Illusion of competence: Do you really know what you think you know?

Illusion of competence describes a mental state when you think you have mastered something, but you really have not. You are simply not adept enough to spot your limitations. It is deemed an illusion as you fool yourself into believing you know something that actually you do not.

During the exams, many students find out that they do not remember the material, although they read and understood the topics well and believed they were good enough to reproduce the information when needed. 

In a MOOC on Coursera titled "Learning How to Learn," Professor Barbara Oakley, a learning expert, explains that in order to do well in a test, one must put the information deeper in memory and think creatively with it. When people are incompetent and illusioned, they not only reach wrong conclusions and make unfortunate errors, but also are robbed of the opportunity to rectify their mistakes. 

According to a semester-long research, high-performing students could more accurately predict their performance on upcoming exams when given feedback about their scores and relative percentile. The worst performers, however, exhibited no appreciation despite receiving explicit and repeated feedback that they were performing poorly. Instead, they claimed to be right rather than learning from their mistakes. As Charles Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man (1871): "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."

How to break free from the illusion?

Often, a one-time performance does not represent a consistent long-term memory (e.g. durable learning). However, assuming it does creates the illusion of competence. As a result, a lot of students choose study methods that focus more on short-term performance than long-term learning. Such illusions and poor study strategy selection are caused by an ignorance of how memory functions and what is necessary to create stable long-term memories.

The curse of re-reading

During one of my university exams, I read Macbeth four times before the test, and still could not do better than my friend who read the book only once. What did I do wrong? While I just re-read the book, my friend read it; used the knowledge in answering questions; applied it creatively by drawing comparisons between elements of Macbeth and other plays of Shakespeare. 

Research even shows that re-reading rather decreases your creative ability. It is even worse when you study on screen. Yes, it is easy to find pages after pages of materials online, but simply reading them all will not help. 

Seeing is not doing

When you see someone skating, it is tempting to think it is easy. It happens with studies, too – especially in maths. You see someone solving a math problem and think it is a piece of cake. You think it is straightforward, and you can do it. So you probably put that aside for later. But to your frustration, when you get back to it, you just mess it up. Therefore, do not believe in yourself until you have really done it. 

Highlighting or underlining

I had a friend in college whose book was full of colours. Not that he was the topper in the class, but he used to read everything between the lines and highlight them in different colours. Some students highlight and annotate books but never put their knowledge to a test – a terrible blunder. 

In a 2013 study, Harvard researchers concluded that highlighting, despite being a widely-used strategy, is just re-reading and does not help retain information. In fact, relying on highlighting comes with a significant opportunity cost, preventing them from "engaging in other, more productive strategies."  

More time is not more learning

People think that the more you allot time, the more you are likely to master the materials. Wrong! During June-July 2020, I studied 12 hours daily for 60 days. What I learned from my 60 days of intense studying is that putting more time into study does not guarantee your learning as long as your strategies are not right. Even in the subsequent semesters, I did better than that semester, studying just two hours a day. 

I suggest learning how to learn helps more in the long run than actual learning. For university, one should know what to study and what the teachers expect from you. If you are not on point, you will end up thinking you know a lot, only to be slapped with a poor transcript.

Test, test and test

Do you know which English grammar book is the national bestseller in Bangladesh right now? It is not the Chowdhury & Hossain, not even the TOEFL Grammar Review! It is Master English Grammar by Md Jahangir Alam. What is even most surprising is that this guy has no English degree, nor did he – in a true sense – even write the book. 

Learners find the book conducive because this 1000-page book is all about testing yourself. Mr Alom collected all the problems generated by experts for different competitive exams in the last 5-10 years and compiled them into a book with solutions. 

You do not learn only by reading. You only learn when you are tested. So test yourself in every way possible. Start by summarising in your words after reading a page or topic. Use flashcards, quizzes and questions; have friends ask you questions. In addition, discussing with fellow mates and teaching someone can help understand and retain better, according to research.

Do not fool yourself. Instead, be glad that you see room for improvement. Thus, you will get rid of the illusion of competence and become a mature learner.