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Welcome to my fifth article in this series!
As a Psychologist, I've been always interested in how people study and learn.
So in this series, I aim to explain in detail all the principles of ultralearning proposed by Scott Young in his book "Ultralearning"!
I shared with you how anyone can learn any topic with the power of ultralearning (learn intensively about any topic).
So far, our list of principles is as follows:
Today we will learn about N5: Retrieval and how to test your learning effectively.
The Testing Effect
Imagine you're a student preparing for an exam and you have limited studying time.
To get ready, you have 3 options:
- Review the material.
- Test yourself.
- Create a concept or mind map.
In one study, scientists tested which of these 3 options was more effective.
It turned out that testing yourself outperformed the other study techniques when mastering a topic.
Retrieval Beats Passive Review
Imagine your exam is in one hour.
What would you do?
Perhaps what most students do: passive review (free recall or read your notes passively).
However, as this method can help you in this urgent instance, the problem is after the exam.
Test again days later and retrieval will outperform passive review, as passive review doesn't create the long-term memory needed for learning.
Some people still prefer passive review though, as they feel they don't know enough to test themselves.
But don't be afraid.
Nobody was born knowing everything
But the sooner you test yourself, the better.
Retrieval is the key to good learning.
How to Do Retrieval?
We learned that retrieval outperforms other study techniques.
Not only helps you enhance what you learned previously but also prepares you to learn better.
If you test yourself regularly, it will be easier for you to learn new information.
Now, to start retrieving you have 3 tactics:
- Flashcards
- Free Recall
- The Question-Book Method
Let's study deeper how you can use them to start retrieving your information.
1. Flashcards: simple and effective
They are a simple but effective way to learn associations between questions and answers.
For example, flashcards are excellent when it comes to learning anatomy or a new language.
However, when the information you need to learn is more variable, it becomes more useless.
For example, they don't work well for me when studying programming.
One of the most used flashcard programs is Anki. It is free and easy to use.
Additionally, a lot of people upload their Anki flashcards which can be useful for you!
2. Free Recall: saving exams in minutes
Another tactic is to write down everything you remember on a blank piece of paper.
By doing this you're forcing yourself to recall the main information, making it easier to remember them better.
I used this technique right after taking an exam.
Instead of reading passively my notes, I took a piece of paper and wrote down all that was difficult to remember.
3. The Question-Book Method: questions to be answered later
Another strategy is to create questions from the topics you're learning.
By taking notes as questions to be answered later, you are generating material to practice retrieval later.
Or you can also use those questions to retrieve it with flashcards!
When I was reading neuroscience books, in addition to highlighting, I wrote down questions on important topics.
Later, I answered them.
This helped me to learn the information better.
Conclusion
That's it for the principle N5.
We learned that retrieval is the most effective study technique when learning a new topic.
Additionally, you now have 3 tactics that you can implement when learning something new.
In the next principle, we will learn how you can see how you're doing in your learning with the feedback principle.
🤓R I#39m writing an article summarizing each of the 9 principles, so follow me, subscribe, and stay tuned.
See you in the next article!
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Thanks for reading!