BJ's '15-Minute Learning Rule'

In the last few days, I have been asked about my 15-minute learning rule. Before I share this simple but highly effective self-devised learning tool, let me share, with you, my experiences within the classroom and without.

I am a teacher, as most readers of this blog already know. I work for a leading entrance exam training company; I teach for the CAT and other MBA entrance tests. In the past, I have taught for the GRE too. As such, this story will focus on my limited experiences with students, training for these tests. 

In the classroom, I meet a diversity of students: ambitious, eager-to-learn, hardworking-but-lost-because-of-lack-of-direction, and a few who are either arrogant or indifferent or both. 

In over-a-decade long stint, I have, unfortunately, come across more students of one particular type: those who are ambitious but do not want to work hard. It is not that these students lack the capacity to work hard; it is just that they do not want to. 

I have often discussed this issue with some of my brilliant colleagues and have found, to my dismay, that their classroom experiences have not been any different from mine. It is disheartening for a teacher to see a student with latent talent to waste it away. 

Now you may ask me, 'Isn't it the teacher's job to guide a student?'. I can hardly disagree with that. Yes, we try hard: we talk about the benefits of reading (newspapers, magazines), constant practice (problem-solving exercises), mock test-testing (online sectional tests and mock tests), building effective communicative ability (vocabulary, conversational language ability), and above all, learning from failure. 

Now we all know how many students would be willing to do all this and more, is perhaps a moot question. As a teacher I can only show the path; walking the path or not is a consequence of the personal choice made by the student. In other words, you can take a horse to the pond but you can not make it drink.

Or put it in a more cinematic way, there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path, as Morpheus says in The Matrix.

I would like to believe that most students are eager to learn but do not know where to start. For them, I can only say: start anywhere, with anything. Learn about anything. You own / see a world-class brand (like Nike) but do not much know about it? Then spend 15 minutes on learning about it. Here is how you can do it.

The 15-Minute Learning Rule
At the outset, let me tell you that the 15-Minute Learning Tool is a self-devised one. It is a simple yet highly effective way of spending time to learn. I have often shared this with my audiences in classrooms, GDPI workshops, GK and economics seminars, and quizzes across cities. 

Here is the step-by-step approach to the 15-Minute Learning Tool.

(a) Pick an idea: it could be anything - a brand (like adidas), technology (like 3G), country    (like Nigeria), or if you like, a celebrity (like Kate Perry).

(b) If you wish to learn about it on the Internet, then google the word or go to the Web site which you know would provide you with such information.

(c) Once ready with the Web page on 'what-you-want-to-learn-about', tell yourself that you will spend 15 minutes in learning about it.

(d) However, before you start the 15-minute learning stint, also tell yourself that in those 15-minutes two things may happen:

(1) that I may not understand everything that I read, and

(2) that I may not remember everything that I read.

(e) Start the 15-minute learning module!


(f) If you read a sentence you do not understand then move to the next one; if you do not understand the next one too, then go to the third one! Do not be discouraged by what you  do not understand; it is alright not to understand everything you read, after all you are not an expert but just a lay reader trying to get a hang of an idea.


(g) At the end of the 15-minutes, you would know that 

• you might not have understood everything;

• you might not be able to recall everything, but

• you still would have got some basic idea of the issue.

If you do not have access to the Web, you can employ this learning tool with a book - any reference book, like Manorama year book or some kind of encyclopedia or even an academic textbook.


This, friends, is my 15-minute learning tool. I strongly believe in its efficacy; I believe 15 minutes is short enough to help most people retain concentration; yet it can also help you learn in a most basic way.


However, let me warn you that learning is not about passing an exam or getting a job; rather it should be a constant process. I strongly believe that learning is a life skill. This is my fundamental approach to learning and I hope it becomes yours too.