Learning/Reviewing New Material Quickly My question is : What is a time effective way to learn new material/ reviewing old material you don't completely remember?

Motivation:

For my research in Computer Science, I need lots of elements of hypothesis testing that I learnt in Statistics 101 (Roughly 10 years ago). I haven't taken a single stats class ever since. I vaguely remember the terms involved in the subject and am somewhat conversant with the basics of statistics (so I don't need to retake the course). But all in all, it's as good as a blank slate right now.

I have read How to efficiently read mathematically and theoretically dense books in STEM fields? but that targets a specific topic that the OP wants to learn, not an entire book. The top 3 answers talk about reading only those sections which you are interesting in. I, on the other hand, need to understand the whole of hypothesis testing which by itself is a book.

My options are (As far as I can see):


Take out the book I used / "Best" book of the subject (i.e. the one best suited for my background) and read it from page 1 till I am comfortable. Too time consuming
Read the chapter I need and then go back to the terms I don't understand. Time spent in confusion and direction-less reading exceeds the time actually spent adding value.
Take course again/Read cover to cover. God No.
Any other?


EDIT : I wish to add that I can sacrifice depth for familiarity and savings in time. (Is this a good idea but? Assuming that it's not a central part of my research)
First of all, you will spend virtually your entire career doing this (trying to remember stuff you forgot), so this is a question that's worth really working on. You'll hopefully receive a good few answers; try them all over the course of a year or two in different situations and choose the one that works.



My personal method is very similar to your (2); review the specific parts of the material that you need to know for that specific situation. In most cases, you'll find this to be sufficient for solving a particular problem. If you don't understand your material, then either Google the topic and try to read someone else's overview, or simply take a step back and go over the more fundamental material, working your way back up to the topic at hand.

Note that this will not work for situations where you need everything, such as interviews. For those, you'll want to read outlines and try to summarize contents for yourself. I've also gone back and looked at homework problems, which (assuming they were well-written assignments) can provide you with a good overview of the material that you need to know about the topic.