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Memory4 min read

Remember more of what you read: try recalling it

Retrieval practice means trying to bring an idea back from memory instead of rereading it. Here is what one well-known study found, and how to use the idea.

Wits teamPublished

What retrieval practice is

Key idea

Retrieval practice is a simple habit: after you read something, close it and try to recall the main points. Then check what you missed.

What one study found

In a 2006 study by Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke, 120 university students read short passages. Some reread them; others took a recall test instead. After five minutes, the rereaders remembered slightly more. After two days and after a week, the students who had practiced recalling remembered more of the passages’ ideas: about 56% against 42% after a week.

Worth knowing

The study measured memory for passages, not general memory or intelligence, and it didn’t test Wits.

How to use it

Turn reading into a small quiz:

  1. After a page, look away and say the key idea in a sentence.
  2. Write down three things you remember before checking.
  3. Come back the next day and try again before rereading.

How Wits uses it

In the Wits iPhone app, lessons explain one idea in about a minute, then a question or game asks you to use it. Anything you miss comes back another day.

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