MIS-UNDERSTOOD WORDS

A mis-understood word is a bypassed definition. It is a word you don't fully understand the meaning of.

The phenomena of the mis-understood word is quite obvious but remarkably overlooked. It basically comes down to: you don't understand what you study if you don't understand what you study.

It doesn't depend on percentages. Just because you understand 95% of the words doesn't mean that you understand 95% of the materials. Even 1% of mis-understood words can destroy 99% of your understanding.

The effect of a mis-understood word goes far beyond the word itself.

If you go past a word that isn't fully understood your attention will sub-consciously stick to that word. You are likely to not notice what you are reading right after that point.

Blank spots will follow from mis-understood words. Your memory will have holes concerning the material. You might feel blank or empty about what you studied. And it is unlikely that you will be able to understand and apply the materials to amount to much.

A mis-understood is not necessarily obvious. The words you clearly know that you don't understand are not the worst. Much more insidious are the words you have an imperfect understanding of. You might have the wrong definition, a partial definition, an uncertain understanding, or whatever.

Simple words are particularly dangerous. Very often one has never bothered to fully understand them. They are taken for granted. An incomplete understanding of a word like "for" or "the" can wreck havoc on one's understanding of a subject.

If in studying a text you start to feel blank, nervous, upset, or you start to yawn - it is time to look for a mis-understood word.

The solution is to go back to the end of the part where you were not having trouble. The mis-understood word will be found right after that. There is a word there that needs to be defined correctly.

When you find a possible mis-understood word you need to look it up. You find it in a good dictionary and you get it fully defined. You must understand its definition fully and you must understand the use of the word in the text at hand.

If you are aware of mis-understood words and if you locate them and define them as soon as (or before) you get the symptoms you can feel bright and comprehending about any subject you study.

If you continuously go past mis-understood words the symptoms will compound. You will not only feel blank and washed-out, you will start disliking the subject. It is not really fun anymore, it bores you or upsets you. If you continue any further you will start complaining and blaming the subject or others for your trouble. And eventually you will leave, you will drop the subject and not want to come back to it.

If you are forced to keep studying you might develop ways of memorizing the material and even pass tests. But, you are no longer with it, and you won't be able to apply it.

A mis-understood is known for short as an M.U.

The Symptoms of Mis-Understood Words:

A blank feeling,

A washed-out feeling,

A not-there feeling,

A nervous hysteria,

Yawning,

Tiredness.

GRADIENTS


Gradients are when you move ahead one step at a time. You can accomplish anything if you can lay out the steps from where you are to where you want to go and then follow the steps one by one.

When you study something on a gradient each step is designed to include a little bit more than the step before it. It will be more difficult or require more of you. If you follow all the steps you will end up with the level of skill and accomplishment you want.

This applies mostly to actions and practical skills, but also to theoretical study. If you want to learn to swim it really works the same way as if you want to master nuclear physics.

If you are going to learn to swim you would start by looking at some water, maybe dip a toe in it, stand in water to your knees, gradually put your whole body in the water, move a bit around in shallow water, try to float, practice swimming strokes, start swimming, and sooner or later you can swim.

If you study a more theoretical subject you would probably wish to start with some of the basics explained in simple terms, some examples of the use of this subject, some basic definitions, some pictures, and you would gradually work into more and more advanced presentations of the subject.

Unfortunately subjects aren't always presented that way. Some textbooks seem to assume that you already know the subject and overwhelm you with information without regard to the order of presenting them. Also, materials might be missing that you really need. Nevertheless the same mechanisms are at work.


If you study something at too steep a gradient you will be hit by confusion and overwhelm.

It is like trying to learn to swim by being thrown into the sea without any introduction. You are not likely to like it, things are moving too quickly for your taste.

If you have a choice in the matter you can make things much easier for yourself by selecting a study route that is built on a manageable gradient of steps.

No matter which study program you are following you are still subject to the phenomenon of the skipped gradient. You might without noticing go on to the next step without mastering the one before it.

Skipped gradient is recognized by a confused feeling, reelingness, a mixed-up feeling.

Often one will attribute all one's trouble to the step one is at. But, if we are talking skipped gradient it is the step before that needs to be looked at. The last step where one was doing well before one started to be confused.

The solution to skipped gradients is to go back and find the missed gradient and to fully master that one before one goes on.

The Symptoms of a Skipped Gradient:

Confused feeling

Reelingness

Mixed-up feeling