How Does Understanding vs Memorising | Productivity and Study Tips #1 Work?

Understanding is like knowing how to build a tower, you know what each block does and why they fit together. Memorising is like remembering where every block goes in a finished tower, you might not know why it works, just that it does.

Imagine you're learning to draw a tree. If you memorise it, you’re copying the picture from memory, you might get all the lines right, but if someone moves a branch or changes the shape of the trunk, you won’t know what to do.

But if you understand how to draw a tree, you're learning about shapes, like circles for leaves and lines for trunks. You can make new trees, maybe even a forest, just by using what you’ve learned!

When you understand something, it's like having a toolbox in your brain. You can fix problems, try new ideas, and build cool things you never imagined. Memorising is more like having a list of answers, great for tests, but not so helpful when you need to think on your own.

So, next time you're learning something new, ask: “Do I know how it works, or do I just remember what it looks like?”Understanding is like knowing how to build a tower, you know what each block does and why they fit together. Memorising is like remembering where every block goes in a finished tower, you might not know why it works, just that it does.

Imagine you're learning to draw a tree. If you memorise it, you’re copying the picture from memory, you might get all the lines right, but if someone moves a branch or changes the shape of the trunk, you won’t know what to do.

But if you understand how to draw a tree, you're learning about shapes, like circles for leaves and lines for trunks. You can make new trees, maybe even a forest, just by using what you’ve learned!