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How I'd study anything now 🧠

From @techyai_cj. I'm a software developer, so learning new things is the whole job. This is the system that actually stuck after trying everything: one Project with your material, one plain explanation, then a quiz that does not let you move on. Three prompts, all free, and the wrong answers are the point.

Step one · one Project, all your material

so it answers from your stuff, not from vibes

1. Open Claude and create a Project. Name it after the topic.

2. Drop everything you have into the Project's context: the doc, the article, your notes, the syllabus, whatever exists. Files beat links.

3. In the Project description, add one line:

the grounding line

Answer from the material in this project, not from general knowledge. If my material does not cover something, say so.

That line is the difference between studying your actual course and studying the internet's average opinion of it.

Step two · get the map

five minutes, whole territory

the explain prompt

Explain the whole thing to me like I'm smart but brand new to this. I've read nothing yet. Give me the map.

You get the shape of the subject before you drown in detail: the few core ideas, how they connect, and the one confusion everyone has. Read it once, then go read your material with the map in your head.

Step three · the one that matters

make it quiz you, and do not let yourself off

the quiz prompt

Quiz me one question at a time on this material, and do not move on until I get it right. Start easy and get harder. When I get something wrong, tell me why my answer was wrong, then ask me the same idea again from a different angle later.

Answer honestly. No looking things up mid-question. The misses are the entire value: each wrong answer shows you exactly where the map has a hole, and the re-drilling closes it.

Reading feels like learning and mostly is not. Retrieval is learning. This step is retrieval with a tutor who never gets tired.

Why this order

Material first, so every answer is grounded in your actual course, book, or docs.

Map second, so the details you read afterward have somewhere to attach.

Quiz last, because being tested on it is what moves it into memory. Most people stop after step two and wonder why nothing stuck.

Extras that help

Before an exam: "Quiz me only on the things I have gotten wrong so far." It keeps a running list.

Stuck on one idea: "Explain just this part three different ways: an analogy, a concrete example, and the formal version."

Long material: ask for the map chapter by chapter instead of all at once. Small maps stick better.

I'm a software developer and I post what I actually run.
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