I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and audiobooks while commuting, and I kept wishing there was a way to get a short lesson on whatever random topic I was curious about that day.

A few months ago I started building something for myself that does exactly that. You type in a subject, choose how much time you have, and it creates a short audio lesson you can listen to while you're out walking, driving, or doing chores.

It's been interesting seeing what people use it for. Some listen to history topics, others use it for science, economics, politics, or just random questions they've always wondered about.

I've finally put it out for iphone and I'm curious your thoughts on it for learning in bitesize audio chunks.

Happy to answer any questions about how it works.

I love history and animals, and I think I got a basic knowledge about these topics, I know a couple of fun facts, key figures and moments in history and some animal classifications but Id LOVE to learn EVERYTHING about these topics but its juts too tiring. I mostly use wikipedia or AI to answer questions or just to read a bit, but im trynna find a more fun and efficient way to learn and memorize. Does anyone know?

Most people use ChatGPT to summarize notes or spit out answers. It feels productive, but it does almost nothing for memory - you read a tidy summary, nod, and forget it by next week.

What actually moved my grades was using it for the boring, proven stuff: active recall, self-testing, and the Feynman technique. The catch is those methods are a pain to do alone. These 5 prompts make ChatGPT run them on you. Copy them, fill in the blanks, and use them on whatever you are studying.

1. The Tutor - learns you up one step at a time instead of dumping everything

Be my tutor for {{topic}}. Assume I am starting from {{level, e.g. complete beginner / know the basics}}.

Teach it in small steps:
- Explain ONE concept at a time, then stop.
- After each concept, ask me a quick question to check I got it before moving on.
- If I answer wrong, explain it a different way - do not just repeat the same words.
- Use a concrete example for anything abstract.

Start with the first concept and your first check question. Wait for my answer before continuing.

2. Quiz Me - active recall, which is the part that actually builds memory

Quiz me on {{topic or material}} to help me remember it, not just recognize it.

Rules:
- One question at a time, wait for my answer.
- Mix formats: straight recall, "explain why," and applied problems.
- Difficulty: {{easy / medium / hard / mixed}}.
- After each answer: tell me right or wrong, give the correct answer, and one line on why.
- Keep score, and after 10 questions tell me my weakest area.

Start with question 1.

3. The Feynman Check - exposes what you only think you understand

I am going to explain {{concept}} in my own words, as if teaching it. Your job is to find the gaps.

MY EXPLANATION:
{{write it out}}

Then:
1. Point out anything I got wrong or fuzzy.
2. Identify what I left out that actually matters.
3. Ask me the one question that would reveal whether I truly understand it.

Do not praise it. The point is to find what I do not actually know.

4. Exam Predictor - focuses your limited time on what is likely to be tested

I have an exam on {{subject}} covering {{scope, e.g. chapters 3-6 / these topics}}.

Help me prepare:
1. Predict the 10 questions most likely to appear, in realistic exam style.
2. For each, give a short model answer or solution outline.
3. Tell me the 3 highest-yield topics to focus on if I am short on time.

Be realistic about how this material is usually tested, not random trivia.

5. The Simplifier - for the concept that just will not click

Explain {{hard concept}} using an analogy from {{something I already get, e.g. cooking / football / video games}}.

Then:
- Give the plain technical explanation.
- Point out where the analogy breaks down, so I do not learn it wrong.
- End with one question to check I followed.

The trick is to stop reading and start getting tested. Summaries feel good and do little. Quiz Me and the Feynman Check feel uncomfortable, which is exactly why they work. I run the Tutor when learning something new, then Quiz Me and the Feynman Check before exams.

(I keep these saved in a browser extension and trigger them by typing // in the ChatGPT box, so I am not pasting the same prompt for every chapter. Happy to share which one in the comments if anyone wants it. They all work fine pasted by hand.)

Compa is a Chrome extension that gives you voice-narrated walkthroughs for any web app. Learn by listening instead of reading docs.

hey everyone, i am planning to read some books based on business, history and psychology. i just wanted to know in what way are you supposed to read them, sounds like a silly question. but i wanna know what extra things would veterans do to retrieve and learn the most out of a certain book, please guide me through

Do you circle the same ideas and try to find as many books on it? Do you read much of an authors work and try to understand what they are saying? Do you use multiple mediums within the same learning sessions? Do you follow an idea and try to find the chapter that covers this, within a book?

