Why Do Problems Seem Easier After a Break?

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Xyius
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So I have noticed something about myself that is quite strange and I cannot fully understand and I was wondering if it happened to anyone else. When I first study material from a course (Mostly Physics because it's my major, but it applies to anything.) I can do it but it takes a lot of studying (as any science does.) What is weird that, if I come back to the materials (Say at the end of the semester for the final, which I am doing right now) the problems seem WAY easier! Even though I have done NO work in them for months. An EXCELLENT example is the following.

In my optics class, the first half of the semester was geometrical optics and the second was Physical optics. These are two TOTALLY different theories and their problems (referring to the problem sets at the end of the chapter) do NOT relate to each other in the slightest.

Well it has been months since I have touched this stuff and it is WAY easier than it was when I first studied it at the beginning of the semester! It is very strange that problems that I was once bogged down on and never was able to complete I am doing with no problem now! This has happened to me before in other courses but I always blamed it on reviewing the material over the semester since it was all cumulative. Well geometrical optics is nothing like physical optics and I am thrown for a loop! I feel like my brain needs a "break in" period to better do these problems after learning something as this seems to happen every semester.

Maybe my brain is at a "higher level" than it was at the beginning of the semester due to all the studying and work? I do not know!

Anyone else experience this? I find it to be very strange especially for this optics example.
 
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Xyius said:
Anyone else experience this?
Let's hope so. I think the generic term for it is "learning", and it does seem to be correlated to reading, thinking about, and working through textbook material and related publications. Congratulations. You're experiencing what your courses are intended to produce.
 
ThomasT said:
Let's hope so. I think the generic term for it is "learning", and it does seem to be correlated to reading, thinking about, and working through textbook material and related publications. Congratulations. You're experiencing what your courses are intended to produce.

Well my main point wasn't the fact that learning material makes it easier, that is obvious. My point was that I can go back to material that I haven't touched in months and do it with no problem. I think micromass hit the nail on the head saying it becomes matured over time.
 
An interviewer asked, “Mr. (William) Faulker, some of your readers claim they still cannot understand your work after reading it two or three times. What approach would you advise them to adopt?” Faulkner replied, “Read it a fourth time.”
 
Xyius said:
Well my main point wasn't the fact that learning material makes it easier, that is obvious. My point was that I can go back to material that I haven't touched in months and do it with no problem. I think micromass hit the nail on the head saying it becomes matured over time.
I was being a little bit facetious. :smile: Anyway, it shouldn't necessarily surprise you that you retain (and maybe even 'subconsciously' synthesize various 'connections' wrt) stuff you've previously read/studied. Especially if you're really interested in (ie., motivated to learn/understand) the subject matter. I get these little epiphanies or eureka moments now and then wrt stuff that I haven't consciously attended to in months, or even years sometimes.
 
Jimmy Snyder said:
An interviewer asked, “Mr. (William) Faulker, some of your readers claim they still cannot understand your work after reading it two or three times. What approach would you advise them to adopt?” Faulkner replied, “Read it a fourth time.”

Haha! That made me laugh.

ThomasT said:
I was being a little bit facetious. Anyway, it shouldn't necessarily surprise you that you retain (and maybe even 'subconsciously' synthesize various 'connections' wrt) stuff you've previously read/studied. Especially if you're really interested in (ie., motivated to learn/understand) the subject matter. I get these little epiphanies or eureka moments now and then wrt stuff that I haven't consciously attended to in months, or even years sometimes.
Learning is truly an amazing thing :]