Thinking method · Brown, Roediger & McDaniel, Make It Stick
Retrieval instead of rereading
Practising getting information out, rather than putting it in again. Anything you want to still know next month.
Free — no account needed to read
Practising getting information out, rather than putting it in again.
The steps
- Close the book or the page.
- Write what you remember, from nothing, before checking.
- Now check, and mark specifically what you missed — not that you missed things.
- Come back tomorrow and do it again before rereading anything.
- Space the repeats further apart as it gets easier.
When to use it
Anything you want to still know next month.
What it will not do
It feels harder and less productive than rereading. That feeling is the point, and it is why people abandon it.
Where it comes from: Brown, Roediger & McDaniel, Make It Stick. Described in our own words.
The module it belongs to
- Thinking Foundations — Notice how your own mind is working