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Primal Learning - Join the Top 1% Fastest Learners (Udemy.com)

Hack the flow state. Multiply your productivity. Ace your exams. Optimize your lifestyle. Double your reading speed.

Created by: Mathias G

Last updated September 2025

Our take

Based on the ratings of 8,036 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in September 2025. No course pays to be reviewed.

Four hours and 109 short lectures on the science of learning: how the brain takes in information, how to get into a flow state, which study techniques the research backs, and a closing hour of speed reading drills. Mathias G, who lists physics and computer science degrees, teaches it with Vegard Gjerde. It suits students, self-learners and anyone who wants a structured tour of the research rather than a bag of tricks. About 25,000 people have enrolled since it launched in 2015, and it holds a 4.5 rating across roughly 8,000 reviews.

Reviewers praise the density. One calls it the most valuable course they have taken given the time it costs, and the section on Bloom's taxonomy and the three theories of learning gets singled out. The complaints are consistent and mostly about delivery. The instructors sound like they are reading aloud in a flat voice, one has an accent that a non-native English speaker found hard to follow, and the slides look dated. The speed reading section surprises people with how much drill work it demands. One 1-star reviewer felt they had bought a course about the brain rather than a course about learning better, a fair warning that the opening hour is theory.

It was refreshed in September 2025, so the material is current even if the visuals are not. At four hours it is cheap on time, and the roughly 14 percent of reviews at 3 stars or below are, in our sample, mostly about presentation rather than content. If you can sit through a monotone lecturer for the sake of well sourced ideas, it is a sound pick. If you want energy on screen, look elsewhere.

Best forStudents and self-learners who want the science behind study technique and can sit through plain slides.
Skip it ifYou want an energetic presenter, or you are after quick hacks rather than an hour of theory on how the brain learns.

Pros

  • Dense: 109 short lectures cover learning theory, flow, study techniques, lifestyle and speed reading in four hours
  • One reviewer calls the Bloom's taxonomy and learning theory lessons the best explanation they have heard
  • Claims are backed with scientific research rather than instructor opinion, which one reviewer notices and appreciates
  • Refreshed in September 2025 and holds a 4.5 rating across roughly 8,000 reviews

Cons

  • Delivery is monotone and sounds read from a script; one instructor's accent was hard for a non-native speaker to follow
  • Slides and visuals feel dated, according to two 4-star reviews
  • The speed reading hour is heavy on drills that need real commitment to pay off
They packed a lot of information in 4 hours. The last hour is on speed reading which is interesting, but the exercises are not for the faint of heart.
Laurie Hall, a student

All Levels is accurate: the only requirement is an open mind, though it helps to have a concrete learning goal in hand.

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What you will learn

  • Optimize your brain chemistry for increased productivity and learning
  • Enter the peak performance state "flow" consistently
  • Approach any type of learning with the most efficient and appropriate strategy
  • Implement the most efficient, and scientifically proven, learning techniques
  • Optimize aspects of lifestyle such as sleep and nutrition to enhance learning speed and focus
  • Double your reading speed

Course content

8 sections · 109 lectures · 4 hours of video 4 articles

  1. 1Introduction 1 free preview5 lectures · 6 min
  2. 2Your Learning Brain 2 free previews15 lectures · 49 min
  3. 3Flow 2 free previews28 lectures · 36 min
  4. 4Optimal Learning Strategies 1 free preview14 lectures · 31 min
  5. 5Optimal Learning Techniques 1 free preview7 lectures · 16 min
  6. 6Optimal Learning Lifestyle 1 free preview8 lectures · 35 min
  7. 7Speed Reading Essentials29 lectures · 49 min
  8. 8Outro3 lectures · 3 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • This course is perfect if you strive to improve and learn at the fastest rate possible.
  • This course if perfect if you want to increase your productivity get more done.
  • This course is best suited for go-getters and high achievers.

What you need before you start

  • Have an open mind. A specific goal is also advisable.

How it compares

Against the other 418 rated Udemy courses in Lifestyle on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 32% of them
  • Reviews8,036#7 of 419 by number of reviews
  • Length4 hourslonger than 69% of them
  • Last updatedSeptember 2025more recently than 70% of them

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Course Description


Do you want to increase your productivity?

Do you want to become one of the best in your field or subject?

How would you feel if you knew you could master anything?


Reviews:

Divine knowledge

This is a course that cannot be missed. You will obtain great knowledge and powerful insights from these instructors. They are scholars, you can also become one.

-by Veera Venkata Durga Prasad Chimmili


Great Course

Well structured, useful device to learn learning. The quality is a high level instruction. Thank you for this great course.

-by Ingrid Strubel


Great investment.

This Course has without doubt has given me new insight and strategies on maximizing my productivity. Mathias and Vegard are engaging instructors and do a great job at explaining.

-by Cristian Suarez


Excellent Course!

Course was presented very well, more than I expected, and course greatly increased my productivity and efficiency. Many thanks!

-by Teguh Perbawa


Outstanding Course

I'm about half way through the course and I can already say this course is amazing! Short and to the point videos. An abundance of facts and insights. This course has truly helped me enter the flow state and become more efficient. Thank you for creating such an informative course!

-by David Alvarez



About:

This course is about approaching your learning processes in the most efficient way. You will learn about what science determines to be the most efficient study techniques and the optimal strategies for your learning.

A big part of the course is the optimal state of learning and performance called flow. This is where time stands still, your become immensely productive and learn much faster. Your brain is flooded with feel-good neurotransmitters, which makes it very enjoyable.

This course also covers many lifestyle-tweaks which will set up your brain for maximized learning.

Lastly you will learn how to double your reading speed so that you can take in information even faster.


Who is this course for:

This course if for you if you are motivated to learn faster and be more productive. It's perfect for you if you are a go-getter or a high achiever. It's perfect if you want to get more done in less time. And lastly, it's perfect if you seek to achieve deep mastery in any field.


After this course you will:

  • Understand on a fundamental level how learning happens and how to maximize your learning speed and productivity.

  • Enter the flow state consistently and stay there

  • Approach your learning confidently with the scientifically proven best techniques

  • Tailor your learning processes with optimal strategies

  • Make lifestyle-tweaks to maximize your brain's potential

  • Double your reading speed!


Before you start:

  • Keep in mind there is a 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked.

  • You gain life time access to this course.

  • We will regularly add bonus lectures which you will get for free.

  • You will get instant access to ALL future updates.


Enroll in this course now and join the 1% fastest learners.

Become a learning machine.

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Instructor Details

Mathias G

I love to learn new things and to optimize the process of learning. That is why I created the course Primal Learning. I'm also interested in living the healthiest lifestyle possible to facilitate maximum productivity and learning. I have four university degrees: MSc in Physics, MSc in Entrepreneurship, BSc in Physics, and MSc in Computer Science.

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Reviews

4.5

8,036 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Rishi Yadav on 12/5/2025

The course opened in a way that immediately enhanced the learning experience. I appreciated the instructor’s clear and engaging style, and some of the natural background sceneries made it refreshing to follow along. The structure was solid—fundamental rather than comprehensive—but it provided a clear path forward. The speed-reading methodologies and exercises were practical and well designed, helping to build confidence and improve skills effectively.

By Laurie Hall on 6/5/2024

I have recommended this course to my team. The lessons teach all aspects of healthy lifestyle and best practices to improve learning. It's pretty comprehensive, they packed a lot of information in 4 hours. The last hour is on speed reading which is interesting, but the exercises are not for the faint of heart. It would definitely require committment to time and patience, but seems do-able if you are determined to increase your reading speed and comprehension.

By Amber Lee on 1/16/2023

As someone who's a high achiever, I'm always been trying to optimise learning habits to do things smarter. I highly recommend this course. The course is not one of those 'high level' I already know that common sense info type of courses. This really digs deeper into effective strategies with science backed reasoning and is something I think would have helped me perform more stress-free during my uni and highschool days. I was impressed by the level of detail. I particularly enjoyed the 'reading' smarter segment. I took away many new things and that made this course much more engaging.

