7 Years of Building a Learning System in 12 minutes

A practical learning system built around five linked processes—priming, encoding, reference, retrieval, and overlearning—can cut study time dramatically by fixing where learners lose efficiency: relevance filtering, active processing, and retrieval practice. The core claim is that memory and understanding don’t improve just because more information is repeated; they improve when the brain’s internal pipeline is optimized so new material is filtered as “relevant,” actively organized into a usable structure, and then repeatedly retrieved to strengthen and refine it.

The system starts with a reframing of how learning works. Information enters the brain, but it’s filtered based on what already exists in memory—what seems connected and worth keeping. If incoming material doesn’t connect to prior knowledge, it gets processed poorly and is forgotten quickly, no matter how many times someone rereads or rewrites notes. When information does meet the brain’s relevance criteria, it moves into deeper processing: organizing it, making sense of it, and building a structured model that’s easier to store and retrieve. Retrieval then becomes a feedback loop. Pulling knowledge back out forces reprocessing and reorganization, which further improves both memory and understanding.

A personal example illustrates what goes wrong without this model. During the push toward medical school, the study routine centered on long reading sessions, lecture listening, rewriting notes, and later flash cards on past papers. Much of the learning felt random and was forgotten, leading to a cycle of re-studying. The missing piece wasn’t effort—it was the early relevance step. Without priming, the brain didn’t treat new information as worth prioritizing, so later encoding and retrieval couldn’t work efficiently. Once priming and the rest of the pipeline were addressed, study became noticeably more effective.

The “PERO” system breaks the pipeline into actionable parts. Priming prepares the brain before first exposure to a topic—by running an activity that signals relevance so the material is more likely to be filtered into processing rather than causing overload. Encoding is the active work of organizing information: grouping, simplifying, finding analogies, and building connections so the brain can store a coherent structure. Reference is a “parking lot” for fine-grained details that distract from encoding—using tools like flash cards, apps, or note systems such as Obsidian to save details for later.

Retrieval is non-negotiable in the system because it tests usable knowledge and also strengthens memory through reprocessing. Overlearning comes last and is optional: it means going beyond what’s required through extra practice and repetition to build faster recall and fluency, but it’s most valuable for high-stakes, competitive assessments. The system also warns against using overlearning too early, since it can waste time compensating for weak priming and encoding.

To help learners diagnose their own process, a free “Learning System Diagnostic” quiz scores each part of PERO and provides prioritized recommendations. Early access feedback suggests the quiz is easy to use, helps pinpoint what’s wrong, and is especially helpful for people who want their learning effectiveness quantified rather than guessed.