Last time, I wrote about the OODA Loop and argued that its hardest step is Orient, because it asks us to see a situation clearly before making a decision.
Many students who struggle are intelligent and hardworking. What often holds them back are a few ideas about learning that they've never questioned.
I come across these ideas in almost every batch. Here are four that deserve a second look.
Learning Only Counts When It Looks Like Work
Barbara Oakley teaches what became the world's most popular online course on learning.
Both modes matter. Yet most of us value only the first.
A student who spends twelve hours at a desk feels productive. The same student who takes a walk after studying often feels guilty, as though they should still be working.
I see this all the time. That break isn't wasted time.
If you've already put in the focused effort, stepping away gives the brain time to process what you've learned. Sleep plays an important role too, because much of that learning is organised while you rest.
Students who treat every break as lost time often end up tired, frustrated, and with a weaker understanding of the subject than they expected.
“I Have a Fixed Learning Style”
This is one of the most common myths I hear. A student says, “I'm a visual learner. I can't handle dense text,” and uses that as a reason to avoid reading annual reports.
Even so, surveys show that many educators still believe the idea. It sounds reasonable, but the evidence doesn't support it.
What matters is choosing the right method for the subject. You learn to read a balance sheet by working through balance sheets, whatever kind of learner you believe you are.
The real problem is that these labels become excuses.
In equity research, reading is a basic part of the job. You'll spend years going through annual reports and concall transcripts, one after another, until you begin to notice not just what management says, but also what it leaves unsaid.
A student who decides they are “not a reading person” closes the door on a skill they need to build. Let go of the label, and it becomes much easier to focus on the work itself.
“If Studying Feels Smooth, I'm Learning”
This is another idea that catches out even hardworking students.
In a well-known 2006 study, Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke found that students who tested themselves remembered much more several weeks later than students who simply reread the material, even though the rereading group felt more confident afterwards.
Trying to recall something without looking at your notes feels harder. Those methods are also far more likely to stay with you.
This is exactly why I always ask students to study and practice in parallel — not cram all the lectures together and then all the practice together. And it's the same thinking behind how we've designed our formula flashcards: the whole point is to recall without looking, not to recognise with the answer in front of you.
I see this every exam season. A student highlights almost every page of a textbook, feels fully prepared, and then struggles in a mock test. The highlighting created confidence, but not lasting learning.
That's why I often ask students to close the book and explain a concept from memory before checking the answer. It feels uncomfortable, but that effort is often a sign that real learning is taking place.
“Once I've Learned It, I'm Done”
The last belief worth questioning is that learning has a finish line.
The illiterate of the future will not be those who cannot read, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Alvin Toffler wrote that, and finance keeps proving the point.
Think about what happened when GST was introduced in India. Or when the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the Indian Evidence Act.
Did CA practitioners suddenly become irrelevant? Did lawyers have to start their careers from scratch?
No. Because their core understanding — the logic of how tax works, the principles of how law is applied — didn't change. Only the specific rules changed, and they updated the law part. The concepts stayed.
That's exactly what continuous learning looks like in a profession. You don't discard what you know. You add to it, refine it, sometimes correct it. The foundation remains.
Even after qualifying, the learning doesn't stop. Analysts who spent years building financial models by hand are now adapting their workflow as AI takes care of much of the first draft.
I feel this in my own work as well.
Teaching every subject across every CFA level means I'm constantly revisiting concepts, not just updating examples, but genuinely rethinking explanations as the profession evolves. The number of books I read, the conversations I have with alumni who've reached senior positions, the self-help and mental models I come across — all of that feeds back into how I teach. Interconnecting subjects, interconnecting disciplines. That's a habit I want my students to develop too.
Facts will change. The ability to keep learning, unlearning, and relearning is what lasts.
Start Here
Tonight, pick one topic you studied last week. It could be a concept, a formula, or a chapter. Close your notes and, on a blank page, write down everything you can remember without looking anything up.
Then compare what you wrote with your notes.
The gaps will show you what you remember well and what needs more work.
Because if you can explain it simply, you've understood it. If you can't, you know exactly where to go back.
Invest in yourself,
Aswini Bajaj