Does self-study leads to fast but shallow knowledge acquisition On another SE site i have read that


  Self-study often leads to rapid but shallow knowledge acquisition.


I'm a software engineer and i spend a lot of time taking math and physics courses on different online platforms. And this sentence makes me worry. Is that true?
It largely depends on your approach to self-study. Answer the questions below:


When you self-study, do you often test your understanding? Do you spend time solving exercises from the textbook? Do you apply what you learnt not only yo one problem, but to other similar problems?
Do you summarise what you've learnt and reflect on the learning process and experience? When you are involved in larger and more complex projects, do you break them down to smaller steps and identify how what you've learnt can help you improve the way each particular step is done?
Do you combine different methods you've learnt? Do you adapt them for new problems? When several alternative methods can be applied, do you know how to chose the most appropriate?


If you answered all questions positively, your adopt a deep learning style, and you should not really worry about the problems which come from shallow learning.