Everyone has been in this kind of situation where your exam is the next day, and you haven't even studied yet. Hoping you have a chance to pass the exam, you study all night and cram as much information as you can. Unfortunately, the day of the exam, you panic and forget almost all of what you've studied the night before.
Well, never cram for an exam ever again. Use this simple study strategy to always ace your exams!
Retrieval practice or practice test is the best study plan to use in considering. In a survey carried out by a group of researchers from Tufts University, they found out that students who learned using retrieval practice or practice test were able to remember their lessons more clearly and quickly.
To verify the effectivity of this simple study strategy, the researchers asked one hundred and twenty students to remember thirty words and thirty items. The students were then divided into two groups. One group used the study strategy of retrieval practice while the other group used the traditional research approach.
The students who were in the retrieval practiced group was shown the word or item on a screen for a few seconds. After seeing the name or article, the students were asked to write one sentence using the word or thing. A timed segment was also used to test the students on the phrase or items already flashed on a computer screen.
The other group of students who followed the traditional study strategy were also shown the word or item on the screen. The students were then multiple periods to explore the thirty words and thirty questions.
After twenty-four hours, half of each group underwent a stress-inducing scenario to test their memory. The students were asked to give an impromptu speech and solve two math problems in front of two judges, three other students, and a video camera. The rest of the students also took the exam to test their memories but not under a stressful situation.
The result of the study shows that the students who used retrieval practice, whether in the stress-inducing situation or not, remembered at an average eleven out of thirty words and items. On the other hand, those students who used the traditional study only recognized at an average nine out of thirty words and things.
According to Dr. Aryanna Thomas, the senior author of the study, this is the "first time that the right learning strategy, in this case, retrieval practice or taking a practice test, results in such strong memory representations that even under high levels of stress, subjects are still able to access their memories". Co-author of the study, Amy Smith, also adds that result suggests that how one studies trumps how long and how much someone studies.
Retrieval practice or practice tests is a simple study strategy where a student immediately applies what he or she just learned. It also involves testing the students' knowledge in low-stakes testing to help students to absorb the information more. By following this simple study strategy, students and even anyone, can successful retain their memories on a subject even in a stressful situation.
