20. What Is Active Recall and How to Use It to Study
Episode 20
If you're a student or a working professional looking to maximize your learning and retention, this episode is for you. That’s because we are diving into the powerful potential of active recall study strategies. If you haven’t heard, active recall is THE method for studying and learning. (No, re-reading your notes is not studying.)
We start by breaking down what active recall is and why it's such a game-changer in the world of learning. Spoiler alert: It's all about engaging your brain in a way that maximizes memory retention and understanding. Yes, please!
Then, I share five different examples of active recall strategies that you can start implementing right away. From quizzes to flashcards and beyond, I've got you covered with practical techniques to take your study sessions to the next level.
Have I mentioned that active recall study strategies also reduce the amount of time you need to study? Yep.
🎙️Other Episodes + Resources Mentioned:
→ Episode 7: How to Learn Things
→ Video: How to Make Your Own Quizzes
→ Video: How to Use the Blurting Method
→ Tutorial: How to Turn Your Quizzes into Study Guides for Tests
-
20 Active Recall Strategies
===
The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them. :)
[00:00:00] Well, hello. There, it is so hard to believe that I'm sitting here recording episode 20 of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast.
It honestly feels like just yesterday that I was recording episode one or that I even had the idea and the vision to do a podcast in the first place.
So thank you so much for being on the journey with me this far.
Now my intention for the topic of this episode was for it to be on one of my monthly Q and A episodes where I answer listener questions.
Those questions are submitted via a form on the learnandworksmarter.com homepage.
Now somebody had submitted this question and he had asked me to explain active recall strategies. Okay.
So I was going to put that in one of my monthly Q and A episodes, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how terrific a question this is, and it truly deserves its own episode. So here we are.
Now, if you haven't listened to episode seven, which is called how to learn things, [00:01:00] I really strongly advise you to listen to that episode first.
And yes, that means actually pausing this episode, finding episode seven. Of course I'll link that below. And then listening to that before you come back here.
Now, the reason why I suggest that you listen to episode seven first is that in that episode, I lay the groundwork for two fundamental principles that you need to have in place in order to learn things.
And that is active recall and spaced repetition.
Active recall is what we are going to talk about today.
I'm going to share five active recall strategies that are tactical, that are practical and are useful for anyone who needs to study or learn anything.
Okay. And so, yes, in most cases that is going to be students.
So if you are a student, then this episode is exactly for you.
But I also know that many of my listeners are also involved with [00:02:00] self-study, whether that's learning languages, maybe professional development. things of that nature.
And in those cases, active recall is for you too.
Even if you don't fit the sort of traditional definition of, you know, academic student, I'm using air quotes, if you're not watching this on YouTube.
So now that I've covered who this episode is for, it is time to get into what active recall is. And then of course, what the strategies are.
All right. So what is active recall?
Active recall is hands down the most efficient and [00:03:00] effective way to acquire new information in a way that is long-term and comprehensive. All right.
In other words, it goes way beyond temporary memorization.
So here's how it works in a nutshell.
You look at a trigger cue. Now, this could be a question, a vocab word, a blank diagram, a concept name, something like photosynthesis, the name of a person like Michaelangelo.
It could be a time period like the Renaissance. Okay. A trigger cue is anything that is attached to the concept or the thing that it is that you are studying.
Okay. So you look at this trigger cue, and then without looking at any notes or materials, you try to recall the information that is related to that trigger cue.
So let's say that your trigger was an actual question such as like what are three causes of the French Revolution.
Okay. You would try to recall the causes of the French Revolution without looking at your materials.
Now, [00:04:00] if the trigger cue were- what'd I say it before, like photosynthesis and you were studying what that process was, then you would try to recall every single step of photosynthesis.
Again, without looking at your notes.
If you were studying anatomy and you need to label parts of the body, then your trigger cue would be the blank diagram of the body.
And you would try to fill in and label as many parts of the body as possible. Yes, you've got this.. Without looking at your notes.
Now this whole process can be so uncomfortable, especially in the beginning, because you're going to be really, really, really tempted to look at your notes, to try to find the answer. We don't like being stuck, you know, not knowing something.
Right. And you're going to feel like the information is, is just at the tip of your tongue and you're going to feel justified in looking at your notes, just a teeny tiny little peak to confirm what you think, you know.
But you [00:05:00] do not do this. You sit in that pocket of discomfort and you, you embrace that tip-of-the-tongue feeling and you try your hardest to recall the information that's related to that trigger.
Right? Now, sometimes it will absolutely be impossible. And you're gonna have to look at your notes to get the answer, right?
