Study Techniques: Active Recall and Spaced Repetition

Active Recall and Spaced Repetition: How to Study Effectively

We were often told to study for our tests and quizzes as students, but no one ever taught us how to study for it.

Have you ever felt as though you grasped everything your teacher said in class yet struggled at home when it came to answering tutorial questions and doing homework?

Active Recall and Spaced Repetition are two scientific research approaches. It is useful and aids students in their studies.

Active Recall

Active Recall is essentially testing your knowledge and understanding of the content that you're learning. 

You actively recall the material that you have learned, as the name suggests. This constant retrieval of data aids students in moving information from the short to the long term memory.

When it comes to learning about concepts and theories, as well as learning how to recognize what the question is asking for and when to use which concept to solve the problem, Active Recall is the most effective method.

Spaced Repetition

Learning how to retrieve information is obviously crucial, but how can you extend this memory to a longer period of time? 

Here it comes to use Spaced Repetition

Spaced Repetition involves spacing your revision into specific intervals over a period of time.

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Memory decay can be slowed by using a learning approach called spaced repetition. As shown in the graph above, if we don't retrieve this information after a certain amount of time, we forget about it.

The only way to maintain them in our long-term memory is to go over them again and again. The more times you review these materials, the longer the period between revisions becomes.

How the apply of active recall and spaced repetition will look like

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This draft plan will help you understand how to incorporate them both into your study plans. 

As you can see, at certain times, the topics are spaced out. This is due to the fact that spaced repetition aids students in recalling material just when they are about to forget it.

In this way, the memory is strengthened and the length of the memory is extended.

How to use Active Recall

After you've gone over all of your materials with any of your preferred methods, such as rereading, summarizing, and highlighting your notes. It's time to get to work on getting this data.

Here are some techniques for retrieving information from your brain.

• Close the book

You can always put all your textbooks and notes away and start working on practice questions to see how well you understand the content.

Close your book and try to recall points by point for some specific subjects such as Biology and History, which rely largely on active recall. Continue practicing until you've mastered the material.

It's also a good idea to write down what you're remembering each time to help develop your muscle memory.

• Flashcards

they are one of the most efficient ways to include active recall in your study.

By all means, if you're old school and prefer to write down your flashcards.

You can always try them out if you're seeking for a digital alternative such as:

• Anki 

it is a flashcard program that costs money.

It also uses the spaced repetition method of learning. It hides cards that you have correctly guessed until you practice on the deck of cards again a few days later.

• Quizlet

This is a free flashcard program that allows users to create their own flashcards and share them with others.

Students can also use the flashcard decks of other students to revise.

It does not, however, include the spaced repetition study approach.

What's nice about utilizing flashcards for studies is that you may review your flashcards and topics in less than 30 minutes every day.

Begin making these flashcards at the beginning of the topics where you have the most questions.

When you're working on practice questions, jot down any doubts you have.

It is also beneficial to look at which topics you are most confused and unsure about after taking a test. Then you can edit your flashcards to improve the weaker aspects of the topics.

Start early by using spaced repetition and active recall into your study strategies, rather than cramming all of your revision from first chapter to last chapter of your scientific syllabus.

This manner, by the end of the semester, just before final exams, you'll have decks of flashcards and prior KNOWLEDGE to begin studying and going through those previous year papers!