Hi everyone, I made a follow-up video answering some of the common questions I've gotten to this one: th-cam.com/video/evIuDvQDDSY/w-d-xo.html Apply the same basic process to learn from TH-cam videos: th-cam.com/video/_67Pw73x7Ms/w-d-xo.html For more discussion of common learning questions, check out: th-cam.com/video/P9RRLT8ns5s/w-d-xo.html
I used this technique by accident when I was just 12. I used to memorize while pages of books in another Ianguage and then write it all in the test. It was in langu I did not understand completely. I barely had more than 1 day and half to actually memorize everything sometimes.
@@James.Just.James. it’s nowhere near the same, they’re used for separate things. free recall is used to learn material, spaces reputation is to remember it
im not even kidding, this is by far, one of the best methods I've seen on youtube! Yes, subjective but it beats all the other "popular" videos on "How to study".
Liam Porritt calls this his "brain splurge " where you write down everything you can remember and the things you have forgotten or have difficulty with become self evident. Read again then test again. Simples!
By YouSum Live 00:00:00 Free recall as powerful study strategy. 00:00:10 Technique applicable to various subjects. 00:00:24 Study material, take break, then recall. 00:01:19 Recall character, pronunciation, meaning. 00:01:54 Review missed information, make corrections. 00:02:06 Repeat recall rounds, improving each time. 00:02:40 Organize related information together. 00:03:38 Technique enhances long-term memory retention. 00:04:19 Active recall reduces memory interference. 00:04:45 Practice recall for effective learning. 00:05:18 Optimal intervals for memory strengthening. 00:05:56 Adjust intervals based on recall success. By YouSum Live
No. Sometimes I come back here and need to get specific info. So this helps. It's like a book who has chapters. You don't blame book readers for using the table of contents. @@Darkblazer789
I have been in the habit of using this technique for many years but never knew its name and the scientific reasons behind it. Your explanation makes sense. I always write on a piece of paper with a pen whenever I have some spare time -- for example, waiting for a doctor's appointment or waiting for the bus or queuing up or waiting for friends or anyone for an appointment. I found that this way of writing helps me remember very well. For the most recent example, more than 2 years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, because of relatively free time, I started to self-study Thai. Surprisingly, it worked because I started self-studying Thai when I was 50 years old, which is usually considered too old to learn any new languages. PS: By the way, English is a foreign language for me so watching videos like this and writing and reading comments in English (especially written by native speakers) is also a way to practice the language.
You are very good with writing in English. If you hadn't said anything I would have thought it was your native language. Actually you are much better than a lot of native speakers online, lol.
I don't know why your video hasn't got the views in comparison to other videos on " how to memorize"/ " how to remember" but this video is surely one of the best on internet.
Wow it's amazing being able to name a technique I'd used while in school. I always preferred to study with a whiteboard on my lap, being able to test myself, erase, study something else, retest later. I was always envious of my more studious friends who had the drive to make flashcards, but thanks to your videos I feel less bad. Thank you for all these free resources, they are appreciated
I was reading a book aimed at helping med students pass their first year (it's a competitive entrance exam and not a typical undergrad year in my country) and this is exactly the advice they gave. Study the material first, distract yourself for 5 minutes by reading something completely unrelated to what you're learning, write down on paper what you learned, check the things you've missed. It's surprising for me to see this method being demonstrated, I thought it was obscure. Thank you for posting this
@@Prprpsksks I'm sorry for the late response, I finally found it, it was buried deep in my camera roll. It's called "Je réussis ma PACES (édition 2020)". Author is Arnaud Géa and the editor is EdiScience. Unfortunately it's all in French, but if you understand the language, you'll find a bunch of useful information
This technique is my go to in graduate school. I appreciate that you said to be patient with yourself when you need to practice a few times over. Thanks for everything you do, Benjamin!
I am so impressed by the fact that you answer the questions so thoroughly. I find it makes a connection and a feeling of involvement that I don’t get from most videos. Thank you for your efforts.
This method works I went from getting E the 1st semester to now getting C at my 2nd semester on uni just by doing this method 2 weeks before my spoken exam. If I started this method earlier and used it probably I would probably get a B or an A.
Hi🎉, I work in call center industry and we have to learn a LOT of information, and you technique was so far the best study method I found over years of trying different techniques (Anki, memory palace, mnemonics, etc) thank you for sharing your knowledge with us 😊
Yes. Yes. Yes. This works. I use a variation of this for memorization. It works. Absolutely. There is no majic pill for active recall. All learning takes work. Great job.
A good tip for choosing intervals: Laying out the intervals along the Fibonacci Sequence is pretty helpful and I read somewhere, that science actually looked into this. For example: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 is part of the sequence. I would fist go for something like 10 Minutes 2-3 hours (like in the video) and then choose your intervals in days like in the sequence, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days etc.
Didn't know about that. I personally prefer create flash cards on Anki since the basic card type doesn't ask you to type in an answer only the question. For example, you can write a 'question' like this: "Write this big chunk of code that does X", and when you want to see the response it will display nothing. The points is to delegate to Anki to do the spacing.
One of my teachers in Islamic studies used to tell us "stop writing and listen" but he gave up when he saw that we couldn't stop doing that. But seeing your video I understand better why he would say that. He has himself travelled and learned with teachers in the desert in a traditionnal islamic way and I guess there was no note taking and he has so much knowledge.
Im so glad I found your channel and Dr Sungs channel , Honestly you guys are the ones I see who give out actual study advice thats not flashcards !! Going to try this out for my upcoming exam ! 😊
Phenomenal explanation. I can’t believe you only got 11k views in a year! This should be recommended viewing for every student. The thing I most dislike about flashcards like Anki, is that they tend to concentrate on what you get wrong or don’t know rather than what you do know in the name of ‘efficiency’; the ‘why study what you already know?’ paradigm. You tend to develop an increasingly difficult set of cards to learn and it just becomes so demoralising.
Many thanks! Yeah, one of the main things that I think can lead to demoralization with flashcards is that you don't really do anything to understand what you're learning more deeply (just run through the flashcards that you didn't get right again). Flashcards can serve an important role, at times, I think, but overall they orient learners in the wrong way.
Okay I will try this one to learn Japanese, because I feel like this is the only method that make sense for me, and tried a lot of methods, thank you!!!
I try to combine spaced repetitions with deliberate practice: do some exercise , take note of how many mistakes you have done and then try it again tomorrow until You have done it perfectly. But for language you got a point. When we read or traslate we fell we know a Word because we recognize it. But when we must use it writing or talking, we simply don't use words that we can't recall. In that sense, the blank paper technich is amazing and i Will test it as soon as i can.
In retrospect, I actually used this technique in school without knowing this is actually a technique. I ended up topping college without spending too much time studying. That was 20 years ago. Now I can still remember many things that I studied.
This has applications in music learning and especially memorization. I've never gone so far as to write my performance music down from memory but doing so would probably take my memorization to a new level.
I like that you're videos are short and comprehencible. Currently I'm preparing for an entry exam for philosphy due in about 2 weeks. For about month and a half I've been studying with flashcards :'). I notices some time ago all the stuff you brought up flashcards lack and wanted to implement something like free recall. Found out about your channel 3 hrs ago and I'm binging your videos to find out how should I study better and ditch flashcards totally.
I think flashcards can play a role in studying. It's just that they're very limiting and people tend to overuse them. Philosophy strikes me as a subject that benefits from re-creation and visualization: as you re-create the arguments, you notice things you didn't notice before. Visualizing philosophical positions can help you see relationships you may not appreciate at first. And comparing philosophical arguments to each other helps to clarify the similarities and differences in our minds. Good luck!
Excellent as always, thank you! I’ve always learned this way naturally (in spurts) and have been summarily accused of not paying attention or being lazy etc. and simultaneously praised for my retention and recall and being “smart” so tiresome…🙄 At 61 I’m finally fully embracing it again. Everyone: Please, DON’T wait to to this.
