Can you remember what you had for lunch last week Tuesday? Probably not. Our brains are masters at forgetting information that we don’t repeat regularly. But what can we do about it? I, like many others, had to painstakingly learn the art of learning as I went through college. Here are some of my tips for successful learning.
There are two strategies we can use to better adapt our learning to the way our brains work. They are known in English as: “Active recall testing” and “spaced-repetition”. “Active recall testing” means actively replaying a piece of information in response to a question. This is in contrast to passive learning, such as rereading a text. “Active recall testing” is much more effective in creating strong links. “Spaced-repetition” refers to repetition at intervals, with the time between each repetition increasing. Both forms can be implemented very well with flashcards.