00:00this video is part of our ultimate study
00:01skills series and today we'll be
00:03covering a technique that allows us to
00:04learn fast without sacrificing on
00:07comprehension so our friend Justin sung
00:09actually teaches this in his course and
00:11it's called learning in layers so let's
00:13say we're learning how to build a house
00:15it'd make the most sense to build the
00:16foundation first right this includes the
00:18walls the structure and this all
00:20represents the main concepts of what
00:22we're learning that's layer number one
00:24then we would add on supporting stuff
00:25like the roof some electrical some
00:28plumbing and this all represents the
00:30supporting details that's layer number
00:32two at this point we have a fully
00:33functioning house but obviously there's
00:35still more we can add to make the house
00:36comfy right maybe a couch a lamp some
00:39picture frames on the walls or something
00:41These are nice things to have but we
00:43don't really need this furniture to
00:44survive so we're going to call these the
00:46less important details this is layer
00:48number three so layer one is Concepts
00:50and layers two and three are both
00:52details but how do we differentiate
00:54between layers two and three well layer
00:562 actually helps us understand layer 1
00:59better whereas later three normally
01:01doesn't for example if I'm studying the
01:02concept of photosynthesis then a layer 2
01:05detail would be understanding that water
01:07sunlight carbon dioxide is transformed
01:09into oxygen that's a detail that helps
01:12me better understand photosynthesis
01:13right that's the layer 2 detail a layer
01:163 detail would be knowing something like
01:18the name of the enzyme that drives that
01:21transformation which I don't even know
01:23the name of that enzyme right it's not
01:25that important but obviously we're still
01:27going to be tested on it so lighter
01:28three is usually what I would put on my
01:30flash cards to be memorized and if we
01:32follow the 80 20 rule usually 80 percent
01:35of exam questions will be on layers 1
01:37and 2 but usually those two layers make
01:40up only 20 percent of the material that
01:42you need to know and I think the hardest
01:43part about learning is being able to
01:46differentiate what detail is more
01:48important and what detail is less
01:50important basically knowing which topics
01:52and key terms belong to which layer and
01:54unfortunately the skill isn't taught in
01:56school you'll notice that if you read a
01:58textbook from start to finish the order
01:59of information that comes at you is
02:02first you'll get a heading or main idea
02:04followed by loads of detail that you
02:06kind of just got to sift through right
02:07then you'll get another heading main
02:09idea followed by details another heading
02:11followed by details right this is the
02:13same pattern that most professors teach
02:15in lecture too instead of giving us all
02:18the foundational pieces first to help us
02:20build our structure they give us all the
02:22pieces for one room at a time we don't
02:25move on to the kitchen until we've
02:26completely built the bathroom first and
02:28this approach makes this house overall
02:30super unstable right it might seem like
02:33an efficient way to teach but I don't
02:34think it's an efficient way to learn so
02:36here's a step-by-step of learning in
02:38layers step one is to start with a list
02:41of key terms you want to have all the
02:42pieces laid out in front of you and you
02:44can find this in the learning objectives
02:45of the chapters or from the syllabus
02:47itself step two is to categorize the key
02:50terms into one of the three layers is it
02:53a concept is it an important detail or
02:55is it a less important detail then step
02:57three you want to build your house layer
02:59by layer here right on the first pass of
03:01the material you want to focus on the
03:03concepts then you come back for the
03:04important details then you come back for
03:07the less important details so let's see
03:09these steps in action using microbiology
03:11as an example for step one here I have a
03:14list of all the key terms for multiple
03:16chapters just a side note for beginners
03:18I'd recommend doing this one chapter at
03:20a time but when you get the hang of it
03:21you can definitely try multiple chapters
03:23because it's much more efficient for
03:24step two I'm going to categorize the
03:27terms into the three layers it really
03:29helps to compare and contrast all the
03:31key terms against each other to figure
03:32out where they belong so first what is a
03:35Gram stain a Gram stain is a laboratory
03:37technique that we use to identify
03:39bacteria I'm not exactly sure what layer
03:42Gram stain is at the moment is it a
03:44concept is it a detail I don't really
03:46have anything else to compare it to so
03:48let's move on and then maybe I'll learn
03:50something later that will help me better
03:52understand where this fits in the big
03:53picture so next what is a gram-positive
03:56bacteria alright so it's basically a
03:58bacteria with a thick cell wall how does
04:01it relate to Gram stain well if you Gram
04:03stain a positive bacteria then it'll
04:05turn purple under a microscope so we see
04:07some sort of functional relationship
04:08between these terms let's keep that in
04:10mind and move on to the next what is a
04:12gram-negative bacteria right we have
04:14another term with the word gram in it
04:16gram-negatives have a thin cell wall and
04:18if you compare and contrast that to a
04:20gram-positive this one usually gram
04:22stains red under a microscope so the
04:24idea of gram staining is a concept
04:32so you see the more we learn the easier
04:34it becomes to put these terms in layers
04:35all right next what is a staphylococcus
04:38aureus it's a type of Grant positive
04:41bacteria this next one is clostridium
04:43difficile it's also a gram-positive next
04:45we have toxin a this is a toxin that's
04:48released by a closeridium so it's a
04:50detail of that next is klebcl and
04:53pneumonia this one's a gram-negative
04:54bacteria and we just keep going until we
04:56finish categorizing and grouping all
04:58these key terms together
05:00step three is to build a house layer by
05:02layer and what better way to map
05:04something out in your head than mind
05:06mapping so I'm going to start by placing
05:08all of layer 1 on the page so I think
05:10the most important part of this step is
05:12figuring out how the different
05:13components of layer 1 relate to each
05:15other for example here it becomes clear
05:18to me that we group bacteria based on
05:20their characteristics right
05:21gram-positive ground negative Etc
05:23because those characteristics are how we
05:25identify them which then tells us what
05:28antibiotics to use to treat them that's
05:30the big picture right there right that's
05:32what I'm talking about when I say lay
05:33the foundation first with the layer 1
05:35Concepts so once all of layer 1 is
05:37connected on the page and we have a good
05:39core Foundation we can add the details
05:41on top starting with layer two and then
05:51map is to kind of build out each branch
05:54all the way out to the details before
05:56moving on to the next Branch this is not
05:58learning in layers and you'll easily
06:00lose sight of the big picture
06:02if I were Speed Learning or even
06:04cramming the night before an exam which
06:06I don't advise and I wanted to make sure
06:09I don't fail that exam then I would
06:11focus on the red and blue layers first
06:12since that will be the majority of the
06:15tests right 80 20. but if I didn't go in
06:18layers I might not even have time to
06:20cover all the important stuff because I
06:22was too busy with the less important
06:23details so that was a simplified version
06:26of learning and layers Justin covers it
06:28more comprehensively and even adds an
06:30extra layer that can be helpful for
06:32bigger more complex topics so check out
06:34his channel for that I want to point out
06:36that the Mind map we made here is only
06:39the first draft right but the more I
06:41learn and the more microbio chapters I
06:43add to this map the more I'll need to
06:45rearrange my thinking and make my notes
06:47more concise now if you want a deeper
06:50dive into the skill of my mapping itself
06:52then check out this video right here
06:54it's a great skill to pair with this
06:56entire layer method I'll see you there
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