As a student pharmacy, who always study super alot of information, from drugs names, chemical names, abbreviation like hundreds of it, never ending name of brands, body parts, name of disease, all of the microorganisms from bacteria to virus, all of the disease that they cause. I need to memorize all of it, and i will try this technique starting today, lets see how it goes.
I just discovered this channel today. I definitely agree with other comments that say that this is one of the best videos about studying methods. It showcases real and applicable examples and the content is explained succinctly. Edit: I have some questions and conflicts about this technique. For context, I am a Physics student, so there are many concepts, ideas and derivations I have to learn and remember, plus I have to do practice problems which not necessarily test every important detail about what I've just learned, so there are a few gaps. 1. How do I know when I can stop studying to take a break to clear my mind and later do free recall? Is it until I lose my focus or until I get overloaded of information (and how would I know if I've gotten information overload?) 2. Can I study other topics or subtopics (can these be closely related to what I had studied before since studying a similar topic could slow down the forgetting process?) during the breaks? I feel like doing a different activity for 15 minutes or 2 hours and not visiting back what I was trying to learn during that period of time makes my progress really slow. To put this into an example, let's keep using the vocabulary learning demonstration. So first, I try to learn 30 words, then I take the 2 hour break and after the break I do free recall. Now, during the 2 hour break, can I learn 30 different words? 3. Can the break (of 2 hours) before the second free recall round be shorter? I don't know but I feel like my memory isn't that good, although I may be underestimating my mind
Many thanks for your kind words. 1. Yes, internal signals, like loss of focus or feeling overwhelmed can be signs that you could take a break. You could set a timer, if you didn't trust yourself. But you might experiment and see what works. 2. Yes, you can study other topics. The point is to clear your short-term memory. I think learning 30 more words during your break would be a mistake in the vocabulary learning example. I would focus on something different. Many effective learning techniques seem slow but are better in the long-run (see "desirable difficulties"). Spaced and interleaved studying, which is kind of what we're talking about here, are two of these desirable difficulty learning techniques. 3. Yes, breaks can be shorter. Or longer. Forgetting little bits and pieces isn't bad at all - that's part of the learning process as your brain structures and re-structures what you're learning (check out my video on forgetting for more).
@@benjaminkeep Random viewer here. I just want to comment that you took the time and effort to answer every question Kori asked in depth. And that's awesome.
Flash cards have a big advantage in that you can review a condensed form of 100% of the material. I understand this technique might be more effective but if you miss anything you have to reread the section which is more time intensive. With flash cards you can very quickly target what you consistently get wrong. I think the best approach when you need to know 100% is to do a quick active recall
I've done something like this with both spanish and studying for IT certifications without really knowing I've been doing it. Instead, what I do is use Excel and I have filters on information that I've masters vs the things I need to focus on to learn. When I'm learning, I just filter for that information and review it without being overwealmed by everything I've previously learned and try to convert the words into images and create a small story which helps me recall and I take a break and go back to thinking of the story again and if I cant quite get it, I will use the excel again.
A thing I've been doing ever since I was a kid has been to rehearse what I've learned when doing monotonous or low-cognition tasks. For example, I'll be taking a shower and recalling all the different cells in the blood, or what percentage of our energy consumption is taken up by the brain etc. I sort of subconsciously prioritise things i've found to be particularly tricky or hard to remember, it's almost like a natural SRS
I find myself doing that, too. Almost more out of curiosity - just ruminating about something. I wonder how often others do it. And whether this kind of behavior messes with traditional estimates of "study time" in some research studies.
This got me excited at first! All I needed was some paper and a pencil, but then he hit me the “a brain.” And I zoned out for the rest of the video knowing full well my attention span couldn’t handle 6 minutes.
5:33 If you can remember everything, you might be acting too quickly. On the other hand, if you can't remember anything, it could mean you've waited too long. The first situation can be improved by being patient, but what should you do in the second case, where you've waited too long?
Hey,I noticed you were still replying to recent comments so I wanted your opinion on a possible improvement of the free recall method. In addition to writing what you recall it is extremely beneficial, I find, to also write what you know is missing. It’s funny because in a way you still use free recall on the information you can’t recall. Also I find it beneficial to not verify the recalled information directly after. I sit on it for a few hours so my brain can passively remember the information or get obsessed by the missing information so when I verify I’m “hungry” for the answers.
I am old but I have a great memory; however, I am trying to get a professional license. My previous attempts were horrible. I have been watching you and Dr JS's videos, which have led me to ask.. how did I complete two masters without ever applying any of the techniques from the videos? I am using the techniques from the videos and my retention of the material has gotten incredibly better. Thank you doing for these videos. God bless.
I just found your channel. Memorization has always been a problem for me and now that I’m older it’s become even worse. Listening to you talk makes me realize I was never taught how to learn which is both frustrating and very sad for me to realize. Thanks for going over active recall. I will try to learn how to learn all over again … and check out your videos to learn more about learning! Question: how would you go about helping someone with learning difficulties? I’m assuming learning is, well, just learning. Would you expect it to take longer for those with learning disabilities? Should they practice the technique using more simple material and then progress to more challenging material?
TBH, I know little about learning disabilities, although I've worked with some people who have specific disabilities before. Depending on what the nature of the disability is, you can use certain supports to help you. It's hard to say without knowing the nature of the disability. But I would try the general approach first, and then if it's not working for you, explore an alternative that might be better. You might be interested in reading The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin. She seems to have impaired working memory, but has quite high visualization skills.
انا شاهدت طالب جامعي من الأوائل سلوكه كما يلي 1 يدرس في النهار في الجامعة عند خروجه من الجامعة يستريح قليلا ثم يلعب الدومينو او الورق ثم يتناول عشاءه ثم يراجع دروسه لمدة ساعة فقط ثم ينام ثم يستيقظ صباحا على الساعة السادسة انتهي. كان من اوائل الطلبة
after doing a recall session do you go back to the answers and correct your recall mistakes? I like what you said here… makes a lot of sense to me… I'm all about effectiveness not efficiency, I think pre-mature efficiency optimisation can be a big trap in any pursuit, learning, doing, or undoing.
thanks so much for this video. i was just wondering how i could use this approach for multiple subjects? would i read content - 15 minute break - active recall. and then just do the same for the other topics? even if they're similar? or should i not study them at the same time? sorry i'm not sure im making much sense
Free Recall: A Powerful Memory Hack 00:00 - Introducing Free Recall: This video showcases a simple yet powerful study technique called free recall, ideal for language learning and other knowledge-intensive subjects. 00:28 - Demonstrating the Technique: Using Chinese vocabulary as an example, the video walks you through the steps of free recall: Study the material: Familiarize yourself with the information (definitions, pronunciation, etc.) using your textbook or preferred resources. Active recall: After a short break, close your textbook and try to recall everything you can (characters, pronunciation, meanings) on a blank sheet of paper. Verify and correct: Compare your recalled information with the textbook, filling in any gaps or inaccuracies. Repeat and expand: Repeat the entire process (study-recall-verify) over multiple sessions with increasing intervals between rounds. 02:08 - Benefits of Free Recall: Why is this technique so effective? Active organization: Unlike passive reading, free recall forces you to actively organize and retrieve information within your brain, reducing interference and confusion. Targeted practice: It simulates the actual skill you're aiming to develop (recalling information) rather than simply recognizing it. Spaced repetition: The timed intervals between rounds strengthen your memory efficiently, aiming to recall information just before you forget it completely. 04:01 - Key Takeaways: Free recall is superior to passive rereading or flashcards for long-term knowledge retention. Recognizing information is not the same as being able to recall and apply it freely. The ideal recall interval is the point where you almost forget the information, maximizing learning efficiency. 06:08 - Call to Action: Try free recall for yourself, share your experiences and challenges in the comments, and enjoy the process of actively understanding what you know!
Learning italian, every time I came aceoss a fun word / sentence from a friend or a tv show, I would send jt in a chat to myself. If i was able to use it in a conversation, I would react to that message. And every other day when i got bored i would resent the ones I did not use, or the ones I did use but wanted to use again.
