How to Remember

1. Use the best methods to remember

Which of the below do you use to help you remember?

Read through work

Re-write my notes

Highlighting

Rely on my memory

All the above are not effective techniques for remembering as Psychologist Professor John Dunlovsky discovered. The focus here is getting information “in,” with the hope that it sticks. If you cram, re-read, and re-write your notes, you feel fairly confident that you know the information. And indeed, at first cramming pays off – you tend to do well on a test. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that these methods only lead to short-term learning. We assume when information comes to mind easily and feels “fluent,” we’ve learned successfully. Much to our surprise, however, memory researchers have demonstrated that the opposite is true: when information comes to mind easily and feels fluent, it’s easy to forget. In other words, just because we learn something quickly and easily does not guarantee we will remember it.

Which of the below do you use to help you remember?

Questioning

Concrete Examples

Mental Associations

Past Papers

All the above are more effective techniques to help you remember as they all help develop your long-term memory and all use a learning method called retrieval practice.

2. Use Retrieval Practice

If you want to understand how to remember you need to focus not on getting information “in”, but on getting information “out”.

Deliberately recalling information forces us to pull our knowledge “out” and examine what we know. This is called retrieval practice. You need to learn to:

RETRIEVE & then
USE your learning

3. the more difficult the retrieval the more effective it can be

Retrieving information requires mental effort, we may feel like progress is slow, but that’s when our best learning takes place. The more difficult the retrieval practice, the better it is for long-term learning. For instance:

Recalling an answer to a science question improves learning to a greater extent than looking up the answer in a textbook.
Recalling and writing down an answer to a flashcard improves learning more than thinking that you know the answer and flipping the card over prematurely.

Struggling to learn – through the act of “practising” what you know and recalling information – is much more effective than re-reading, taking notes, or listening to podcasts. Slower, effortful retrieval leads to long-term learning. In contrast, fast, easy strategies only lead to short term learning.

4. Retrieval practice helps your focus

Retrieval practice helps us remember and more importantly, it helps us figure out what we don’t know. This crucial benefit of retrieval practice is called metacognition, or awareness of what you know and don’t know. For instance, some students study hard for tests and don’t do well, usually because they studied what they already knew – they didn’t study what they didn’t know. By engaging in retrieval practice, you are able to evaluate what you know and what you don’t know, and then make better study decisions.

5. How to retrieve YOUR LEARNING

Once you have retrieved your learning you need to interact with it to help make it more meaningful to yourself. Some suggestions:

Use the material you have retrieved to answer a question or address a problem you have not previously tackled.
Rework the material into a chart or diagram, including images, colour etc.
Summarise material under headings onto index cards
Discuss the retrieved material with other people
Make any comparisons and contrasts between the different areas of your learning.

6. Use Spaced Retrieval

Spaced retrieval practice is the opposite of cramming. If you space out your retrieval over time, you will be learning more for the long-term memory. Spending less time, more often, will help you remember more effectively.

We all forget and so by retrieving regularly it helps ensure we forget less, less often. We have looked at this already in our third 'big learning idea', How to Improve. it was explored by Hermann Ebbinghaus and you may have heard it described as the forgetting curve.

You need to plan your spaced retrieval practice which is why your teachers give you regular quizzes and assessments. Watch this video, 'Reverse the Forgetting Curve'. How could you plan to reverse the forgetting curve?

(If unsure look at the earlier video in Nu.5 Retrieve and Use).

Not sure where to begin? Consider prioritising the learning you struggle with.

7. interleave your retrieval

What is interleaving?

Can you work out from the diagram above what blocking and interleaving is?

which is better?

This diagram comes from a study by Rohrer, Dedrick & Stershic on how to help students improve in Mathematics

Interleaving is the theory that trying to retrieve more than one topic in each revision session will help you make links between topics and strengthen memory associations. Which subjects could you try this out with?

Some advice:

Don't switch topics too often, make sure you have a good understanding before you move on
Breaking topics into chunks before you start is a way to manage this approach
Don't worry if it feels hard at first, in the long run it pays off
Try following the order you learnt things in the classroom, but interleave another topic within it

8. active retrieval will keep you interested

There are lots of different retrieval methods out there which can you help retrieve, deepen and extend your knowledge and understanding. Speak to your subject teacher to find out the methods they recommend.

9. Question & Elaborate

want to explore more retrieval ideas?

Asking questions is always important when you are seeking to remember - but asking strategic questions can help your metacognition as it will help you choose the most effective retrieval approach to use. Elaborating questions are useful for helping you develop that deeper, independent learning.