If you want to learn something, the first thing to decide is why you want to learn it.
There are many reasons to learn things, but in general, the best reason is usually because you want to DO something, so you want to know how to do it.
Or maybe you have decided that you need or want a license or a certification or a degree. In that case, you may have to pass a test. That’s fine. That’s the rules. But if you are going to study ONLY for the purpose of passing that test, that seems like a shame to me. Why not at least learn something along the way?
For example, many years ago, I wanted to get a Ham Radio License. If you don’t know what that is, there is a description on WikiPedia here. In a nutshell, it is a license to transmit radio on certain bands that are specially licensed by the FCC for amateur (non-professional) use. It allows you to do things like communicate with people all across the planet using special radio equipment.
I didn’t want the license just to have it. But so that I could actually do it. Learning about radio can get pretty involved, but to really learn it, you need to do it, not just study books. You aren’t allowed to do it without a license, so you need to pass a test. The test asks lots of different types of questions. Many of the questions are things that people who know about electronics and radio waves and how to operate equipment would know. But many of the questions are about very specific regulations, such as what exact frequency is allowed or not allowed for certain types of radio communications. Nobody is going to know that unless they have memorized it.
But I didn’t know enough about the subject to know what I needed to learn to get into the subject, and what I would need to learn or memorize in order to pass the test.
I looked around on the web for sites that could help me learn what I needed to learn. I found many options, but even tually I found a website called HamTestOnline. This site, to me, was the perfect balance for what I wanted to do. All I had to do was pay a small fee (around $20), and then just sign into the site every day or two, and put in some time on a course.
The course covered the basics of what I needed to know as a ham radio operator, and then asked me the questions that would come up on the test. When I got a question wrong, it would give me the correct information, and keep coming back to that area to make sure I had it.
Some of the questions were purely memorization, and eventually I just knew the answer. Other questions were more logical or mathematical, and before long, the answers were either obvious, or easy to figure out.
The site tracked my progress, and told me when I was ready for the test. I signed up for a test in my area, and passed it easily.
That was nine years ago, and my license was coming close to expiring, so I just studied up for the next test, on the same website, and passed it easily.
This method can be used for anything where an exam is required, such as a driver’s license, a computer certification, or even getting licensed as an attorney. Where an exam is not required, such as just learning to program computers without getting a certification, you can do the same thing.
Where an online course is not available for the thing you want to learn, it’s really not much different. All you need to do is find out where the knowledge is, and learn it.
To quote Elon Musk “You don’t need to go to college to learn stuff.” Just about every piece of knowledge that exists is available online, and most of it is free. It’s not like colleges are vast repositories of secret knowledge. They are just one fun and convenient, if expensive, way to learn stuff that is readily available already. Even if you don’t know how to learn, you can learn that too.
So, if you want to know how to do something, or even if you want to get a license or a certification to do something, there is really no excuse for not doing it. If you need help, that’s fine, ask someone. You can do that online too.
It may be difficult. It may take a lot of time. It might cost some money here and there. But you can do it, and nobody can stop you. Go for it!