Not taking notes throughout the length of this video was an excruciating pain. Alas, such is the pang of change. However, I can already tell the freedom I obtained
As someone that has like 150 pages to learn or more for like 3 subjects in a week I don't think I'd have time for this technique but I'll use it for smaller details that are important to remember and just read and retell the more general stuff
I think this technique really works for remembering the formula in math, chemistry or remembering vocabulary in different alphabets just like in the video (Chinese). But, other than that, i think it's just good enough to remember something just by repeating verbally over and over again.
No, rote memorization is bad as it doesn’t help with understanding topics. If you want to remember a list of facts, then it’s an ok method. A superior method is the mind palace. Plus it’s easier to use and more effective. Rote memorization is overall ineffective for true understanding.
Two questions on doing free recall: 1) You mention in other videos that we should try to avoid/minimise note-taking when listening to lectures. Does the same apply when you're studying a written information? (IE - are you writing things down in the initial study session?) 2) Once you've done a free recall session and are reviewing against the text for what you've missed/got incorrect, are you writing down those things that were missed? (It is implied in the video, but I thought I'd confirm).
Good questions. 1) The problems are not the same with reading. I don't recommend highlighting and generic re-reading strategies. But margin notes or notes on what you're reading can be helpful - you have more control over your cognitive load when reading (the book isn't continuing to talk - at least, I hope not). You can make summaries, but I think self-explanations, or bringing another example that compares with an example you're reading about, or otherwise "arguing with the text" is a good thing to do. Personally, I don't do this all the time - kind of depends on what I'm reading. 2) I tend to write it down, yes. That way I can't escape it.
Hey Dr. Keep! Ironically I watched the follow up video first and applied active recall to this video and it did work but while taking the break and putting dishes back to where they should be I had some rising questions that I've seen other commenters have, but mine are more specific. 1. What do you do in those 10 to 15 minutes? Would reading a book be okay? Would something entertaining hamper learning? Or what would happen if it were something either from the same topic or a different topic (like a self improvement book)? Or do I mess around/meditate? 2. Would note taking help in that first input stage? For example, I'm learning Japanese and learning grammar at times can be tricky but making notes to help myself understand better helps to sort between how distinct grammar is different from another really similar one. 3. For a topic like art, where applying is essential, do you recommend for example, learning how to paint a face from a video, taking time away from it, and then painting a portrait, coming back and giving yourself feedback? Or if it's a bit of theory (like different light sources) would it be better to try and recall it as a concept or even draw it in that recall stage
you didn't tell what did you do while you were memorising it... you for sure learnt a lot with this incremental way, insights that change the way you actually absorb while learning if i won't remember many words clearly of many what then? you literally need another technic for absorbing it first time, we aren't women with strong ability to absorb fresh thing without context lol but adding logic and categories to it changes this completely
Thank you for this. I am a practicing physician. The issue is the sheer volume of material I am required to remember, much of which I don't use on a daily basis. At some point, there is an avalanche of material and I can't keep up with the amount.
I have often counted the number of specific points I have noticed when studying and then counted the number of specific points I have recalled later, using free recall. The counting gives me confirmation of work done and helps keep me focused. I use techniques or gadgets so that the counting is not too distracting.
@@benjaminkeep In most cases, I recall points almost perfectly which shows that free recall can be a remarkably thorough and easy method even though it seems like it should be harder than that.
Great video. I’m studying for a certification exam and am studying a new section each day. Using this method, what should be my strategy for studying material from the previous days?
I find it easy enough to memorise verbs of a foreign language. It's the grammar I find tricky, as it's not like you can use Loci or simple mnemonics for past participles and conjugated verbs.
How do you apply this technique when you have multiple/alot of concepts to revise? and also how do you apply it when you are prepping for an upcoming exam??
I really liked this video in that it was specifically applied to Chinese a language which I’ve been learning for a long time. Your videos are great in that they talk about learning techniques from a research informed perspective which some other learning channels lack. However, as a language learner I’d really love to see more specific videos about language learning. Could you make a video showing how you approach a new chapter in your Chinese textbook? How do you learn the new vocabulary and grammar patterns? How do you approach understanding the new reading text or dialogue? How do you then try to apply what you have learn t in speaking and writing? I often watch videos about learning and then think how do I apply this specifically as a language learner. Sometimes it isn’t easy to make the leap from theory to practice.
These are all good questions and I totally agree about the difficulty of moving from theory to practice, but I don’t have immediate plans to make more videos on language learning. Although I’m starting to do more videos on applying these principles and techniques in practice (doing mental math; have a short one on juggling coming up; will probably delve into physics and language learning later on), which might be helpful. I wouldn’t consider myself a fantastic language learner or anything, but the specific steps I would take when learning a new chapter would depend on how the book presented things and how experienced I am in the language and what other resources are available. Here are some overall principles I would work from, though: 1) More than one exposure to the reading or dialogue. This could mean skimming it, studying the vocabulary words, reading it, studying grammar examples, hearing it, reading it again before moving on, and returning to it weeks or months later. Each time you return to it 2) Experience the reading or dialogue in more than one modality. This would include both reading and hearing a dialogue, for instance. LingQ can be helpful with this. 3) For grammar, I’m looking to be able to produce simple examples using the grammatical structure, restate the meaning in a different way (with a different grammatical structure), know what are the “close” related structures that may have slight variations of meaning, and, most importantly, combine structures with each other to create novel structures. The second and third points are more intermediate-level concerns. 4) Vocabulary can be tricky, but I want exposure to material that uses the vocabulary in a natural way. Supplemented by free recall. Opportunities to speak and listen are really crucial. When I was still taking Chinese courses, I would give presentations to my teacher on a different topic than the chapter was on, but using the grammatical structures and what vocabulary was relevant (stretches understanding of the grammar and gives you practice doing so).
@@benjaminkeep Thanks a lot for this in depth reply. You’ve given a really detailed and rigorous method for learning a chapter in a language textbook. I usually try to do a lot of the things that you suggest. Especially multiple readings and listenings of the main text. However, I often find that I’m torn between knowing when to move on to the next chapter and when I need to stay a bit longer. The problem with staying a bit longer is that I’ve often run out of ideas of different ways to attack the text and vocabulary. I’ll be sure to try and implement some of the ideas you mention here in the future. Thanks once again!
Question: Do u need to verify and compare from the book/source after every recall? And add new forgotten stuff every time from the source? Is it like? read break recall compare & add read new material break recall compare and add
For reading a normal book (like a book on history or something), I just do free recall occasionally every day or every few days. But I do bring earlier stuff back again and try to integrate old and new material together.
Breaks are important. Because of the way associative memory works, you never know what connections your brain will make. After 20 minutes of studying a subject, I switch to a completely different one, or go do something. The cues that prompt memory can sometimes seem bizarre, but they are also useful. Connections between events within tasks are formed.
Hi benjamin, I am super confused about the technique, for example I am currently having a 2 hours course on TH-cam, and as you mentioned in the video, i watched the video for 20 minutes, stopped for 15 minutes and got back to do my first free recall session, then for the 2nd 20 minutes, i did the same thing, but it breaks the whole process into 6 parts because of 6 different parts of free recall for 6 pieces of information, this is extremely weird to me because I need to do like 4 free recall session for the first 20 minutes information (including the intervals), 4 free recall session for the 2nd 20 minutes information (including the intervals), 4 free recall session for the 3rd 20 minutes information (including the intervals) and etc.I don't know if that makes sense to you but this seems super time consuming and I feel like I have gotten your concept wrong but I think the best way is to just ask you if there is a better way to implement free recall in this circumstances, really hoping that i could get a reply, thank you.
I really wish academics in America started teaching and using more of these 'radical' methods of learning new concepts, I feel it would greatly impact society. Instead, I've noticed the majority of academics still use traditional methods, which have been scientific proven to be ineffective for the majority of students who are not academically gifted. I've been on a binge spree on your videos, and it's astonishing to me how much more effective methods ways of learning new information and then applying it...