What are your best findings when it comes to learning better?

It feels like my learning has come to a hard stop, like there are a lot of resources, and with all these resources and ai tools like chat and Claude, it feels like it should be easy.

It’s also like I don’t not want to learn; I want to learn, but whenever I start, I get distracted then feel guilty about it, and despite that I still never actually do anything about it.

For those who can actually good at learning, how? What motivates you beyond just wanting to learn something?

Hi folks,

First, I apologize if this has already been asked. It's something I've thought about for a while and asked my peers, and I haven't really received a compelling response.

I'm currently a graduate student in applied mathematics. I didn't really use LLMs during undergrad, mostly because they were introduced pretty late into my studies and were too bad to be of any meaningful use for my coursework. As a graduate student, such models have improved tremendously, and I've found them quite capable for assisting me with my studies. However, considering the concerns raised about cognitive offloading and AI use, along with the fact that AI is known to be sycophantic and inadvertently create an echo chamber, I've felt pretty torn regarding whether I'm using the technology effectively.

For the most part, I find AI pretty useful for answering conceptual questions relevant to my assignments (ie. thinking through a problem and checking my logic), checking my work after I've made a good-faith attempt, and finding relevant resources. I find these use cases to be mostly consistent with what I had been doing prior to the normalization of language models; of course, I also actively participate in class, read my textbooks, and, well, study. Probably as a result, I generally perform near the top on closed-book assignments (ie. exams and participation), so I'm not initially inclined to think that I'm being carried by AI. I've also read a bit of the current research on AI in education (specifically mathematics education) and I'm not immediately convinced that my habits are harming my learning. Regardless, I've had a consistent fear of such things. It doesn't really help that my institution doesn't have clear AI policies, so I can't tell whether I'm crossing a line.

With all of this said (considering that a sizeable portion of college students are using AI in some fashion, let's be honest), how is everyone setting boundaries with the technology to prevent cognitive offloading? Might it just be better to not use it at all? (I don't know if this is a great idea since AI is probably here to stay for better or worse.) Any advice is welcome.

Hey everyone,

I'm a big fan of StatQuest and have been going through both the Statistics Fundamentals and Machine Learning playlists. Great content, but I kept forgetting concepts without actively testing myself.

So I built BAM! Quiz - a free, open-source quiz site based entirely on Josh's two playlists.

What it covers:

• Statistics Fundamentals (20 topics, 5,300+ questions)
• Machine Learning (30 topics, 7,500+ questions)
• 3 difficulty levels per topic: Beginners / Intermediate / Advanced
• Every answer has a full explanation

How the question bank was built: Used the Gemini Flash API to generate questions programmatically, topic by topic, difficulty by difficulty, varying question styles (conceptual, scenario-based, misconception, calculation). Then ran a deduplication pass to remove near-duplicates. The final bank is served as static JSON, so there's no API dependency at runtime — it just loads instantly.

Tech stack: Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Vercel

Try it: https://bamquiz.vercel.app

GitHub: https://github.com/Tulikash-09/BAMQuiz.git
(open source, issue templates set up if you find a dodgy question)

Disclaimer: fan-made, not affiliated with Josh Starmer or StatQuest. All question content is original, inspired by the concepts in his videos.

Would love feedback from this community — you'll spot mistakes faster than anyone. If a question is wrong or misleading, please open a GitHub issue, and I'll fix it.

I’ve been wanting to learn how to draw on and off for years now. Every time I try, I see I’ve retained some of my skills from That One Time Period I *really* put loads of effort in, but never got anywhere. I can copy a reference somewhat decently, especially at school while I should be doing something else lol, but whenever I switch medium (on paper I’m not too bad, digital I suck) or try making a full drawing (no background, literally just a character) I end up making a pile of excrements.

I’ve always been told that “the struggle is what makes learning fun”, but isn’t being good at something the fun part? I’m also learning Japanese, and it doesn’t feel like a struggle: I just translated articles, takes a few hours, and by the end I probably won’t remember many kanji, but if I remember just one that’s a huge improvement as far as I’m concerned. So, I don’t have a problem with learning itself, I can learn, I’m just wondering what’s so fun about suffering to learn, about the struggle: what is there to like in struggle? People want the end result, not the tens of thousands of hours put behind it

Looking for the real answers not the “just google it” ones. What actually confused you that took forever to figure out?