In fact, that is going to happen a lot if you're dealing with new information that you just don't know yet.
Okay, but that is part of the process. All right.
So that is an overview of what active recall is. Okay.
It's that process of continuously bringing back information that is just about to fade from your working memory and bringing it back into your working memory over and over and over again, which essentially turns it into knowledge.
Okay. Let's talk about how we actually [00:06:00] do this.
In other words, how do we test ourselves on information over and over and over again, using active recall?
Now, I said at the top of this episode that a listener wrote in asking me to share active recall strategies. And that is what I am going to do right now.
I am going to talk about five different study strategies that tap into the power of active recall, but please know, there are more than five.
You can get creative and come up with some like variations of the strategies that I'm going to share with you here today.
Or you can use a combination, that's probably your best bet, of any of the ones that I share today, but the point is that as I go through this list today, I want you to see what all of these active recall methods that I'm going to teach you have in common. Okay.
I want you to understand what they have in common so that if you are going to create your own active recall [00:07:00] method, which I absolutely encourage you to do, that you are still making sure that your active recall study method is based on the foundational principles that I'm teaching you.
Okay deal?
All right. So active recall study method, number one, I don't think I'm going to blow any minds here. It's flashcards. Yes. Flashcards.
Flashcards are probably the most well-known and basic way to study, but believe it or not, it's a highly, highly effective technique.
And of course, It is all based on active recall. Now, anytime I talk about flashcards on my schoolhabits tutorials or in my, uh, schoolhabits YouTube videos, or even on Instagram, I am so insistent that people make their own flashcards and not use a pre-made deck.
Yes. Even if your teacher made you a, a digital deck, like on Quizlet or something, or your friend shared their flashcards with you, you make your own.
If you skip the [00:08:00] process of making your own flashcards, you're actually- hear me out- skipping the study process and like literally then what is the point? Right.
We cannot skip the work.
So obviously, you know how to make flashcards. I'm not going to go through that. And you put a word on, you know, or a concept or a question on one side of a flashcard and the answer on the other.
Okay. So I said, I wasn't going to go through that, but I just did. So you go through your flashcards over and over and over again until you know them all without peeking at the backside.
Now, one suggestion I have is to study the flashcards in groups of three or four at a time because our brain likes to cluster information into groups of three and four.
Think about it, phone numbers, um, license plates here in the United States, social security numbers. Okay. All of those important numbers that we are, um, technically supposed to even credit card numbers.
Right? All those numbers that we're supposed to sort of commit to memory are [00:09:00] in groups of three and four. Why?
Because it's easier for our brain to remember chunks of information, or it's easier for our brain to remember discrete pieces of information when we chunk them together.
Okay. So that's why I'm suggesting that if you're studying your flashcards, that you study in groups of three or four cards at a time.
And then when you know those three or four flashcards, you move on to the next group. Uh, three and four, three or four flashcards, and then you learn them.
You study them forwards and backward. Don't be peeking over the backside of the flashcard. Just to check your answer. No, If you're tempted to check your answer or just peak, that means you don't know it yet.
And that goes in a pile of cards that you don't know yet. You can separate them out.
So whent you've studied your first group, let's just say for, you said your first group of four flashcards, then you study your second group of four flashcards, and then you go back to the first group.
You got to, because at that point, Those four first four words are kind of on their journey out of your [00:10:00] working memory. And that is the point where you want to bring them back again.
Okay. And then you go back to group to make sure that those are fresh in your mind before they become extinct.
And then you move on to the third group of four flashcards study those forwards backwards, test yourself, make you know, um, little pneumonic devices, write them out, draw pictures, whatever it is, and you need to study those four flashcards.
Then you go back to group A and then B and then C and then your next group of four flashcards. Right. And you do this over and over again until you have made your way through all of your flashcards.
That is... Just everything I explained just right there is like the ultimate study method, multiple study methods, all grouped into one.
The primary one being active recall.
Now, just remember that flashcards are not just for vocabulary words. Right?
You can put questions on flashcards, you can put just names of somebody, right. And then the information that you're requiring yourself to [00:11:00] generate to actively recall is everything about that person.
Okay. Does that make sense?
So ready for active recall study strategy number two? Quizzes.
Making your own quizzes is an incredible way to study using active recall, because think about it. What's a quiz asking you to do. Right. It's it's asking you to generate an answer without information in front of you.
And that is exactly what active recall is. Nice. So I I swear I can hear you asking me.
Yeah. But where do I get those quizzes?