There are lots of videos on social media that list effective study techniques. They name free recall, Feynman technique, testing and whatnot. Among them is active recall, as a separate thing. From my understanding active recall is a broad term, defining an idea of bringing an information from the depths of memory. In that sense, all aforementioned techniques use active recall as their base. Is my understanding correct? Is active recall the same thing as retrieval practice? In some article I read (not research papers) active recall is used only in relation to testing, which seems incorrect because I think it can be applied to many different effective study techniques. For the same reason, all those tiktok videos are wrong since active recall is not a study technique but a rule or an idea that we can implement to improve our study methods.
Barb Oakley wrote a book about the same thing. A mind for numbers. But this video is great on simplfying the technique. I wonder if schools can apply this.
How can I combine note-taking and free recall when, for example, I'm reading a book? When should I take notes and when should I use free recall? I also have one more question. I use the zettelkasten method to store my notes in an app called obsidian, and my question is - do you think that using free recall method periodically to try to remember informations from my notes would be a good idea?
I use free recall when I read - plus some other stuff - and occasionally write notes on a certain paragraph or something like that as I'm reading. Personally, I would lean away from writing extensive notes while reading, but if I will definitely fill in the gaps of the free recall by pouring back over certain sections and note-taking, at that point, on the free recall document, if that makes sense. I think occasionally doing free recall on your Zettelkasten notes is a great idea and will help to germinate more interesting connections/ideas as you do it. In fact, I'm going to steal this idea. Thanks!
Pretty interesting stuff, thank you - I shall take a more detailed look and practice. One (odd, I admit) question if I may - what is that book you're using to learn Putonghua?
I’m seek of studying coding 😅 and as Spanish speaker I’m doing it in English that is very familiar after being actively learning it, now I took the step to going into computer science and I have found hard to remember, specially when basic concepts very technical I hade to understand it and even so get familiar with my mother tongue, do u have any advice for me, I have to say that really support your work and the techniques offered. Cheers and keep going! All the best.
Greetings from Mexico! Thank you for the awesome information. I'm learning English, and I wanna try this technique to improve my language skills by reading books and then explaining them to other people (which is something challenging for me). Huberman, in one of his videos, suggested or mentioned "60-90 minute learning sessions," and it totally makes sense. But again, (it's tough). Do you think it's good to read for 60 to 90 minutes and then try to remember, or do you think it'd be better to read by paragraphs and then try to remember? Also, regarding the intervals, do you think that 5 minutes are just enough, or do you think they should be 10-15 minutes? Thanks again for your great work.
another problem is I could not recall anything ; now with active recall but coupled with memory palace almost the whole Oxford Medical Handbook has been learnt - why>
Solid advice - and it sure beats the tedium of flashcards! The only thing I'd add is that to get the best out of this technique you need to apply smart encoding to the information in the first place. I'm presuming you'd agree with this, even through it wasn't explicitly covered in the vlog?
@@benjaminkeep This is excellent news - it's a topic that's often poorly covered. It's going to be valuable to get the insights of a genuine expert like your good self...
So you mention that we should do something else while we wait to do our next free recall session. Can we continue studying the same topic but go back and try to do free recall on only the things decided prior? Creating almost a free recall loop.
Hi Benjamin, congrats on the video, that was very interesting! I have a question - as a professor I always use free recall with my students (usually 2-3 times during a 2-hour long lecture), but I do that orally (so basically they “teach each other” what they just learned). I’ve noticed that here (and in other videos) you always mention a written form of free recall. Have you ever found a study showing any difference between retrieving by speaking out loud and by writing it down? Thanks!
Hi Plinio, glad to have you here! Your question is more complex than it appears. To be honest, I think most researchers use written free recall because it's easier to record, store, and analyze. There is research that compares spoken and written free recall, but not always in the context that we might be interested in. In eyewitness memory research, researchers are interested as to which method produces the most accurate recollections (and the least fabrications). People who use free recall as outcome measures in their research are concerned about which form more validly represents the students' declarative knowledge. There is some evidence for a "written superiority effect" and, conversely, a "spoken superiority effect" in terms of how accurate the recall is to the material that was studied (which are sometimes word lists, sometimes objects, and sometimes pictures that tell a story). Some studies find no meaningful difference. Immediate accuracy is a slightly different question than long-term learning outcomes, however. As far as I can tell from a very brief look at these research articles, it's hard to say which, ultimately is going to be maximally helpful for long-term learning. So it probably doesn't matter that much. It's not a topic that generates a lot of interest, so there's just a handful of papers through the years. BUT, there's a lot of interesting things going on. First, writing is much slower than speaking, so that means less output speed from writing. Whether that's a good or bad thing is hard to say. Speaking tends to produce more repetitions and more "extra" utterances. Cognitively, writing also requires you to engage with the graphemes - the written letters in a way that you don't have to do when you speak. Again, maybe that's helpful if you're doing free recall on material you've read. Maybe it's just extra processing that's not necessary b/c it's not squarely focused on remembering the material. You say that students "teach each other," which raises another interesting factor - whether the presence of a listener impacts the value of the free recall. Could very well benefit it. Writing has the advantage of being able to be critically reviewed or updated later, which is nice. I'm sure I'm missing some other interesting differences between the two modes. What you're doing sounds great, so I hesitate to suggest anything different. If writing makes a difference it's probably not that big. But you might experiment with having students write instead of speak once or twice and see how it goes. If you do, please write me back and let me know how it goes (you'll have to @ me if you respond in this comment thread). Good luck! Some references: Janczyk, M., Aßmann, M., & Grabowski, J. (2018). Oral versus written recall of long-term memory items: Replicating and extending the writing superiority effect across knowledge domains. The American Journal of Psychology, 131(3), 263-272. (Finding a written superiority effect) Bekerian, D. A., & Dennett, J. L. (1990). Spoken and written recall of visual narratives. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4(3), 175-187. (spoken superiority) Sauerland, M., Krix, A. C., van Kan, N., Glunz, S., & Sak, A. (2014). Speaking is silver, writing is golden? The role of cognitive and social factors in written versus spoken witness accounts. Memory & Cognition, 42, 978-992. (favoring written, but not finding large differences; in the eyewitness area)
@@benjaminkeep Wow thank you so much for taking the time to write such a great reply, that was very kind of you and very informative! I''ll find a way to do a little research with my students about that and get back to you. That's not exactly my field (I study the psychology/neurlinguistics of bilingualism), but I'm very interested in active learning and this idea of having the students do a spoken free recall came from those techniques teachers use in the classroom (3, 2, 1; teach-okay; think-pair-share), but you raised a lot of very good points I'll try to investigate - among others, the presence of a listener in free recall makes a lot of sense, maybe that gets in the way (at least in a first free recall - maybe it adds a little beneficial difficulty in the next ones). I'll think about it. Thanks again for your great work here on TH-cam! Have a great day!
The speaker uses the free recall technique to remember everything. This involves studying the material first to familiarize oneself with it, then taking a short break to do something else. After the break, the speaker returns to their desk with a piece of paper and a pencil but does not open the textbook. Instead, they try to recall and write down as much as they can remember about the study material. In the case of learning Chinese vocabulary, this includes the character, pronunciation, and meaning of each word. After attempting to recall everything, the speaker then checks the textbook to see what they missed and makes corrections. This process is repeated several times with increasing intervals between recall sessions, which helps to strengthen memory retention efficiently.
Hey Dr. Keep, thank you so much for this video! I am a undergrad studying maths and cs. Recently I've been binge watching videos on how to study more efficiently. I was wondering if you could offer any advice on how to effectively study complex math topics. The current method I am using is just brute forcing and actively reading through an entire chapter; if I don't understand a theorem, then I would slowly go through its proof. It allows me to understand the concepts and thus remember it for a short period. However, this process takes about 2-4 hours per chapter depending on its difficulty, and I would forget about the contents after completing the problem sets and exam. My question then is how should I break down my textbook readings, so I can more effectively use my time and retain the information longer? I watched your video on textbook advice, but I'm stuck on how to structure my readings. Since a lot of concepts in math require building upon previous connections and knowledge, I'm afraid that if I don't binge read, then I won't be able to form those connections and thus spend even more time on rereading. And afterwards, how should I work to retain my understanding of those concepts and connections? I heard about creating recall questions for the chapter, then going through them with active recall just so the conceptual understanding sticks. What are your thoughts on this method? And what would be a good way to revisit an older concept using the points you bring up in this video (for example, in physics, say you perform a few rounds of active recall on the contents of chapter 1; while learning chapter 2 and so on, would it still be as effective to perform active recall on different topics in a day)? Sorry for the jumbled thoughts and long comment, and thank you for your content.
