Course
Sharp: 8 weeks to a learning habit
How to learn a language, instrument or subject as an adult — spaced practice, the 20-minute slot, and a weekly review sheet.
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Think
Learning, memory, study and creativity at any age.
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Keeping your mind sharp: what actually works
A plain guide to cognitive ageing: the difference between normal forgetfulness and something to raise with a GP, the levers with real evidence behind them, and an honest look at brain-training apps. Start here for the Think section.
Read the guidePlans and workbooks for think
Whole shop →Guides
Going back to study: Open University, community colleges, free courses and how to fund it
The realistic options for studying as an adult: the Open University, u3a, FutureLearn and Coursera, US community colleges and state tuition waivers for older residents, plus the UK Advanced Learner Loan, part-time student finance and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Learning a language as an adult: a realistic plan
Why adults learn languages differently rather than worse, how to use a 20-minute daily slot, what spaced repetition is, why to speak early, where to find cheap or free help, and a 12-week outline you can start on Monday.
Taking up a musical instrument as an adult
A practical guide to starting an instrument as an adult: choosing one for your hands, hearing, space and budget, structuring short daily practice, finding a teacher or group, and what to expect at one month, three months and a year.
Five memory techniques that work at any age
Five evidence-backed memory techniques for learning at any age — spaced repetition, retrieval practice, the memory palace, chunking and sleep — with an honest account of what the research shows and where the limits are.
Stories
“Education has no expiration”: Virginia Ordaz and her mother finished their degrees in the same class
How a retired fire dispatcher from Stockton, California, finished the degree she started in 1989, and how her mother finished hers more than 40 years after her last class. How to find out what your own old credits are worth, in the US and the UK.
Sixty paper hats on a table in Bridlington: David Smith and the shape mathematicians had sought for decades
David Smith of Bridlington, a hobbyist with no training in mathematics, found 'the hat': the first single shape known to cover a flat surface only in patterns that never repeat. How he found it, why he could not prove it alone, and the free tools that let you put the same tiles on your own table.
Every day in the emergency room, Dr Carl Allamby is back in his auto shop
Carl Allamby opened a car repair shop in East Cleveland at 19 and enrolled in night classes for a business degree at 34. A required biology course revived a childhood wish to be a doctor. He graduated from Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2019 at 47 and joined Cleveland Clinic's Hillcrest Hospital as an attending emergency physician in 2022, at 51. How he did it, what the research says about how adults learn, and how to start.
Marie Fowler went back to the classroom and came out with a doctorate
Marie Fowler, 83, completed a Doctor of Ministry at Howard University in three years, becoming its oldest doctoral graduate in May 2024 — more than six decades after she was last in school.
Things to do
More things to do →- Join a chess club and play a rated game
- Write the first full draft of a book
- Learn a language to CEFR level B1
- Learn an instrument and play one piece for an audience
- Complete a free OpenLearn course and earn the statement of participation
- Finish an online university course from start to end
- Join a u3a or an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and attend a group
- Give your first prepared speech at a Toastmasters club
- Trace one family line back to your great-great-grandparents
- Go to the National Book Festival
- Brush up your everyday maths
- Submit a work to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition