Today I am going to teach you about a technique called active recall which is known to be the most affective studying technique there is. I’m going to teach you what active recall is and then I’m going to show you three different ways you can use it.
What is active recall?
When we are studying we often think of the most important thing is putting lots of information into our brain. However studies have shown that when it comes to remembering information it is more important to focus on retrieving the information from my brain.
Back in school I would always test myself to find out how much I knew and work out which areas I needed to revise more. But studies have shown that it is the act of testing ourselves that is the way way to revise. So don’t just test yourself to decide which topic to focus on, and then use a different revision technique. The testing is the revision.
Our brain is like a web of information and when we tug on those strings to try and recall something we learnt previously, we strengthen that connection and it will be easier to remember next time. You should be actively using your brain to try and recall the information. Hence why it is called active recall.
It is also worth remembering that your brain is like a muscle. Think about when you want to go to the gym. You don’t want to lift weights that are too light because they will do nothing. Similarly, if you try to lift weights that are too heavy you won’t get anyway either. You brain is very similar. Your studying needs to be just the perfect level of difficultly to challenge you. You can do this by picking questions that are the right difficulty but also by timing your revision correctly. For example, there is no point in testing yourself on the same topic 5 times in one day if it’s gets too easy. Leave it and try testing yourself tomorrow. And if you get it all right tomorrow, test yourself again in a week.
Method #1 - Flashcards
The most obvious way to test yourself on what you have learnt is by using Flashcards. I personally like to use digital Flashcards on apps like Quizlet or Anki but you can do this on paper too.
Flashcards work really well for subjects were you have lots of facts to memorise. You can use them to learn dates for history, to learn vocabulary for languages or to learn the names of body parts in biology.
It’s important to only have one piece of information per flashcard. This way you will always know exactly what the flashcard is asking.
When doing my Flashcards, I like to split them into 2 piles. The ones I got right and the ones I got wrong. I will then keep repeating the ones I got wrong until they are all in the correct pile. Quizlet will do this for you automatically.
Once you have got them all right, leave it and try again tomorrow or next week when you have forgotten some of it.
Method #2 - Practice Questions
If you are studying subjects like maths or science where you don’t have to memorise facts but you have to learn techniques or how to solve certain problems, the best way to use active recall is to do practice questions. You can use textbook questions, workbooks or past papers.
Remember to try to do these without looking at the answers. That’s the whole point in active recall. You really want to work that muscle to try and remember it as that is what will make it stronger.
I recommend answering the questions is one colour pen and then using a different coloured pen to fill in bits that you missed. This way you’ll be able to see where you are going wrong.
Another way to make this even more effective is to keep a list of all of the questions that you found difficult and then keep revisiting these. Try them tomorrow. Can you remember what the correct answer was? Then try them again in a week. They will soon make sense don’t worry.
Method #3 - Mind Dumping
The last method of using recall recall is a study technique known as mind dumping.
In order do mind dumping you first start by using your notes to create a mindmap of all of the information that you want to remember. This is perfect for subjects line history or geography or English where the information is linked in different ways. You could make a mind map about the causes of the Second World War or about how volcanoes erupt.
Then turn your mind map over and try to recreate it WITHOUT looking at the original one or looking at your notes. Remember we are trying to use our brain muscles in order to strengthen them. It’s supposed to be a little bit challenging.
When you have written down everything you can possible remember, turn your original mind map over and fill in the blanks using a different coloured pen to see what information you were missing.
And then...you guessed it! Do it again. And then try it again tomorrow. And then in a weeks time. Keep doing it until you can create that mind map in your sleep!
So those are our 3 methods for using active recall. I recommend using a combination of them to learn different types of information.
Here is the video about this that I created in collaboration with Schuh: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CF4FVvfBIqY/
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