakes I realized practicing it was the key.
My secret was learning to cheat. Distilling a semester down to one sheet taught me the course. Now I cheat with everything I do.
For over 40 years there’s been a self-perpetuating graph
which converted the ability to retain knowledge from different
learning methods into percentages. The only two features to emerge
with any credibility from this process are, one that the statistics
were 100% unsubstantiated by research and that two, the order has a
reasonable degree of logic to it and is worth building upon. So if
the method of educating were a seven-horse race . . . Method Horse
Name Lecture Tell Me Reading Read Me Audiovisual Watch Me
Demonstration Show Me Discussion Chat to Me Practice Let’s Do It
Teaching Let Me Tell You . . . the outsider would be the Tell Me,
the clear favourite Let Me Tell You. But as anyone who has had a
flutter knows, bookmakers’ odds don’t determine the outcome of the
race. Form, weather conditions and the jockey all play significant
roles. So too with learning where the mood of the participant, the
teaching environment and the performance of the lecturer, determine
what is going to stick in the mind. We at Maersk Training in
Denmark have for over thirty years been teaching seafarers and
oilmen some of the most technical and challenging tasks at work. We
don’t have access to seven horses so in order to put the flawed
pyramid to bed we aim to take a party of volunteers into the
kitchen. Over three days we will employ each of the methods of
learning and see if we can taste the difference. Well, it’s semi
scientific.
Agreed. Let life join you.
🙂
Hi,
Thank you for the post,you have a very good points.You might find this resource very interesting .
http://www.commlabindia.com/retain-everything-you-learn/
Regards,
Vandana
I have trouble taking this article as serious fact-and-advice since you read the info online a few minutes beforehand. Where did those statistics come from? Who gathered them? When?
Also, what makes you think you’re an expert, or even well-versed enough to write about this topic, after ten minutes of researching?
As you say, listening is just listening, but i still remember all the lyrics to songs i haven’t heard in years
Exactly
Hey, the percentages may be a fraud, as some readers have pointed out, but I couldn’t agree more on the 2 reasons for ineffectual learning, based solely on my personal experience.
Having gone from an extremely good and hands-on educational system where production and mistakes were encouraged, to the most traditional, lecture based undergrad and postgrad school, my almost 10-year long introspection for the lack of knowledge retention has been finally spelled out here.
Thank you :)!
The answer is simple: just once.
Actually, twice. The first time you discover the leak, then you fill the bucket a second time.
Or you could rephrase: “How many times would you keep filling the bucket?” to: “How many times would you refill the bucket?”
teaching others what you learnt enables you retain more than 90% of what you learnt
Yes, indeed. Because you have to be clear before you teach.
🙂
I guess this is why when i study I remember most of the material because this is how i do it…. I read the text, then I basically summarize it, Imake notes by writing the material i just read in my own words..so i basically pull out the concept or the main point out. I would do this until i finish the book, then i would go back and read the notes I had written…as i go along, i talk to myself as if i am explaining it to another person..in simple terms and even in my native dialect. I do sound like a crazy person when i’m alone but it works for me! 🙂
It’s not crazy at all. It sounds more organised than just reading something once and expecting to remember it.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes, I figured that they were a part of my path to learning and to never repeat that mistake again! This article was eye opening for me, because right now I’m attempting to learn another language. FRENCH! Oui! So writing and practicing will be key. Does this work for math! I’m so not fond of math.
It will work just as well for math. The point is this: The brain looks for a pattern. When it finds a pattern, it moves quickly. Those who do math easily have figured out the pattern. Those who haven’t, struggle. With every repetition, the brain learns a bit more.
Of course, a teacher or friend can point out the pattern as well. It’s not just the repetition that matters. But repetition tells the brain: “This is important, pay attention.” You remember more because the information is not on dimmer setting.
This is true for ANY skill! If you have skills & have been looking for work in a field for quite some time, DO NOT forget to practice your skill any way you can so as not to forget or get rusty, and keep learning new related things so that you are up to date with everyone who IS employed!
That’s correct. It works for every possible skill.