Sorry for not replying earlier to this. This is just a guess, but I think that you're not integrating what you learned into bigger and bigger pictures. I think going through proofs - even ones that you think you understand - can be quite productive and is absolutely a good thing to do. But do you ever spend time organizing the proof techniques you have? Or, instead of entirely solving a problem by proof, just trying to organize several problems by the kinds of proof techniques that might be productive for them? Re-reading is only productive when there is a purpose to it (i.e., you have a question, you know something is unclear, etc.). Seeing a proof techniques on a single problem is not really enough to understand it. You need to see multiple examples of the technique working and not working (maybe examples where it looks like it wouldn't work, but actually does and it looks like it would work, but actually doesn't). Another thing to keep in mind is solving the same problem with multiple methods. This, again, leads to more organized knowledge structures. You can also think about chaining proof techniques together to solve more complex problems. I don't know if the above comments are helpful. But hope they are.
Mathematics, in some way, is comparable to languages and body building at the same time. Get confident with notation, repeat and stay on the most important proofs (periodically revise them and try to improve their readability and clarity), especially those that let you remember multiple concepts at once, and eliminate redundancy. Include also the proofs with unusual or different techniques. Practice them like you would do with any other sport. Thus, reorganise your mind around your favorite set of proofs and think about the big picture and how they connect each other. However, mathematics is so vast and you certainly have duties. Struggling to follow your professors and the program is only normal. Be at peace with yourself. You're doing well.. P. S. Forget about speed if you want to retain for a long time.
Not necessarily. If you are persistently forgetting something, then it's a really good idea to encode it more effectively - look at that material, figure out how to make it memorable - images, comparisons/relationships with other parts of the material, stories, breaking into parts, etc. But I wouldn't, as a matter of course, automatically study again. Just do the free recall and really test yourself.
i know that information taken in before bedtime is more ingrained in memory. so should i do readings/watching videos before bed, or active recall sessions for said readings/videos before bed?
I probably wouldn't recommend doing anything mentally active right before sleep. A good "wind-down" routine is best for getting a good night's sleep (which will help with memory consolidation). Personally, I like to start the day with free recall, especially if I'll be doing more studying on the same topic. The time away (sleeping, doing other things) is good for a little bit of forgetting which should make the recall session a bit more productive. But if we tested the two schedules against each other, I don't know that we'd find a big difference.
Hi everyone,
I made a follow-up video answering some of the common questions I've gotten to this one: th-cam.com/video/evIuDvQDDSY/w-d-xo.html
Apply the same basic process to learn from TH-cam videos: th-cam.com/video/_67Pw73x7Ms/w-d-xo.html
For more discussion of common learning questions, check out: th-cam.com/video/P9RRLT8ns5s/w-d-xo.html
I used this technique by accident when I was just 12. I used to memorize while pages of books in another Ianguage and then write it all in the test. It was in langu I did not understand completely. I barely had more than 1 day and half to actually memorize everything sometimes.
Ooooo0
This beats every video of spaced repetition... if u are here means you finally found the gold on how to remember anything...
Its pretty much the same.
@@James.Just.James.
it’s nowhere near the same, they’re used for separate things. free recall is used to learn material, spaces reputation is to remember it
@@JUIIICED. oh I thought learning it while remembering it sorry its how I do it. I didnt know people do it separately.
@@James.Just.James.
oh yeah they’re definitely both used together
im not even kidding, this is by far, one of the best methods I've seen on youtube! Yes, subjective but it beats all the other "popular" videos on "How to study".
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
No, he's not.
He is good though.
But, TH-cam has far better study and learning experts.
@@raymeester7883 debatable 🤔
@@raymeester7883 like who? I'm genuinely interested.
Liam Porritt calls this his "brain splurge " where you write down everything you can remember and the things you have forgotten or have difficulty with become self evident.
Read again then test again.
Simples!
By YouSum Live
00:00:00 Free recall as powerful study strategy.
00:00:10 Technique applicable to various subjects.
00:00:24 Study material, take break, then recall.
00:01:19 Recall character, pronunciation, meaning.
00:01:54 Review missed information, make corrections.
00:02:06 Repeat recall rounds, improving each time.
00:02:40 Organize related information together.
00:03:38 Technique enhances long-term memory retention.
00:04:19 Active recall reduces memory interference.
00:04:45 Practice recall for effective learning.
00:05:18 Optimal intervals for memory strengthening.
00:05:56 Adjust intervals based on recall success.
By YouSum Live
So helpful. Thanks.
Ha yes typically Attention span of our generation
Silly you @@Darkblazer789
No. Sometimes I come back here and need to get specific info. So this helps.
It's like a book who has chapters. You don't blame book readers for using the table of contents. @@Darkblazer789
I have been in the habit of using this technique for many years but never knew its name and the scientific reasons behind it. Your explanation makes sense.
I always write on a piece of paper with a pen whenever I have some spare time -- for example, waiting for a doctor's appointment or waiting for the bus or queuing up or waiting for friends or anyone for an appointment. I found that this way of writing helps me remember very well. For the most recent example, more than 2 years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, because of relatively free time, I started to self-study Thai. Surprisingly, it worked because I started self-studying Thai when I was 50 years old, which is usually considered too old to learn any new languages.
PS: By the way, English is a foreign language for me so watching videos like this and writing and reading comments in English (especially written by native speakers) is also a way to practice the language.
You are very good with writing in English. If you hadn't said anything I would have thought it was your native language. Actually you are much better than a lot of native speakers online, lol.
your english is MADD impressive!
This is the best free software Ive seen. Respect
I don't know why your video hasn't got the views in comparison to other videos on " how to memorize"/ " how to remember" but this video is surely one of the best on internet.
Wow it's amazing being able to name a technique I'd used while in school. I always preferred to study with a whiteboard on my lap, being able to test myself, erase, study something else, retest later. I was always envious of my more studious friends who had the drive to make flashcards, but thanks to your videos I feel less bad.
Thank you for all these free resources, they are appreciated
I was reading a book aimed at helping med students pass their first year (it's a competitive entrance exam and not a typical undergrad year in my country) and this is exactly the advice they gave. Study the material first, distract yourself for 5 minutes by reading something completely unrelated to what you're learning, write down on paper what you learned, check the things you've missed. It's surprising for me to see this method being demonstrated, I thought it was obscure. Thank you for posting this
hello. could you please tell me the name of the book?
@@Prprpsksks I'm sorry for the late response, I finally found it, it was buried deep in my camera roll. It's called "Je réussis ma PACES (édition 2020)". Author is Arnaud Géa and the editor is EdiScience. Unfortunately it's all in French, but if you understand the language, you'll find a bunch of useful information
This technique is my go to in graduate school. I appreciate that you said to be patient with yourself when you need to practice a few times over. Thanks for everything you do, Benjamin!
You have no idea how many times I watched your videos especially this one
Appreciate the support!
This method is pretty similar to the Dr. Feyman used to learn different subjects. I will give it a try for sure!
Thanks for the video!
I am so impressed by the fact that you answer the questions so thoroughly. I find it makes a connection and a feeling of involvement that I don’t get from most videos. Thank you for your efforts.
This method works I went from getting E the 1st semester to now getting C at my 2nd semester on uni just by doing this method 2 weeks before my spoken exam. If I started this method earlier and used it probably I would probably get a B or an A.
Glad it was helpful for you!
How your exam went?
Hi🎉, I work in call center industry and we have to learn a LOT of information, and you technique was so far the best study method I found over years of trying different techniques (Anki, memory palace, mnemonics, etc) thank you for sharing your knowledge with us 😊
Yes. Yes. Yes.
This works. I use a variation of this for memorization. It works. Absolutely.
