By Brock Bower-Preece
As incoming college freshmen, you are likely to encounter new and challenging material that requires a great deal of memorization. Whether you are studying for an exam or trying to retain information from a lecture, memorization is a critical component of academic success. Research on the correlation between note-taking and test scores does not necessarily support that just studying your notes the night before a test will lead to a good grade. Fortunately, research has shown that using retrieval practice, or actively recalling information from memory, can improve your ability to remember information and perform well on tests. By practicing retrieval, you are not only strengthening your memory, but you are also enhancing your understanding of the material, which can help you excel in your classes. In this way, retrieval practice is a valuable tool that can help you achieve academic success throughout your college career.
Retrieval practice, also known as the testing effect, is a learning strategy that involves actively recalling information from memory instead of just reviewing it passively. There are many ways to incorporate retrieval practice into your study routine. One popular method is to use flashcards to test yourself on key concepts and definitions. You can also create quizzes for yourself, either on paper or online, to challenge your recall of information. Another effective technique is to summarize a lecture or reading in your own words without looking at the text, then checking to see how accurately you were able to recall the information. In addition, practicing free recall, or attempting to remember as much information as possible without any prompts, can be a useful way to test your knowledge and identify areas that need more focus. Whatever method you choose, the key is to actively engage with the material and challenge yourself to retrieve information from memory. Retrieval practice needs to be practiced as a learning strategy and not an assessment tool. Therefore all of these forms of retrieval practice needs to be periodically throughout the different units and not just the night before the exam. There are multiple benefits to this learning strategy in improving memory in the long-term. Students’ complex thinking and application skills, organization of knowledge, and ability to recognize gaps in their learning are all skills that are improved with retrieval practice and play into a better long-term memory (1).
It’s important to recognize the difference between retrieval practice and simply looking at notes before an exam. An article published by the University of Maryland Baltimore County, discussed a study that looked at the quality of the notes taken by each student and their reflective test scores. The psychology students provided their notes that were taken for an exam based off of four lectures. 77% of the relevant points were included in the notes. Analysis of the relation to test performance indicated that 82% of the correct test responses were associated with the presence of relevant information in the notes. Surprisingly, 66% of the incorrect responses also were. The conclusions were that students who performed well on the exam and those who performed poorly did not differ in the quality of their notes (2). This emphasizes the importance of periodically reviewing information from lectures in the form of retrieval practice.
We can focus on a few experiments that support the benefits of this learning method. The first one being research conducted by Landauer and Bjork of the Department of Psychology at the University of California. The conclusions came from an experiment that showed that a single presentation of a name followed by an expanding schedule of four tests on that name resulted in better long-term recall of that name than did five presentations of the name at the same intervals. Rea & Modigliani (1985) in another study also found that the retention of multiplication facts tested at expanding intervals was about twice that found after a massed series of tests (3). The final study done on retrieval practice and its success of memorizing key information is from Lynn University in 2021. Students completed daily review activities leading up to their exam in their cognitive psychology course. There were two different categories of review activities. Restudy was the first activity and it meant students simply read questions and the answers to them, The other set of activities were retrieval and it meant that students read questions, typed their own answers to them, and then reviewed the correct answers. The data collected from the tests showed that students who completed more of the retrieval activities achieved higher scores than those who focused on the restudy review activities. There was also a reduction in test anxiety for those that practiced retrieval method strategies (4). Each of these experiments support that memory is improved through consistent review of information rather than a single attempt at trying to memorize all of the information.
At this point you shouldn’t need any more motivation to start incorporating retrieval practice into your studying regime. However, I will provide a final benefit that comes from these memorization techniques. Recent laboratory research provided evidence that there is also a forward effect of testing, which shows that recall testing of previously studied information can enhance the learning of new information that is presented (5). An article published by the Department of Experimental Psychology at Regensburg University in Germany discussed a study that examined whether recall testing helped students learn the contents of an online video lecture in an introductory course in statistics. The lecture was divided into four segments. Students were asked to study the contents of each segment in anticipation of a final cumulative recall test. Segment 4 was always tested immediately by asking students knowledge questions about key concepts from this part of the video. Segments 1–3 were either also tested immediately, restudied by showing the questions along with the answers, or followed by a mathematical distractor after each single segment. The results in the immediate segment 4 recall test showed that prior testing of sections 1–3 increased the number of correctly answered segment 4 questions and reduced source confusions, indicating a forward effect of testing in student learning.
As incoming college students, you will face new challenges that require extensive memorization and critical thinking. By incorporating retrieval practice into your study routine, you can reap a variety of benefits that will help you succeed in your academic pursuits. Retrieval practice can improve your ability to memorize new information, resulting in higher test scores and a deeper understanding of the material. Furthermore, retrieval practice can enhance your critical thinking skills, as it requires you to recall and apply information in a meaningful way. Finally, practicing retrieval can help you identify gaps in your knowledge and focus your study efforts on areas that need improvement. By taking advantage of the benefits of retrieval practice, you can become a more effective learner and achieve greater success in your college career.
References
- Agarwal, Pooja K., et al. “How to use retrieval practice to improve learning.” Saint Louis, MO: Washington University in St. Louis (2013)
- Baker, Linda, and Bruce R. Lombardi. “Students’ lecture notes and their relation to test performance.” Teaching of Psychology 12.1 (1985): 28-32.
- Bjork, Robert A. “Retrieval practice and the maintenance of knowledge.” Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues 1 (1988): 396-401.
- Albert, Harrison, and Melissa Lehman. “The Effect of Optional Retrieval Practice on Long Term Retention.” (2021).
- Pastötter, Bernhard, and Karl-Heinz Thomas Bäuml. “Retrieval practice enhances new learning: the forward effect of testing.” Frontiers in psychology (2014): 286.