AI Search Summary
This learning-science video explains the 85% rule: people often learn fastest when a task is difficult enough that they fail about 15% of the time, or succeed around 85% of the time. The creator connects this sweet spot to studying, sports, video games, rehab exercises, and teaching, while warning that tasks that are too easy or too hard waste learning potential.
- Main question: How can the 85% rule help you learn or teach skills faster?
- Short answer / core takeaway: Aim for a challenge level where you get roughly six out of seven attempts right; raise difficulty if things are too easy and lower it if you are failing too much to learn.
- Evidence type: Learning-optimization explainer based on theoretical models, classroom data, and rehab exercise context named in the transcript.
- Search topics: 85 percent rule learning, optimal error rate, study difficulty sweet spot, learning optimization, deliberate practice difficulty, challenge point learning.
Common Search Questions
What is the 85% rule?
The 85% rule says learning may be optimized around roughly 85% accuracy, meaning a task is challenging enough that about one in seven attempts fails.
Why does the 85% rule work?
The video explains that people learn best when challenged. If the task is too easy, there is little new learning; if it is too hard, there is not enough success to build from and people may disengage.
How do you apply it while studying?
If you are getting more than about six out of seven problems correct, increase difficulty. If you are barely getting anything right, reduce difficulty or add support until the task becomes learnable.
Key Takeaways
- The optimal error rate described in the study is 15.87%, close to 85% accuracy.
- The idea can apply to academics, sports, rehabilitation, games, and teaching.
- Too-easy classes and too-hard exams can both produce poor long-term retention.
- The creator uses Beat Saber as an example of practicing at a difficulty around 85% success.
- The workbook did not include the exact title or DOI/PMID for the 85% rule study.
Transcript
The 85% rule
This study found a simple rule that can make you learn or teach almost any skill faster. It can help you study for tests, learn to rock climb, master a video game, and a whole lot more. It’s called the 85% rule, and we’re going to cover what it is, why it works, and how to apply it. Welcome back to 30 Studies to Change Your Life, Learning Optimization Week, where we’ll be covering science-backed methods to help you learn faster and retain that information longer.
Two bad classroom difficulty examples
To explain the rule, I’m going to give you guys two examples from my grad school days. I had this one crotchety professor. Let’s call him Bins. I remember walking out of his first exam freaking out. The class was on transistor theory, but the test had almost nothing to do with that. I later found out that it was more based on his current research project. I got a 37% on that test. I was devastated. But I spoke to a friend who was super relaxed about it. He told me that his father had also had Professor Bins, and that the class average, even back then, was usually curved up. I remember almost nothing from that whole semester. That same year, I had a different class on electromagnetism. It was really hard to get into because the teacher, let’s call him Gilderoy, was known to be good but a really lazy test giver. He always used the same questions from previous years and barely even changed the numbers around. Most people got hundreds, but just like the first professor, a year later almost nobody remembered anything from that class.
The learning sweet spot
This all intuitively makes sense. We learn best when we’re being challenged, but make that challenge too hard, and there’s not enough to hold on to, so we just check out. But there’s a sweet spot, which brings us to the study. Researchers tested out multiple learning models, both from AI research and neuroscience, trying to see how training difficulty impacts learning speed. They found an optimal error rate to be 15.87%, or roughly 85% accuracy, meaning that you’re trying something, but you’re failing roughly one in every seven attempts.
Evidence and practical use
This study was theoretical, but it’s been backed up by classroom data, and most recently, a study on computer-guided rehab exercises in humans, where those who found them either too easy or too hard didn’t stick with it as much as those who had a roughly 90% success rate. So if you’re studying and getting more than six out of seven problems right, raise the difficulty level. But also don’t start out too tough unless that’s part of the actual education process. Back when I was trying to get good at Beat Saber, I made sure to set it that I was playing at a difficulty where I could hit roughly 85% of those blocks, rather than spending too much time perfecting those levels where I was already at 95% or wasting my time with those where I could barely hit any. I want to hear from you guys. What are the best ways you would apply this rule? Let me know in the comments.
Additional Notes
Caption context
The caption says the 85% rule can apply to sports, physical tasks, and intellectual pursuits. It warns that many people spend too much study or practice time in the wrong parts of the error-rate curve.
Keywords and topics
- 85% rule
- Optimal error rate
- Learning difficulty
- Study tips
- Practice efficiency
- Skill acquisition
- Beat Saber practice
- Learning Optimization Week
References
- 85% rule learning-model study discussed in transcript; title, source URL, DOI, and PMID were not listed in the workbook.
- Classroom-data support and computer-guided rehab exercise study mentioned in transcript; direct source details were not listed in the workbook.