The fifth method is
Mistakes are okay — as long as you learn from them,
It’s crucial to test your memory. But it doesn’t really matter how many seconds you spend on each try. That finding comes from a 2016 study by Cornell and others. But it’s important to go the next step, Cornell added, to check, if you were right, then focus on what you got wrong
A secret of science: Mistakes boost understanding
“If you don’t find out what the answer is, you’re kind of wasting your time,” he says. On the flip side, checking the answers can make your study time more efficient. You can then focus on where you need the most help
In fact, making mistakes can be a good thing, argues Stuart Firestein. A Columbia University biologist in New York City, he actually wrote the book on it. It’s called Failure: Why Science is So Successful. Mistakes, he argues, are actually a primary key to learning.
Sixth step is,
mix it up
In many cases, it helps to mix up your self-testing. Don’t just focus on one thing. Drill yourself on different concepts. Psychologists call this interleaving.
Actually, your tests usually will have questions mixed up, too. More importantly, interleaving can help you learn better. If you practice one concept over and over, “your attention decreases because you know, what’s coming up next,” Sana explains. Mix up your practice, and you know, space the concepts apart. You can also see how concepts differ, form trends or fit together in some other way,
Suppose, for instance, you're learning about the volume of different shapes in math. You could do lots of problems on the volume of a wedge. Then you could answer more batches of questions, with each set dealing with just one shape. Or, you could figure out the volume of a cone, followed by a wedge. Next, you might find the volume for a half-cone or a spheroid. Then you can mix them up some more. You might even mix in some practice on addition or division,
Rawson and others had groups of college students try each of those approaches. Those who interleaved their practice questions did better than the group that did single-batch practice, the researchers reported last year in Memory & Cognition
A year earlier, Sana and others showed that interleaving can help students with both strong and weak working memory. Working memory lets you remember where you are in an activity, such as following a recipe,
To Use pictures.
Pay attention to diagrams and graphs in your class materials, says Nobel. “Those pictures can really boost your memory of this material. And if there aren’t pictures, creating them can be really, really useful.” Actually, your tests usually will have questions mixed up, too. More importantly, interleaving can help you learn better. If you practice one concept over and over, “your attention decreases because you know what’s coming up next,” Sana explains. Mix up your practice, and you know, space the concepts apart. You can also see how concepts differ, form trends or fit together in some other way,
Suppose, for instance, you’re learning about the volume of different shapes in math. You could do lots of problems on the volume of a wedge. Then you could answer more batches of questions, with each set dealing with just one shape. Or, you could figure out the volume of a cone, followed by a wedge. Next, you might find the volume for a half-cone or a spheroid. Then you can mix them up some more. You might even mix in some practice on addition or division
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