All right. On my SchoolHabits YouTube channel I have a video called how to make your own quizzes. It is really good if I don't say my, so myself. And I'll put the link in the description box. And in the show notes, if you are listening to this.
I also have a tutorial on how to turn quizzes into study guides, and I will link that below as well.
But essentially, if you're going to make your own quiz to use as an active [00:12:00] recall study method you would fill it with questions about the unit that you're being tested on.
You would pull questions from previous quizzes leading you know, through the unit from worksheets, from the chapter review questions in your textbook, from your notes, you can even Google, um, like quiz about the French revolution. All right. And find something online.
Think about it for a second. Any material at all that you covered throughout the unit is probably going to be on your test.
Right?
So that means that any single worksheet, um, previous reading, uh, previous quiz, notes handouts, any materials that you have at all from that unit, can be turned into questions that you will probably eventually see on your test.
And then after you make this quiz, you would make a copy of it and you would make an answer key.
So that means that you have one blank copy and then [00:13:00] one copy that is like, just totally full of the answers.
And hear me out, making that, um, answer key quiz. So, so hold on, let me backtrack making the quizzes is part of studying, like. Just as it is. All right, because you're going into your materials. You're thinking about it. You're looking at the terms and the things that you need to study. You're forming questions from notes that you have. All of that is the study process.
Okay. So making your own quizzes is just as important. Excuse me. As I was saying in step number one as making your own flashcards.
You don't want to phone this in. You don't want to skip the step. This is the work. Okay. Not making your own quizzes and not making your own flashcards is the same thing as having somebody else do the bicep curls, and you expecting the muscles to appear on your own body.
And that is absurd. If you want the muscles, you lift the dang weight. Right. [00:14:00] It's the same thing when you're trying to learn something.
You make your own study materials. And then you learn from your own study materials because it is making the study materials that is lifting the cognitive weight.
Okay. I hope. Yeah, it wasn't too aggressive. But clearly this is a pain point that I have been trying to articulate for like years and years and years with some of my students who at first are so resistant to it.
Know my teacher, like, you know, gave me a Quizlet. It gave us a Quizlet in class or, you know, they gave us a study guide and all we have to do is just fill in the answers.
That's great. But again, that's their teacher lifting the weight and you expecting the muscle to appear on your body. And as we said, that is absurd.
Okay. So you would have your quiz that you made, which is studying and you don't skip that.
And then the process of making your answer key, so that is like finding the answers to your question, pretending that you [00:15:00] are that teacher and you're having them making the master answer key, then you're going to correct all the students' tests with, right?
That's also studying. All right. So making these active recall study materials, the flashcards, the quizzes, the other things that I'm going to share with you in this podcast episode, that sometimes it's overlooked.
And sometimes people want to just jump into studying. But you have to ask yourself, well, what are you studying? Like, where are these? You have to study your notes.
He can read your notes. Okay. But that's not studying. It's reading. It's an entirely different word. It's an entirely different action. Right.
Rereading your textbook, rereading your notes. That's neat. That is an activity that is potentially valuable. Okay. But not for learning. Not for guaranteeing that, you know the information well enough that at some point down the road in a few days, and you're going to be able to be tested on it and know it and apply it and remember it. [00:16:00]
Okay. That's why you need to study. That's why the word study is a different word. Steady is a different word than read. Because it involves a different type of effort. That effort. What is it? Is testing yourself on something that is not directly in front of you. What is that? Active recall. Right. Okay.
So we've had flashcards and then we have quizzes and I am telling you do not phone this in and get someone else's quiz. All right. So you make your answer key aye aye. I feel like I am like doing like 57 little mini Ted talks in here, but like, Oh, my gosh, this is important.
All right, so you have your blank quiz and you have your answer key, and now you take your blank quiz. And if you have the resources, you're going to print it out. Okay, go to your public library.
They can print for free sometimes, go to your school library. They'll print it for you for free.
Print out, I don't know, it depends on how. Um, uh, comprehensive your quizzes or your test is, but maybe 10 copies. I don't know. It depends on how familiar you are with the [00:17:00] material too, but maybe 10 copies.
And you would take that quiz as many times as you need so that you can answer every single question accurately.
And of course you would check it against the answer key that you made.
All right. Moving on to active recall study strategy, number three, which is blank, timelines and diagrams.
Now, honestly, this won't work perfectly well for all content um, of course, but for anything that requires you to label parts of something or understand like a series of events in chronological order, It can be a really good idea to get yourself a couple of blank copies of whatever it is that you have to label or make yourself a blank timeline.
