Learning is a multi-step process of increasing cognitive complexity.

This information is useful to know because questions used on national boards generally require higher-level reasoning. Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, revised by Anderson and Krathwohl in 2001, includes six categories. It begins with the simplest level (REMEMBER) and concludes with the sixth, and most complex, level (CREATE).

As you study for your boards, stretch your learning to include higher level thinking (i.e., analyzing, evaluating, and creating).

Here’s what you need to know about the six levels of learning:

Level 1 – REMEMBER

Learners are able to recall a wide range of previously learned material from specific facts to complete theories. But, this level merely requires bringing to mind the appropriate information.

Sample verbs include: label, list, choose, read, recall, record, relate, review, select, write.

Level 2 – UNDERSTAND

Learners demonstrate their understanding of material by explaining ideas or concepts or interpreting and translating what has been learned.

Sample verbs include: define, describe, discuss, explain, interpret, classify, translate.

Level 3 – APPLY

Learners apply their knowledge by using it in another familiar situation from the one in which it was learned. The application may include rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, and theories.

Sample verbs include: adapt, apply, change, compute, construct, generalize, interpret, illustrate, make, show, solve.

Level 4 – ANALYZE (critical thinking)

Learners analyze when they break information into parts to explore understandings and relationships in an attempt to identify evidence for a conclusion.

Sample verbs include: analyze, distinguish, deduce, compare, contrast, infer, deconstruct, differentiate, calculate.

Level 5 – EVALUATE (critical thinking)

Learners evaluate when they use in-depth reflection, criticism and assessment to justify a decision or course of action.

Sample verbs include: appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, conclude, criticize, critique, debate, determine, differentiate, discriminate, evaluate, infer, judge, justify, measure, recommend, validate.

Level 6 – CREATE (critical thinking)

Learners create when they generate new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things.

Sample verbs include: act, assemble, combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, generate, hypothesize, imagine, predict, plan, prepare, produce.

Applying the Six Levels of Learning to Your Board Exam Preparation

Because questions used on national boards rely on critical thinking, make sure that you include the full spectrum of learning that includes taxonomy levels 4 through 6.

When you think actively about the material (using critical thinking), you process the ideas more thoroughly and construct extensive cognitive networks connecting new ideas together and linking them to what you already know.

Remember that you do not learn much just by reading, memorizing, and recalling material. You must “activate” your learning by talking about it, writing about it, relating it to past experiences, applying it to your daily life—in short, making it part of yourself.

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