1/08/2020- The importance of active recall in revision

Hello! Today, we're going to focusing on the wonderful world of revision... Yes, I know- the harsh, confusing, brutal world of revision. However, in this post I'll hopefully outline some revision techniques that are productive- meaning you can learn that French vocab, that Sociology study, that chemical equation and smash your exams.

A trend I have seen during my education is that people aren't told HOW to revise. You'll see students reading the same pages over and over for hours on end- but most of the time that just isn't effective! Wouldn't it be so much easier to use productive techniques that take half the time, are incredibly effective- and allow you the time to finish that Netflix series!

This is where active recall comes in. Active recall refers to revision techniques that are actively testing you- instead of just passively reading a textbook you have to retrieve the information from your mind and recall it. However, I'm sure you're not going to take my word for it- so, like any good essay, here's some evidence in favour of Active recall!

Karpicke and Blunt (2011) conducted a lab student with undergraduate students, giving the participants 5 minutes to read an article about sea otters. Following this participants were assigned to one of 4 conditions

• No additional study (Study Once condition)

• Read the passage for 15 additional minutes in 5 minute blocks (Repeated Study)

• Concept mapping the information for 25 minutes

• Spending 10 minutes writing what they could recall, studying the passage for a further 5 minutes, then another 10 minutes to write what they could recall (Retrieval Practise Condition)

Results!

• When asked both verbatim and inference questions participants recalled information more accurately in the retrieval practise condition (active recall!), especially in comparison to the study once condition

• What is especially interesting about this study is that the researchers asked the participants which condition they thought would produce the most accurate recall. Participants viewed repeated study as the most effective method, and viewed retrieval practise as the least (in reality this turned out to be the most accurate!)

• Therefore although you might think that by reading information over and over again you are revising productively- the results of this study show that you need to be actively testing your knowledge. Therefore below I have outlined some techniques that use the concept of active recall

Method 1: Flashcards

• This is a super easy way of testing yourself on content. On one side you can have a concept, and then on the other side you can write the definition

• However, you have to be careful with flashcards. Make sure to condense information down- this will make it easier to remember

• Don't just write the answer down on the other side- you can be more visual if you like by drawing images on the flashcard! Sometimes it will be easier to remember this image, and this will act as a cue- triggering your memory of the answer!

• Online apps can be used eg Anki. This is a brilliant app for flashcards as it will systematically test you on the flashcards you've struggled with in the past.

Method 2: Questions/ Cornell Note taking system

• This method is a simple way of implementing practise questions in your revision routine

• Following every lecture/ lesson you take your notes and formulate a set of questions that cover the new content you've learnt. Then, as a form of revision you run through these questions and check the textbook AFTERWARDS. This will help you easily identify which topics you need to go over a bit more, and then you can repeat the questions after this to see your improvement!

• If you like you can get someone else (a parent, a friend) to ask you these questions. The fact you might have to explain it further to this person means you'll be able to see if you really KNOW the content- become the teacher!

Method 3: Brain Dump/ 2 Colour Pen Technique

• This method was introduced to me by my Year 13 psychology teacher and it is amazing!

• What you do is read over the content from the lecture to familiarise yourself with the information again. Following this, take a plain piece of paper and write down everything you can remember about a certain topic. Once you've blurted everything you can remember on this piece of paper, take a different colour pen and fill in any gaps in your knowledge (this is when you take the textbook out)

• The next step is that the next day you take a piece of paper again and repeat the process. However, you don't go back to the textbook before this- you are simply writing down everything you can remember (active recall?? I think so).

• This is similar to the method used in the Karpicke and Blunt (2011), and is a super productive way to revise especially if you implement it early in the school year

Method 4: Essay Memorisation Framework

• Obviously this revision technique is biased to essay subjects- sorry!

• The first step is that you scope the subject. Looking through the specification, the textbook, past papers and writing down any questions that are likely to come up in the exam.

• Then you have produced a list of all the possible questions that come up in the exam. From here (the hard step) you need to plan what your answers would be for each question. By no means do you need to write these essays but do write a few bullet points (Point. Evidence. Explain. Link) for each paragraph.

• Following this you can revise from the practise questions, using any method that uses active recall. Personally I find the 2 colour pen technique as a good match here as I can get all my ideas and thoughts written down.

• The importance of this technique is that the exam boards might be kind and give you a question that you've memorised. However, even if the question is slightly different you will have learnt these blocks of information in the form of essay paragraphs. From here you can manipulate these blocks to answer the new question!

A few other tips

• 'Think it through' mechanism- Make sure that the technique is of desirable difficulty. You want to be forced to really think, but don't make it too easy/ difficult! Also use 'dual codes'. This is where you learn information in different ways eg- visual, written, auditory etc.

• 'Making Associations' mechanism- These associations can be visual. For example my Sociology teacher would always make us draw photos that represent studies- it's surprising how well it sticks! Within this it is also great to provide examples.

'Marathon vs Sprint' Mindset

One last thing to mention is when you should be doing this revision. At the start of Year 12 my head of year provided us with the following advice. It is so much better to revise as you progress throughout the year, instead of cramming in the work at the end before exams. This advice is imperative. An example of this would be to make your revision resources everyday. After a lesson has finished and you get home- simply go over the content from the day and convert it into some kind of revision material eg- flashcards, practise questions, do the 2 colour pen technique. Although this might sound tiring and annoying, it WILL help you in the long run. With this future time orientation implemented from the start of the year, you will be able to learn and produce revision resources as the months go by- and hopefully by the time exams come by you will feel prepared. Instead of having to spend hours making flashcards 2 weeks before your exam- you have already done this! This provides you with the freedom to just go over the material you struggle with during the exam period- and it will be good for you mentally to not cram!

This mindset really follows this idea of Spaced Repetition. This is where you regularly revisit information from your study. You might revisit it a few hours after the lesson, then a few days later, then a week later, then 2 weeks later etc. The importance of this is it stops you from forgetting the information as you would do naturally. If you simply completed the lesson and then never revisited it until exam time- it is likely you won't be able to recall anything!

The importance of Spaced repetition is that you CATCH that information before it falls into the realm of the forgotten. This can be simple and easy- just spend 10 minutes flicking through your flashcards. Done! You'll thank yourself I promise

I think we're done now! I hope some of these techniques will be useful to you all- I am so thankful I implemented them into my revision schedule during A levels- as before I had no idea what to do! Speak soon...

Here are some YouTube videos that helped my revision