There is no majic pill for active recall. All learning takes work.
Great job.
A good tip for choosing intervals: Laying out the intervals along the Fibonacci Sequence is pretty helpful and I read somewhere, that science actually looked into this. For example: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 is part of the sequence. I would fist go for something like 10 Minutes 2-3 hours (like in the video) and then choose your intervals in days like in the sequence, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days etc.
Why the Fibonacci sequence? Did they look at different sequences? Do we have a ranking of them?
How's the Leonardo Numbers?
Didn't know about that. I personally prefer create flash cards on Anki since the basic card type doesn't ask you to type in an answer only the question. For example, you can write a 'question' like this: "Write this big chunk of code that does X", and when you want to see the response it will display nothing. The points is to delegate to Anki to do the spacing.
One of my teachers in Islamic studies used to tell us "stop writing and listen" but he gave up when he saw that we couldn't stop doing that. But seeing your video I understand better why he would say that. He has himself travelled and learned with teachers in the desert in a traditionnal islamic way and I guess there was no note taking and he has so much knowledge.
Straight to the point. Useful, functional, and entertaining. Thanks, Ben!
Im so glad I found your channel and Dr Sungs channel , Honestly you guys are the ones I see who give out actual study advice thats not flashcards !!
Going to try this out for my upcoming exam ! 😊
Phenomenal explanation. I can’t believe you only got 11k views in a year! This should be recommended viewing for every student.
The thing I most dislike about flashcards like Anki, is that they tend to concentrate on what you get wrong or don’t know rather than what you do know in the name of ‘efficiency’; the ‘why study what you already know?’ paradigm. You tend to develop an increasingly difficult set of cards to learn and it just becomes so demoralising.
Many thanks!
Yeah, one of the main things that I think can lead to demoralization with flashcards is that you don't really do anything to understand what you're learning more deeply (just run through the flashcards that you didn't get right again). Flashcards can serve an important role, at times, I think, but overall they orient learners in the wrong way.
Okay I will try this one to learn Japanese, because I feel like this is the only method that make sense for me, and tried a lot of methods, thank you!!!
Thank you so much. My memory is 2X better!
I try to combine spaced repetitions with deliberate practice: do some exercise , take note of how many mistakes you have done and then try it again tomorrow until You have done it perfectly.
But for language you got a point. When we read or traslate we fell we know a Word because we recognize it. But when we must use it writing or talking, we simply don't use words that we can't recall. In that sense, the blank paper technich is amazing and i Will test it as soon as i can.
this is literally the way i've been studying for a long while, and everyone that i tell them about it would be shocked.
Hey Ben, I just wanted to say thank you for posting up these techniques and explaining it the way you do, they are really helping me.
Bro being casually life saver!
I love the quote "It's just me and a blank piece of paper and really trying to understand what I know"
In retrospect, I actually used this technique in school without knowing this is actually a technique. I ended up topping college without spending too much time studying. That was 20 years ago. Now I can still remember many things that I studied.
I've applied this process and it's doing well. I like this technique.
Great to hear. 👍
this video just hit at the right time for my learning epiphany
Stanford and Cornell? You must be a genius! Besides that, I really like the way you explain things. I am going to sub.
Exactly the same way how i learn to handwrite something in a different font. Forget then check the reference. Brilliant work.
This has applications in music learning and especially memorization. I've never gone so far as to write my performance music down from memory but doing so would probably take my memorization to a new level.
I like that you're videos are short and comprehencible. Currently I'm preparing for an entry exam for philosphy due in about 2 weeks. For about month and a half I've been studying with flashcards :'). I notices some time ago all the stuff you brought up flashcards lack and wanted to implement something like free recall. Found out about your channel 3 hrs ago and I'm binging your videos to find out how should I study better and ditch flashcards totally.
I think flashcards can play a role in studying. It's just that they're very limiting and people tend to overuse them. Philosophy strikes me as a subject that benefits from re-creation and visualization: as you re-create the arguments, you notice things you didn't notice before. Visualizing philosophical positions can help you see relationships you may not appreciate at first. And comparing philosophical arguments to each other helps to clarify the similarities and differences in our minds.
Good luck!
This is amazing more people in the medical community need to see this
Excellent as always, thank you!
I’ve always learned this way naturally (in spurts) and have been summarily accused of not paying attention or being lazy etc. and simultaneously praised for my retention and recall and being “smart” so tiresome…🙄
At 61 I’m finally fully embracing it again.
Everyone: Please, DON’T wait to to this.
That’s exactly what I do. I use anki flashcards to set proper intervals between my practices and also to track which things I know better.
As a student pharmacy, who always study super alot of information, from drugs names, chemical names, abbreviation like hundreds of it, never ending name of brands, body parts, name of disease, all of the microorganisms from bacteria to virus, all of the disease that they cause. I need to memorize all of it, and i will try this technique starting today, lets see how it goes.
How did it go
I just discovered this channel today. I definitely agree with other comments that say that this is one of the best videos about studying methods. It showcases real and applicable examples and the content is explained succinctly.
Edit: I have some questions and conflicts about this technique. For context, I am a Physics student, so there are many concepts, ideas and derivations I have to learn and remember, plus I have to do practice problems which not necessarily test every important detail about what I've just learned, so there are a few gaps.
1. How do I know when I can stop studying to take a break to clear my mind and later do free recall? Is it until I lose my focus or until I get overloaded of information (and how would I know if I've gotten information overload?)
2. Can I study other topics or subtopics (can these be closely related to what I had studied before since studying a similar topic could slow down the forgetting process?) during the breaks? I feel like doing a different activity for 15 minutes or 2 hours and not visiting back what I was trying to learn during that period of time makes my progress really slow. To put this into an example, let's keep using the vocabulary learning demonstration. So first, I try to learn 30 words, then I take the 2 hour break and after the break I do free recall. Now, during the 2 hour break, can I learn 30 different words?
3. Can the break (of 2 hours) before the second free recall round be shorter? I don't know but I feel like my memory isn't that good, although I may be underestimating my mind
Many thanks for your kind words.
1. Yes, internal signals, like loss of focus or feeling overwhelmed can be signs that you could take a break. You could set a timer, if you didn't trust yourself. But you might experiment and see what works.
2. Yes, you can study other topics. The point is to clear your short-term memory. I think learning 30 more words during your break would be a mistake in the vocabulary learning example. I would focus on something different. Many effective learning techniques seem slow but are better in the long-run (see "desirable difficulties"). Spaced and interleaved studying, which is kind of what we're talking about here, are two of these desirable difficulty learning techniques.
3. Yes, breaks can be shorter. Or longer. Forgetting little bits and pieces isn't bad at all - that's part of the learning process as your brain structures and re-structures what you're learning (check out my video on forgetting for more).
@@benjaminkeep Random viewer here. I just want to comment that you took the time and effort to answer every question Kori asked in depth. And that's awesome.
Flash cards have a big advantage in that you can review a condensed form of 100% of the material. I understand this technique might be more effective but if you miss anything you have to reread the section which is more time intensive. With flash cards you can very quickly target what you consistently get wrong. I think the best approach when you need to know 100% is to do a quick active recall
can you expound
I've done something like this with both spanish and studying for IT certifications without really knowing I've been doing it. Instead, what I do is use Excel and I have filters on information that I've masters vs the things I need to focus on to learn. When I'm learning, I just filter for that information and review it without being overwealmed by everything I've previously learned and try to convert the words into images and create a small story which helps me recall and I take a break and go back to thinking of the story again and if I cant quite get it, I will use the excel again.
🎉😊Very Simple & Effective!!! Especially for ADHD studying
I'm going to try this technique this semester. I'll give you my final scores in December.
Ok
How did it go?
A thing I've been doing ever since I was a kid has been to rehearse what I've learned when doing monotonous or low-cognition tasks. For example, I'll be taking a shower and recalling all the different cells in the blood, or what percentage of our energy consumption is taken up by the brain etc. I sort of subconsciously prioritise things i've found to be particularly tricky or hard to remember, it's almost like a natural SRS
I find myself doing that, too. Almost more out of curiosity - just ruminating about something. I wonder how often others do it. And whether this kind of behavior messes with traditional estimates of "study time" in some research studies.
