Studying to improve recall

A handful of things you can do to improve your recall of information for tests.

  1. Focus on the thing to be learned and minimize distractions.

Experts suggest that the problem is not digging memories out of our brains.  The real problem is getting the memory in.  Distractions affect how memories get stored.  You want to recall something?

Control how it’s stored in your brain, which takes focus, giving attention to how you store information. You’ve no doubt heard that multitasking is a myth. Whether you buy into the myth theory or not, multitasking is a distraction. The key here is not to do multiple things at once.  Instead, focus on doing one beautiful  thing. Focus on your learning.

 

  1. Think deep learning. Think content in reality.

What we’re talking about here is thinking about the meaning of information and applying said information to realistic-like patient situations. You are more likely to recall things when you understand why (the meaning) you are doing something and applying it to yourself or to situations. For example, did you memorize the six rights of medication administration as a bulleted list so that – by golly – you could recite it verbatim? Or did you seek out the meaning behind the steps, gaining an understanding of why we go through these same steps with every medication and every patient? Sadly, reading a textbook or listening to a lecture all by themselves will guarantee neither deep learning nor any connection to real patient care – or real test questions. As a result, the information gets poorly stored.

 

  1. Create and use your own memory cues and examples.

Find your own ways to store information in your brain. Develop your own cues and clinical examples. Using somebody else’s examples and cues is like borrowing their memories, which is kind of weird if you think about it.

 

  1. Put your learning in context.

By this I mean read the textbook before class. I know, boring, right? This beats a path straight back to number one, above: Attending to how information is stored. Reading the material before class gives more context to the information your brilliant professors labor so hard to deliver. Experts suggest it’s difficult to make sense out of a lecture without having looked at the material before class. Reading gives lectures some context.

 

  1. Self-test as you study.

Experts suggest that reading a passage just once then forcing yourself to recall it, through things like self-testing, works better than reading the same passage over and over until you get retinal burn. Surprised? Don’t be. You get more mileage out of self-testing than you do out of rereading. Odd, but what you should be doing is practicing information retrieval instead of reinforcing abstract information with the same abstract information. Practiced retrieval aides and abets test taking because that’s what you do on tests:  retrieve information.

Happy studying!

Adapted from “Remembering to Learn:  Five Factors for Improving Recall (Herold, 2016).

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