And fill in whatever events that you are studying. Now this goes without saying, but you would make yourself several copies and fill them in over and over and over again until you can do it active, um, accurately. And completely.
Active recall study strategy number four is to have someone test you on the material.
Now, in this case, someone else is providing [00:18:00] the trigger cue and you are providing the answer.
Right. And this is different from flashcards because verbalizing information is so different than thinking it, right. So if you make your flashcards in study strategy number one, you're probably just, you know, thinking about the answers. And that's good and everything, but when you're trying to explain your answer to someone else, you're actually held more accountable.
The other person has to understand what you're saying, and then they can let you know when it makes no sense.
So a tip here is actually to combine, study strategy number one, make your flashcards and four okay.
Active recall, study strategy number five, and this is the final one: use the blurting method.
The blurting method can actually be fun if I, you know, if I could dare to say that.
And it can be combined with any of the strategies that I already taught you here.
The blurting method is when you take one word or concept or a question. [00:19:00] And basically your trigger trigger cue.
Right. And you try to blurt out everything you possibly know on that topic.
You do the blurt on paper or a whiteboard and not in your head.
On my schoolhabits YouTube channel I have a video called how to use the blurting method to study. And that is a really good resource where I walk you through a visual step-by-step example of how to do this.
I'm going to leave that link in the show notes and in the description box.
So a little work does honestly go into this beforehand, but again, the work is a study process.
We don't skip the work.
If your teacher gave you a study guide with like a list of terms and concepts that you need to know for the test, then you can use that as your master list and you would just grab one of those words from your, from that list and put it on your blurt at the top of the page.
Remember, I teach you how to do this in the video, and then you blurt on that concept, right?
And then you take another word or concept from the [00:20:00] study guide that your teacher gave you and you blurt on that concept. Okay.
But if your teacher didn't give you a study guide or list of concepts, and they just said something like, oh, well the test is on. Chapter seven. All right, then you would go through chapter seven, making a master list of all the concepts and words that you are going to need to know that are related to chapter seven.
And you would use those to make your blurt.
All right. And you go through these one by one, writing them on a piece of paper or writing them up on a whiteboard.
Give yourself like a minute, like 60 seconds. Maybe two minutes if you need to, to try to blurt out as much as you possibly can on the topic.
It doesn't have to be in order. It doesn't have to be chronological, just dump out, excavate, everything you possibly can out of your head that's related to that concept then you, then you picked the trigger cue, right?
And then you check- this is important- you check your blurt against your notes to see if you've missed anything, or if you got anything wrong. Anything you missed or got [00:21:00] wrong, you would go back and study. All right.
So let's say that you made flashcards like in tip number one. You could use your flashcards to build your blurt. You'd just pick the card from the deck and you look at it, right? And you say, okay, well, whatever card you pick, that's the word you're going to blurt on. Go set the timer for one or two minutes ago. Pick another card from the deck.
Set the timer for one or two minutes go without looking at your notes, right? And then you make your way through that process until you have completed. All of your trigger cues.
Now, like I said at the beginning of this episode, there are multiple ways to study using active recall, and you can combine some of the strategies that I shared in this episode. You can make like a variation of your own method. If you want to combine a little bit, combine a little bit of what I just taught you, and then you have some sort of creative idea that you have.
That's all fine. As long as you are putting yourself in the super physically, it can honestly physically be uncomfortable, uncomfortable position of wanting so badly [00:22:00] to look at the answer. And to flip the flashcard over and to peek at your notes, but you've got to stay in that discomfort for as long as you possibly can.
Give your brain time to go back into the filing cabinet in your brain, where you at one point in time stored that information and rummage through it.
Don't give up on yourself as your brain is doing the mental work it needs to do in the memory process. Okay. So often we jumped the gun and we're like, oh, I know that. And then you check and you go, oh, wait a minute.
If you just gave it like seven more seconds, your brain would have showed up for the win. Okay.
Don't shortchange yourself. That's the idea. Okay.
So to recap the five study techniques that I just went over: number one, make flashcards.
Number two, make your own quizzes.
Number three, fill in blank diagrams and timelines, depending on what it is you're studying.
Number [00:23:00] four, have someone test you out loud.
And number five, use the blurting method.
And as a quick reminder, if you are watching this on YouTube, please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question in the comments. I love hearing from you guys more than you will ever know.
And also, if you want to submit a question to be answered on a future Q and A episode you can use the form on the homepage of learnandworksmarter.com and then learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/20 is where you will find all of the information about today's show, including all of the links and a transcript.
Thank you for being here and it's always never, ever stop learning.