This got me excited at first! All I needed was some paper and a pencil, but then he hit me the “a brain.” And I zoned out for the rest of the video knowing full well my attention span couldn’t handle 6 minutes.
5:33
If you can remember everything, you might be acting too quickly. On the other hand, if you can't remember anything, it could mean you've waited too long. The first situation can be improved by being patient, but what should you do in the second case, where you've waited too long?
I'd like to know too?
i didnt search for this i got it in my reccomandation but fr i needed this so bad. thankyou so much
Hey,I noticed you were still replying to recent comments so I wanted your opinion on a possible improvement of the free recall method. In addition to writing what you recall it is extremely beneficial, I find, to also write what you know is missing. It’s funny because in a way you still use free recall on the information you can’t recall. Also I find it beneficial to not verify the recalled information directly after. I sit on it for a few hours so my brain can passively remember the information or get obsessed by the missing information so when I verify I’m “hungry” for the answers.
Could you please illustrate this point with an example? I am not sure if I am getting the right idea.
This is very close to the Feynman method
The method you shared seems very easy and interesting to do. I can't wait to try this out. Thank you
I am old but I have a great memory; however, I am trying to get a professional license. My previous attempts were horrible. I have been watching you and Dr JS's videos, which have led me to ask.. how did I complete two masters without ever applying any of the techniques from the videos? I am using the techniques from the videos and my retention of the material has gotten incredibly better. Thank you doing for these videos. God bless.
Commenting for the algorithm.
You deserve more views
I just found your channel. Memorization has always been a problem for me and now that I’m older it’s become even worse. Listening to you talk makes me realize I was never taught how to learn which is both frustrating and very sad for me to realize.
Thanks for going over active recall. I will try to learn how to learn all over again … and check out your videos to learn more about learning!
Question: how would you go about helping someone with learning difficulties? I’m assuming learning is, well, just learning. Would you expect it to take longer for those with learning disabilities? Should they practice the technique using more simple material and then progress to more challenging material?
TBH, I know little about learning disabilities, although I've worked with some people who have specific disabilities before. Depending on what the nature of the disability is, you can use certain supports to help you. It's hard to say without knowing the nature of the disability. But I would try the general approach first, and then if it's not working for you, explore an alternative that might be better.
You might be interested in reading The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin. She seems to have impaired working memory, but has quite high visualization skills.
انا شاهدت طالب جامعي من الأوائل سلوكه كما يلي 1 يدرس في النهار في الجامعة عند خروجه من الجامعة يستريح قليلا ثم يلعب الدومينو او الورق ثم يتناول عشاءه ثم يراجع دروسه لمدة ساعة فقط ثم ينام ثم يستيقظ صباحا على الساعة السادسة انتهي. كان من اوائل الطلبة
after doing a recall session do you go back to the answers and correct your recall mistakes? I like what you said here… makes a lot of sense to me… I'm all about effectiveness not efficiency, I think pre-mature efficiency optimisation can be a big trap in any pursuit, learning, doing, or undoing.
非常感謝！讓我在自學外語時能用到這個方法，畢竟背外文單字，特別是俄文單字很容易忘記！Большое спасибо！
thanks so much for this video. i was just wondering how i could use this approach for multiple subjects? would i read content - 15 minute break - active recall. and then just do the same for the other topics? even if they're similar? or should i not study them at the same time? sorry i'm not sure im making much sense
I find it helpful to organize my writings. If I cluster them in memorable ways, it's even easier to recall later.
Free Recall: A Powerful Memory Hack
00:00 - Introducing Free Recall: This video showcases a simple yet powerful study technique called free recall, ideal for language learning and other knowledge-intensive subjects.
00:28 - Demonstrating the Technique: Using Chinese vocabulary as an example, the video walks you through the steps of free recall:
Study the material: Familiarize yourself with the information (definitions, pronunciation, etc.) using your textbook or preferred resources.
Active recall: After a short break, close your textbook and try to recall everything you can (characters, pronunciation, meanings) on a blank sheet of paper.
Verify and correct: Compare your recalled information with the textbook, filling in any gaps or inaccuracies.
Repeat and expand: Repeat the entire process (study-recall-verify) over multiple sessions with increasing intervals between rounds.
02:08 - Benefits of Free Recall: Why is this technique so effective?
Active organization: Unlike passive reading, free recall forces you to actively organize and retrieve information within your brain, reducing interference and confusion.
Targeted practice: It simulates the actual skill you're aiming to develop (recalling information) rather than simply recognizing it.
Spaced repetition: The timed intervals between rounds strengthen your memory efficiently, aiming to recall information just before you forget it completely.
04:01 - Key Takeaways:
Free recall is superior to passive rereading or flashcards for long-term knowledge retention.
Recognizing information is not the same as being able to recall and apply it freely.
The ideal recall interval is the point where you almost forget the information, maximizing learning efficiency.
06:08 - Call to Action: Try free recall for yourself, share your experiences and challenges in the comments, and enjoy the process of actively understanding what you know!
A great tip from native Chinese speaker, try to learn simple mandarin简体中文rather than complex mandarin繁体中文, it makes your learning curve much smoother.
Learning italian, every time I came aceoss a fun word / sentence from a friend or a tv show, I would send jt in a chat to myself. If i was able to use it in a conversation, I would react to that message. And every other day when i got bored i would resent the ones I did not use, or the ones I did use but wanted to use again.
Not taking notes throughout the length of this video was an excruciating pain. Alas, such is the pang of change. However, I can already tell the freedom I obtained
As someone that has like 150 pages to learn or more for like 3 subjects in a week I don't think I'd have time for this technique but I'll use it for smaller details that are important to remember and just read and retell the more general stuff
I think this technique really works for remembering the formula in math, chemistry or remembering vocabulary in different alphabets just like in the video (Chinese). But, other than that, i think it's just good enough to remember something just by repeating verbally over and over again.
No, rote memorization is bad as it doesn’t help with understanding topics. If you want to remember a list of facts, then it’s an ok method. A superior method is the mind palace. Plus it’s easier to use and more effective. Rote memorization is overall ineffective for true understanding.
I can’t believe this but it worked
Two questions on doing free recall:
1) You mention in other videos that we should try to avoid/minimise note-taking when listening to lectures. Does the same apply when you're studying a written information? (IE - are you writing things down in the initial study session?)
2) Once you've done a free recall session and are reviewing against the text for what you've missed/got incorrect, are you writing down those things that were missed? (It is implied in the video, but I thought I'd confirm).
Good questions.
1) The problems are not the same with reading. I don't recommend highlighting and generic re-reading strategies. But margin notes or notes on what you're reading can be helpful - you have more control over your cognitive load when reading (the book isn't continuing to talk - at least, I hope not). You can make summaries, but I think self-explanations, or bringing another example that compares with an example you're reading about, or otherwise "arguing with the text" is a good thing to do. Personally, I don't do this all the time - kind of depends on what I'm reading.
2) I tend to write it down, yes. That way I can't escape it.
Hey Dr. Keep! Ironically I watched the follow up video first and applied active recall to this video and it did work but while taking the break and putting dishes back to where they should be I had some rising questions that I've seen other commenters have, but mine are more specific.
1. What do you do in those 10 to 15 minutes? Would reading a book be okay? Would something entertaining hamper learning? Or what would happen if it were something either from the same topic or a different topic (like a self improvement book)? Or do I mess around/meditate?
2. Would note taking help in that first input stage? For example, I'm learning Japanese and learning grammar at times can be tricky but making notes to help myself understand better helps to sort between how distinct grammar is different from another really similar one.
