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Ask HN: Most efficient practice schedule for learning?

8 points by javahava ↗ HN
I surprisingly couldn't find much information about this online. Say you're trying to learn a new skill, whether it's guitar, a new language, coding, or even a sport like golf. Are there general guidelines to follow for the most efficient practice schedule? Is it "x" hours a day of deliberate practice? Is it daily with breaks every few days, or basically just get as much practice in as possible? How do you best optimize your practice to improvement ratio?

8 comments

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ggchappell
You could try SuperMemo:

http://www.supermemo.com/

I found out about it from this article, which was posted on HN a while back:

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_woznia...

jeffcoat
I bought the Palm version of Supermemo a while back; nice program, but I found the process of creating new cards and onto the device too painful to make much use of.

(I would be surprised if this problem wasn't solved in the up-to-date, PC versions.)

I still like the idea, though; I've been using Mnemosyne (http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/) recently to practice my Spanish vocabulary to good effect.

parse_tree
In my experience, LONG practice sessions are much more effective than short ones. E.g., I've found I get far more out of one 8 hour practice session than four 2 hour sessions.

I'd also say you need to do it intensely - you've got to be into and "feeling" what you're doing. If you're just sitting there waiting for your 3 hours of "practice time" to elapse so you can go chill you may as well just not do it.

andymism
The value of very long practice sessions probably depends at lot on the skill you're trying to acquire. If it's a mechanical/physical skill, then the muscle groups involved would be a big limiting factor, especially for novices. Playing guitar would be challenging for a novice to practice for more than half an hour while people of average physical ability could practice a golf swing for an hour or more on day one.

The problem with favoring long sessions is that you can fall into the trap of only doing long sessions because of the perceived efficiency. Which means you'll need to 'make time' for it. Which means you'll put it off. The result is that most of the gains you make will be lost by the next time you find time for another extended session.

parse_tree
Yeah, good point, my advice is not particularly general. I guess I should also add, I've found most things not particularly enjoyable until I get a minimum level of skill. So if your a complete beginner jumping in for 10 hrs at a time might be a little much.