01_Knowing_What_You_Know — how do you know that you know?

Level: 101 · for anyone who has walked out of an exam sure it went well

Every other chapter here tells you what to do. This one comes first because it tells you how to check whether it worked. A feeling of knowing is not knowing, and the three lessons measure the gap between the two, show that what you remember depends on what you did with the material rather than how long you looked at it, and name the levels of doing. It follows Saundra McGuire's Teach Yourself How to Learn, chapters 3 and 4, and like every chapter it backs each claim with a program that runs.

#	Lesson	The question it answers
1	Metacognition: judging what you know	Of Flavell's four abilities, which can be measured, and why does rereading leave you sure and wrong?
2	Count the vowels	Why do people remember 3 of 15 phrases after one task and 12 of 15 after another, with nothing else changed?
3	Studying vs learning	What are Bloom's six levels, and what does climbing them on one theorem buy you?

The through-line

Lesson 1 asks you to write a confidence before every answer and compare it with the result. The score it uses, the Brier score, is smallest when you report exactly what you believe, so it rewards nothing but honesty, and it shows the reader who reread their notes as sure and wrong. Lesson 2 is McGuire's exercise: fifteen phrases, and recall goes from 3 to 12 with nothing changed but the goal and an organising principle. Lesson 3 climbs Bloom's levels on the Pythagorean theorem, from stating it to building Euclid's formula, which regenerates every fact a student would otherwise memorise. The habit all three teach is checking, and the rest of the library assumes it: 02_Making_It_Stay says how to keep what the check says you have, and 03_Believing_You_Can turns the same check on beliefs about yourself.

McGuire's strategies, and where they are explained

McGuire's book closes with a list of 35 strategies. Here they are, shortened, with the chapter of the book each comes from and the page here that gives the reason behind it.

#	Strategy	Book	Why it works, here
1	Strive for higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy	ch. 4	studying vs learning
2	Implement the study cycle; schedule three to four intense study sessions a day	ch. 4	spaced retrieval
3	Actively prepare to read by previewing reading assignments	ch. 5	count the vowels: a principle seen first organises what follows
4	Read actively by developing questions before you start to read	ch. 5	count the vowels: know the goal before you look; the pretesting effect
5	Paraphrase the information in each paragraph of a reading assignment	ch. 5	studying vs learning: understanding means putting it in your own words
6	Read and learn actively with flashcards, concept maps, mind maps and other tools	ch. 5	spaced retrieval, and the Anki deck on every lesson
7	Read the textbook	ch. 5	the math library's reading guides ↗ say which one
8	Always attend every class	ch. 5	the study cycle's second step
9	Take good class notes by hand	ch. 5	resources: Mueller and Oppenheimer, and the replication that shrank the effect
10	Preview and review for every class	ch. 4	spaced retrieval: the review the same day is the first spaced retrieval
11	Do homework without using examples or textbook information	ch. 5	metacognition: an answer produced without looking is the only honest test of what you know
12	Prepare as if you have to teach the information	ch. 5	teach-the-material mode
13	Study with a partner or group, and go to each session prepared	ch. 5	not covered here
14	Create practice exams to evaluate your mastery	ch. 5	metacognition: a test, not a feeling, says when a topic is done
15	Start homework the day it is assigned and do a little each day	ch. 9	spaced retrieval: spread out beats crammed
16	Adopt a growth mindset about intelligence	ch. 6	mindset and motivation
17	Monitor your self-talk and stay positive	ch. 6	mindset and motivation
18	Attribute results to actions, not ability	ch. 6	metacognition: look at the gap before the grade
19	Get adequate rest, nutrition and exercise	ch. 8	sleep, exercise, food
20–24	Keep a semester calendar and a weekly one; commit to 20–25 hours of study a week; protect your free time; prioritise by needs and wants	ch. 9	goals and schedules, the buffer hour
25	Organise test information in charts, outlines or a study guide	ch. 9	count the vowels: organised material is recalled, and checked for gaps
26	Find out what types of questions the test will have	ch. 9	studying vs learning: which Bloom level the test asks for
27–32	Write down formulas before starting an exam; read directions very carefully; survey the exam and budget time; start with the easiest questions; expect memory blocks and move on, since the answer often comes back; breathe deeply and use positive self-talk against test anxiety	ch. 9	test-taking, not covered here; on anxiety, mindset and motivation
33	Analyse every returned test and quiz, and plan how to improve	ch. 9	metacognition: the calibration table is that analysis
34	Use the campus learning center for group study and tutoring	ch. 9	not covered here
35	Visit your professors' office hours regularly	ch. 7	goals and schedules

Po polsku, w skrócie

Ten rozdział jest pierwszy, bo uczy sprawdzać, czy nauka zadziałała. Uczucie, że się coś wie, nie jest wiedzą. Lekcja 1 mierzy różnicę: zapisz pewność przed odpowiedzią i porównaj z wynikiem; kto tylko czyta notatki drugi raz, jest pewny i często się myli. Lekcja 2 to ćwiczenie McGuire z liczeniem samogłosek: pamiętamy to, co robiliśmy z materiałem, a nie to, na co patrzyliśmy. Lekcja 3 opisuje poziomy Blooma na twierdzeniu Pitagorasa, od podania wzoru po zbudowanie wzoru Euklidesa, który odtwarza wszystkie fakty. Nawyk, którego uczą wszystkie trzy, to sprawdzanie.

A note on the code

The learner in lesson 1 is invented, and says so; the Brier score and why honesty minimises it are exact. Lesson 2's vowel count and 15! are exact, and lesson 3 checks Euclid's formula against brute force. The books behind the chapter are on the resources page.