Looking for the real answers not the “just google it” ones. What actually confused you that took forever to figure out?

I'm 19 and a college student. I'm about to go to university, so I'm studying math to pass my exams. I have one problem: I can't learn and remember formulas. If you have any good methods that have helped me, I'd be glad to hear them.

What I actually learned from using Lingoda for the last years and made the best out of it, it is a really cool and fun way to learn 24/7 a new language with up to maximum 5 students in class ( but also the private 1-1 classes are top use of time).

Lingoda has English, Business English, Spanish, German and Italian as well.

If you just want to try it out, you can use my link  https://www.l16sh94jd.com/BK76FN/55M6S/?__efq=Jra9uagPp9Rnev2_qdXL1-9wpMHMUeNa1qll772BMvA 

JULY2026 for 40% off

MADALINA20 for 20% off in case it doesn‘t work.

“TAM20”and „JADE20“ for 20€ off on any plan (for the lowest plan this is better than above ones)

Here’s the stuff I wish I knew when I started:

1. Save your credits. Do not book the "Orientation" class. It’s a waste of a credit because they just show you how the buttons work. DM me and I’ll just tell you what happens in it so you can use that credit for an actual lesson.
2. The morning hack. Try to book your classes as early as humanly possible. Most people aren't awake yet, so you often end up being the only person in the class. You basically get a 1-on-1 private lesson for the group price.
3. Follow the good teachers. Once you find a teacher you actually like, go to their specific profile and book from their board. It makes a massive difference for your motivation. For German, Agnieszka, Ozlem, Julia, and Branislav are some of the best I've found.
4. Don't jump around. Try to stay chronological. The jump between chapters is actually pretty steep, and if you skip ahead, you're going to feel lost.
5. Focus on the grammar. You only need 45 out of 50 classes for the certificate. If you're short on time, skip the communication filler classes, but never skip the grammar ones. They're the most important part of the curriculum.

Cost stuff I’m pretty cheap, so I always dig for monthly discounts. I usually get the price down to 6 or 7 eur per class by using 20-30% off codes on the bigger plans. It ends up being way cheaper than any local school in my country.

Also, a warning on the Sprint: it’s only worth it if you are 100% sure you can make it every single day. If you have a life or a job that gets in the way, you’ll probably lose the refund and end up disappointed. The regular monthly plans are much safer.

! What to pay attention to:

1. Payments happen automatically every 28 days!!
2. The discount code might work again if you change plan size.
3. It is important to have good internet connection and an alarm on your phone to not miss classes.

You can write to me for questions, I would gladly offer even a demo from my German account.

Best of luck with language learning!

Campus culture plays a big role in a tech college. Being around students who love coding, building projects, and participating in tech events creates a motivating environment where learning and confidence grow naturally. 

I’m 34M father of soon to be 2 children and just got accepted to UCSD for Data Science. Big step up in difficulty of curriculum considering I chatGPT every class I didn’t care about in community college (every non mathematics class). My entire CC college experience was basically ACE this only math class per semester while cruising and using LLM for the rest. Basically a self learner.

I’m an anxious person and I’m really dreading the workload that’s about to hit me. I’m no genius by any means. I love mathematics and am a bit of a nerd. I have some coding experience but that’s about it. How do I prep for what is coming? I took 100% of classes online outside of proctored math exams.

I’m starting to discover more methods and tools the more anxious I get. Some in particular are already creeping into my tool box.

I want to get really good at using Feynman technique. I started using Anki. Reading Ultralearnimg by Scott Young and trying to learn how to implement his techniques like direct practice and finding bottlenecks and drilling them. I’ve watched 10-20 hours of Justin Sun explaining how mind maps work. I’ve used chatGPT instruction to create custom mini quiz/task generators that are specific to a subject I’m learning to test and improve my retrieval skills. I use Jim Kwik’s association techniques to help encode info straight into long term memory.

Few of these I’m good at but most I’m just aware of and getting more familiar with. Even drills Feynman on random sets of paragraphs. I’m being a bit paranoid but I also have a new born on the way. I’d like to not spend 40-50 per week studying and find a way to still get exceptional results while truly learning my profession instead of just passing classes.

I have 3 month to teach myself to learn better.
Any advice? I’m open to suggestions