By Ivana Plesnikova on 7/8/2021

The speed of speech was slow and rather monotone, and the accent of one of presenters was very difficult to understand for me as a non native English speaker - I needed to concentrate very much on each word to understand the whole. I would prefer more visual presentations - nice illustrations to support the words and make it more interesting for learners. Also i did not expect so many exercises for a speed reading, this was slightly different from what i was expecting.

By Timo K. on 3/1/2018

What's great: Covers a broad area of topics Full of applicable advice Avoids going unnecessarily deep (it's not a neuroscience course) Not so great: Background noise can sometimes be a little bit distracting I'd consider myself somewhat of a productivity geek and I've read multiple books on the topic already (Deep work, mind for numbers, peak performance etc.). Planning to take this course as a refresher to reinforce my knowledge I was pleasantly surprised on the amount of new information presented. Especially worthwhile for me where: Flow Optimal learning techniques Cheers!

By Michael Basa on 1/24/2018

If I have to pick one of the courses I've ever taken in my life (not just Udemy) which is my favourite. I would say Primal Learning. Everything here is very well-explained concise and practical to work, health, sports, music, business and of course learning complex subjects. This course not only enhanced my productivity, but it also taught me the essentials how our brain works and why. The brain is such a complex organ to understand but yet Vegard and Mathias were able to simplify it into digestible lessons. Thanks to you both, I became more fascinated about neuroscience and have since gained an insatiable hunger for knowledge. I am eternally grateful for your generosity in sharing your expertise. Much love from Singapore.

By Christoph Wagner on 10/17/2017

A lot of good information, thank you! Unfortunately, the nutrtition section does bot seem uptodate: "High Cholesterol is not linked to higher risk in heart disease" - very dangerous statement as it does not reflect the science. I highly encourage the authors to either delete the section or rebuild it. I urge you to study nutrtionstudies.org and nutrtionfacts.org before sharing crucial information on nutrtition! F.e.: While a ketogenic diet might offer short term energy boosts, it can be very harmful including to the brain (e.g. Alzheimer) in the long run. This context requires a more profound understanding of nutrition than the author demonstrated in this course...

By Enrico Foschi on 6/15/2016

The course covers some nice basic informative material. A lot of it actually, compressed down in a few sections. Easy to listen to at 2.0x speed. I would not say that all advices are gold though. Everything has been proven by research, and the contrary of everything - e.g. ketosis and fasting are not this awesome thing everybody is hyped about. The teachers are nice enough, well spoken and I am actually happy for my purchase. Not sure I would be if I paid full price.

By Jacob Jedi on 5/22/2016

This course has tons of great details and amazing source of knowledge on how to learn and brain function, but however in order to help the people who purchased this as a tool to learn on "how to learn", It would be helpful to provide more visuals, connection of examples, maybe more interactive on screen questions. I feel like the knowledge is there (or google) but it just two guys reading from the prompt and not to mention there is T.V. noise in the background is a bit unprofessional (redo the video if you can, but keep the material). Again, great source of knowledge but very dull and boring. If you guys going to teach us by reading from the prompt, please add more visuals, examples, animation and switch back would also help.

By Anuj Ramaiya on 3/21/2016

Primal Learning: Join the The 1% Fastest Learners is the bar for online courses on the internet on the subject. My self-learning strategy for increasing the efficiency of every aspect of my life has been expedited by well-researched, thorough information that is a gold mine for high achievers in any profession. I have always made it a point to learn from those who enjoy their work, and the Mr. Mathias and Mr. Gjerde are exclamation points on that assertion. The syllabus was interesting, the content valuable, and most importantly, everything was interrelated as a machine is. Each lecture possessed distinct value, but to appreciate it would be to see the structure of the sections, and the smooth transition of information to constantly push you to learn more. I have made a plan to incorporate the habits I considered valuable from this course and have begun to implement them day by day. Thank you, Anuj Ramaiya

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Overall Score : 90 / 100