I just want to say thank you for their beautifully constructed article , I feel like my bucket is leaking 95% most of the time lol, but it’s do to resistance, this gives me the confidence that learning anything new is possible , thank you
Thank you I have know something that will help me to do better on my studies
I always wonder why we listen to music onces but we can sing it for many years but reading a book to get an understanding could take years. Why is that so?
That is because we listen to the song over and over again until we memorize it. Maybe reading should be done the same way, that’s a thought…
I think the rules for learning a new song apply here as well.
Your friends probably like the new song as well, so you share or sing it together.
For example, growing up in the 1980’s me and my friends would go back and forth over the new popular rap song with each other. That comradery is similar to what the article is saying.
Also, a song lasts on average between 3-5 minutes. A book lasts hours and days to get through and doesn’t have meter/tempo to assist it. However, classical texts (epics and plays) do have meter, which I believe may have assisted in remembering the information.
When I was little, I used to “teach to” all my dolls. That’s how I got through geography and social studies. I also used to pretend I was the speaker at an award assembly and I was giving out awards to “the planets in the solar system” for their amazing qualities and contributions/ ditto with famous explorers/scientists/authors, etc. Whenever I took a difficult subject in college, I’d pretend I was teaching it to someone else— I’d talk out loud about it while reviewing my notes. Interesting. By the way, I became a teacher and taught gifted students for 35 years.
Completely agreed. I think it’s even “more true” when it comes to learning a new language or word. If you just see the definition of a word or a tense and don’t try to write an example shortly after you’re really likely to forget it at some point. If you indeed take some notes or try to explain to yourself or anybody what you’ve just learnt the chances it’ll stick with you are higher.
Regarding the mistakes, once you’ve made one you just try your best to do it again and as a result you need to focus more on whatever you’re trying to do.
By the way, great article, i’ll try to put those tips into practice even though it’s quite difficult to find people who have the same interests as me.
Learning is difficult. And more so, today. But we give it our best shot.
The best way to really learn something is teaching it. Ok, so I get it now, but what if I learn a lot of things and there aren’t any people willing to steadly listen to everything I’m trying to learn? Am I retaining 90% of what I learned if I just explain it to my furniture, cat etc? Or does it have to be a person because it is necessary for her/him to give feedback by pointing out things that make no sense in my explanation?
I learn a lot. And this is every single day. I learned about stuff in the last week that would make most people’s head spin. So first, what I do is write it down. The act of writing in, sorting it, helps. But then I might write a little piece about it. It’s not always easy to do so. All this writing takes time. If it’s in audio, I’ll listen to it. Once, twice, many times. The brain is not designed to retain everything at full volume. It’s a natural spam filter. To get it to pay attention you have to force it to remember. But yes, the best way to learn is to teach. You’ll have to find a way to write or do something so that you’re forced to teach.
If there is no one around teach yourself in the mirror, teach your dog or cat, talk to a stuffed animal. I talked to my cat while doing training for a new job and My Boo Boo Boy LOVED the attention!!!
That is funny 😉
Thank you for this very interesting article!
It impressive to think that we forget 90% of what we have learnt if we don’t practice, but it is even more impressive to think that we can remeber 90% of it if we practice or try to teach it.
I am passionate about how we can enhance the ability to retain what we learn, and it is actually easy!
To make it even easier, I created recently an elearning website that applies your theory: we learn and remember better if we practice (by doing practice questions) and teach (by making cheatsheets and courses about something we have learnt).
Have a quick look as it is gaining new content quickly now.
Have you ever thought about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog based on the same subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I
know my readers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an email.
Really enjoyed reading this and created some great food for thought, particularly as a teacher myself.
Would love to look into this further. Just out of interest where were the statistics/data used taken from? (This is out of intrigue not at all critical!)
Thanks for putting this together. Very inspiring.
Thanks
Ian
Thanks you,as for me, some time I stored information in my brain, but sooner I enter into exams hall I forgot all.As from now I would have take this Article into consideration.Thanks
practice your art and perfect it makes sense to me. Now its the fear of making a mistake i must get over.