How do you remember what you read?

• recognition
  It’s also what happens when you’re reading. To read this text you must individually recognize each of the words I’ve written.
• recall
  It’s the ability to pull up the answer to a question, without looking at it.

The problem is that if you want recallable memory, practicing recognition doesn’t help very much.

The solution is Question Book Method.

Except, don’t take notes which summarize the main points you want to recall. Instead, take notes which ask questions.

Which matters more for how much you retain: the method you use or your motivation to learn something?

Motivation, in the form of knowing the information was important and would be tested later, had no impact on how well the subjects did on the later test.

Students who did shallower processing only remembered half as many words as those who used deeper processing. The result was the same regardless of whether they were trying to remember the words or not.

Transcript Script is the typical note-taking approach is to copy down everything that is being said, in the way that the speaker says it. The problem with transcription style notes is that copying down exactly what is being said doesn’t require deep processing.

When you’re no longer allowed to use the exact phrases the lecturer uses you have to start really thinking about what is being said in order to translate it into your own thoughts.

Test Driven Learning

That means writing/find a (mock) final exam, before you ever attend a single lecture or open your textbook for the course.

It means doing practice problems before reading the text. It means attempting to speak a language before you’ve learned any words. It means trying to apply a skill before you’ve practiced it.

You can make a mental assessment of how the knowledge needs to be used before you take the class. Then, once you’re in the class, you’re already primed to think about the knowledge in the way that will help you retake the test again.

For practical skills you intend to use, for example, you can put yourself in a usage situation before you’ve studied anything yet.

How to get efficent study time

Set time aside to study.

Don’t study in evenings.

If you don’t schedule your off hours, your brain will do it for you—by procrastinating, getting distracted and losing focus.

You need to treat your learning time like it is—a scarce resource that must be used efficiently. If you treat it as an unending obligation, you’ll actively resist working when you start.

The key is to pick an activity as a break that is more boring than actually studying. A break shouldn’t be fun, it should be relaxing.

Some of my favorite mental breaks would be going for a short walk, drinking a glass of water, sitting quietly or taking a 10-minute nap

If your break is surfing online, texting or chatting with a friend, you’ll struggle to pull yourself back.

The key distinction that causes some of your skills to deteriorate while others last a lifetime

Students who scored A’s in algebra did remember more on later tests than the B and C students. But they forgot at exactly the same rate.

Overlearning is practicing something you’re already so good at that improvements aren’t measurable anymore. Overlearning may no longer produce measurable improvements in ability, but it does protect against subsequent loss of skill.

What you overlearn you won’t forget