Most people don’t hate math. They hate the cognitive friction of missing prerequisites.

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The #1 cause of math being inaccessible is that students are often asked to learn new things that depend on missing prerequisite knowledge.

Learning the prereqs is the difference between something seeming confusing versus “wait… that’s all it is???”

The key to learning fast is reducing friction in the learning process.

One of the biggest sources of friction: Not knowing the prerequisites for the thing you’re trying to learn.

Knowing the prereqs can make the difference between feeling like new content is being presented overwhelmingly fast vs at a comfortable pace.

Another big source of friction: Not periodically reviewing things you’ve previously learned.

If you don’t review, then you forget, and if you forget prereqs, then there you are back at the first source of friction.

What learning new math feels like with vs without having mastered prerequisite skills:

Most people don’t realize that you can install libraries/packages of information onto your physical brain’s long-term memory.

It feels like wielding Thor’s hammer: you don’t pick up the info, the info automatically flies to you whenever needed and can be used almost effortlessly.

The way you accomplish the install is through many cycles of spaced interleaved retrieval practice.

The way to “unlock” things that feel inaccessible to you is to shore up your prereqs.

Which sounds simple… until you realize you don’t know what the prereqs are. Or maybe you think you know all the prereqs, but the new thing is still inaccessible because you’re missing prereqs that you don’t even know exist.

This is one reason why expert guidance is so helpful. It’s not just that the expert knows things you don’t. It’s also that the expert knows what things you don’t.

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