Studying Techniques to Prepare For College

Okay, so HOW do I use active recall?

• Look at each concept
• Look at each question
• Explain the concept out loud as if to an audience
• If good place (✓) mark next to concept
• If you stumble place (X) mark and come back to it later
• Study until you get a (✓) mark next to every concept
• Study less, get higher grades

Read carefully. Write down unfamiliar terms and look up their
meanings. Make an outline. Reread each chapter.
That's not terrible advice. But some scientists would say that
you've left out the most important step: Put the book aside and
hide your notes. Then recall everything you can. Write it down, or,
if you're uninhibited, say it out loud.

Why is passive recall not as effective as active recall?

"So you could say to yourself, 'Yeah, I know this. Sure, this is all
very familiar,'" Mr. Karpicke continues. "But of course, when you
go in to take a classroom test, or in real life when you need to
reconstruct your knowledge, the book's not there. In our
experiments, when students repeatedly read something, it falsely
inflates their sense of their own learning."

Passive recall gives you a false sense of what you know and what you don't know. On the other hand, active recall not only takes less time but it is more effective and thus results in higher grades and more time for all the other time consuming commitments to make room for in college.

I highly recommend this studying method!

- Arietta