This post was written by Clara Seyfried (PhD Candidate in Psychology, and ASC Tutor)
All procrastinators know how easy it is to trick yourself into feeling like you are being productive. This could be by cleaning the house or doing the laundry rather than focusing on your exams.
When it comes to revising for exams, it is tempting to fill hours going through your notes, highlighting, and adding pretty post it notes, which might be fun, but these are likely not the best preparation for your exams. However, knowing how to revise effectively can help studying feel more useful and interesting. Here, we introduce three evidence-based techniques that can help you revise more effectively.
Spaced Repetition
Also called Spaced Practice, Spaced Repetition is a learning technique that connects how frequently you study a topic to how well you already know it. Effectively, the more you already know or the better you understand a topic, the less you need to prioritise it in your revision. Once you have spent more time on a tricky topic, it might actually be fresher in your memory than the one you had previously known very well.
Spaced Repetition can be particularly easily implemented with flashcards, which you can sort into piles based on how well you know them (this is referred to as the Leitner System). The idea is that you always focus most what you find hardest at the time, and revisit what you know best the least frequently.
The open-source software Anki is an easy way to implement this flashcard system digitally, as the program automatically tests you more on questions that you indicate you are least certain about. In practice, incorporating Spaced Repetition into your revision could also mean beginning your revision by testing yourself, then focusing the most time on your weakest areas.
The 7 ± 2 Rule of Working Memory
When it comes to information you need to memorise, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of topics you have covered over a semester. Other people look so good at memorising, but how will you be able to remember all of this?
It might help to bear in mind that while individual differences exist, most humans share approximately the same capabilities when it comes to memory. The cognitive psychologist George A. Miller found that most of his participants were able to judge and remember up to 7 ± 2 (i.e., 5 to 9) stimuli or pieces of information in a range of experiments, leading him to call 7 “The Magical Number Seven”.
Of course, humans are not only able to remember seven facts at a time, otherwise no-one would pass their exams! Miller’s law of the Magical Number Seven also applies to larger pieces of information, such as several smaller bit of information “chunked” together. For instance, you might not be able to remember a list of 18 words after having a brief look at them (that would be equivalent to 18 chunks, so much bigger than Miller’s 7 ± 2), but if they are structured into six subcategories (a chunk of 6) with three words each (a chunk of 3), you might do a much better job.
This shows how important it can be to structure your notes properly when you start revising for an exam – by chunking effectively, keeping the limits of your memory in mind, you can learn to memorise even very large amounts of information.
Dual Coding
Another way in which you can increase your chances of being able to retain information, either when you encounter it for the first time (e.g., when you are taking notes) or when you are revising, is to draw on Dual Coding theory. Dual Coding theory suggests that your mind channels information in two different ways: through language and through images.
This is in line with the most common model of working memory, which proposes that humans encode information auditorily (primarily language) and visual-spatially (e.g., images). What this means is that you learn best if you employ different sensory systems.
Generally, studying a topic from many different angles and perspectives can helps you understand it better, giving rise to the related revision technique of “interleaving,”, i.e., switching between ideas when you study.
Also bear in mind that different forms of describing information have their own benefits and disadvantages. Studies have repeatedly shown how effective drawing can be for remembering information, often much more so than writing things down.
On the other hand, not everything is suitable for a visual depiction, so trying to draw everything might just be confusing. That is why it can help to combine text and visuals where possible. Why don’t you try linking information to little drawings next time you are trying to memorise something?
Conclusion
Although you don’t have to use them every time to revise for something, it can be useful to bear these three techniques in mind:
- Spaced Repetition: prioritising what you know least before what you know best.
- The 7 ± 2 Rule of Working Memory: do not try to remember long unconnected lists of information, but rather organise and chunk effectively in chunks of no more than 9 subpoints.
- Dual Coding: consider using different modalities such as language and visual information (e.g., drawings) when you are revising to give your brain a chance to grasp a concept form as many different perspectives as possible.
The right type of revision always depends on your subject area and type of exam, but if you stick to these three, you will probably have a better chance at succeeding than when you’re procrastinating by busying yourself rather than actually studying!