3. For a topic like art, where applying is essential, do you recommend for example, learning how to paint a face from a video, taking time away from it, and then painting a portrait, coming back and giving yourself feedback? Or if it's a bit of theory (like different light sources) would it be better to try and recall it as a concept or even draw it in that recall stage
Tx 4 sharing, really interesting method. I'll try.
you didn't tell what did you do while you were memorising it...
you for sure learnt a lot with this incremental way, insights that change the way you actually absorb while learning
if i won't remember many words clearly of many what then?
you literally need another technic for absorbing it first time, we aren't women with strong ability to absorb fresh thing without context lol but adding logic and categories to it changes this completely
I find this method very challenging so it must be working
makes lots of sense bro, thank you for this
This is pure gold. Thanks a lot
Thank you for this. I am a practicing physician. The issue is the sheer volume of material I am required to remember, much of which I don't use on a daily basis. At some point, there is an avalanche of material and I can't keep up with the amount.
I have often counted the number of specific points I have noticed when studying and then counted the number of specific points I have recalled later, using free recall. The counting gives me confirmation of work done and helps keep me focused. I use techniques or gadgets so that the counting is not too distracting.
That's an interesting approach - thanks for sharing.
@@benjaminkeep In most cases, I recall points almost perfectly which shows that free recall can be a remarkably thorough and easy method even though it seems like it should be harder than that.
Great video. I’m studying for a certification exam and am studying a new section each day. Using this method, what should be my strategy for studying material from the previous days?
Que demonstração excelente.
I find it easy enough to memorise verbs of a foreign language. It's the grammar I find tricky, as it's not like you can use Loci or simple mnemonics for past participles and conjugated verbs.
How do you apply this technique when you have multiple/alot of concepts to revise? and also how do you apply it when you are prepping for an upcoming exam??
I really liked this video in that it was specifically applied to Chinese a language which I’ve been learning for a long time. Your videos are great in that they talk about learning techniques from a research informed perspective which some other learning channels lack.
However, as a language learner I’d really love to see more specific videos about language learning.
Could you make a video showing how you approach a new chapter in your Chinese textbook?
How do you learn the new vocabulary and grammar patterns? How do you approach understanding the new reading text or dialogue? How do you then try to apply what you have learn t in speaking and writing?
I often watch videos about learning and then think how do I apply this specifically as a language learner. Sometimes it isn’t easy to make the leap from theory to practice.
These are all good questions and I totally agree about the difficulty of moving from theory to practice, but I don’t have immediate plans to make more videos on language learning. Although I’m starting to do more videos on applying these principles and techniques in practice (doing mental math; have a short one on juggling coming up; will probably delve into physics and language learning later on), which might be helpful.
I wouldn’t consider myself a fantastic language learner or anything, but the specific steps I would take when learning a new chapter would depend on how the book presented things and how experienced I am in the language and what other resources are available. Here are some overall principles I would work from, though:
1) More than one exposure to the reading or dialogue. This could mean skimming it, studying the vocabulary words, reading it, studying grammar examples, hearing it, reading it again before moving on, and returning to it weeks or months later. Each time you return to it
2) Experience the reading or dialogue in more than one modality. This would include both reading and hearing a dialogue, for instance. LingQ can be helpful with this.
3) For grammar, I’m looking to be able to produce simple examples using the grammatical structure, restate the meaning in a different way (with a different grammatical structure), know what are the “close” related structures that may have slight variations of meaning, and, most importantly, combine structures with each other to create novel structures. The second and third points are more intermediate-level concerns.
4) Vocabulary can be tricky, but I want exposure to material that uses the vocabulary in a natural way. Supplemented by free recall.
Opportunities to speak and listen are really crucial. When I was still taking Chinese courses, I would give presentations to my teacher on a different topic than the chapter was on, but using the grammatical structures and what vocabulary was relevant (stretches understanding of the grammar and gives you practice doing so).
@@benjaminkeep Thanks a lot for this in depth reply. You’ve given a really detailed and rigorous method for learning a chapter in a language textbook. I usually try to do a lot of the things that you suggest. Especially multiple readings and listenings of the main text. However, I often find that I’m torn between knowing when to move on to the next chapter and when I need to stay a bit longer. The problem with staying a bit longer is that I’ve often run out of ideas of different ways to attack the text and vocabulary. I’ll be sure to try and implement some of the ideas you mention here in the future.
Thanks once again!
If you want to remember information, intermittently remember the information that is worth remembering. 👍
I wouldn't call it *the* secret, so much as a thing that is pretty useful.
Question: Do u need to verify and compare from the book/source after every recall?
And add new forgotten stuff every time from the source?
Is it like?
read
break
recall
compare & add
read new material
break
recall
compare and add
For reading a normal book (like a book on history or something), I just do free recall occasionally every day or every few days. But I do bring earlier stuff back again and try to integrate old and new material together.
Breaks are important. Because of the way associative memory works, you never know what connections your brain will make. After 20 minutes of studying a subject, I switch to a completely different one, or go do something. The cues that prompt memory can sometimes seem bizarre, but they are also useful. Connections between events within tasks are formed.
I'll start implementing it. Thanks.
Hi benjamin, I am super confused about the technique, for example I am currently having a 2 hours course on TH-cam, and as you mentioned in the video, i watched the video for 20 minutes, stopped for 15 minutes and got back to do my first free recall session, then for the 2nd 20 minutes, i did the same thing, but it breaks the whole process into 6 parts because of 6 different parts of free recall for 6 pieces of information, this is extremely weird to me because I need to do like 4 free recall session for the first 20 minutes information (including the intervals), 4 free recall session for the 2nd 20 minutes information (including the intervals), 4 free recall session for the 3rd 20 minutes information (including the intervals) and etc.I don't know if that makes sense to you but this seems super time consuming and I feel like I have gotten your concept wrong but I think the best way is to just ask you if there is a better way to implement free recall in this circumstances, really hoping that i could get a reply, thank you.
I really wish academics in America started teaching and using more of these 'radical' methods of learning new concepts, I feel it would greatly impact society. Instead, I've noticed the majority of academics still use traditional methods, which have been scientific proven to be ineffective for the majority of students who are not academically gifted. I've been on a binge spree on your videos, and it's astonishing to me how much more effective methods ways of learning new information and then applying it...
There are lots of videos on social media that list effective study techniques. They name free recall, Feynman technique, testing and whatnot. Among them is active recall, as a separate thing. From my understanding active recall is a broad term, defining an idea of bringing an information from the depths of memory. In that sense, all aforementioned techniques use active recall as their base. Is my understanding correct? Is active recall the same thing as retrieval practice? In some article I read (not research papers) active recall is used only in relation to testing, which seems incorrect because I think it can be applied to many different effective study techniques. For the same reason, all those tiktok videos are wrong since active recall is not a study technique but a rule or an idea that we can implement to improve our study methods.
Barb Oakley wrote a book about the same thing. A mind for numbers. But this video is great on simplfying the technique. I wonder if schools can apply this.
How can I combine note-taking and free recall when, for example, I'm reading a book? When should I take notes and when should I use free recall? I also have one more question. I use the zettelkasten method to store my notes in an app called obsidian, and my question is - do you think that using free recall method periodically to try to remember informations from my notes would be a good idea?
I use free recall when I read - plus some other stuff - and occasionally write notes on a certain paragraph or something like that as I'm reading. Personally, I would lean away from writing extensive notes while reading, but if I will definitely fill in the gaps of the free recall by pouring back over certain sections and note-taking, at that point, on the free recall document, if that makes sense.
I think occasionally doing free recall on your Zettelkasten notes is a great idea and will help to germinate more interesting connections/ideas as you do it. In fact, I'm going to steal this idea. Thanks!
Pretty interesting stuff, thank you - I shall take a more detailed look and practice. One (odd, I admit) question if I may - what is that book you're using to learn Putonghua?
I’m seek of studying coding 😅 and as Spanish speaker I’m doing it in English that is very familiar after being actively learning it, now I took the step to going into computer science and I have found hard to remember, specially when basic concepts very technical I hade to understand it and even so get familiar with my mother tongue, do u have any advice for me, I have to say that really support your work and the techniques offered. Cheers and keep going! All the best.
Greetings from Mexico! Thank you for the awesome information. I'm learning English, and I wanna try this technique to improve my language skills by reading books and then explaining them to other people (which is something challenging for me). Huberman, in one of his videos, suggested or mentioned "60-90 minute learning sessions," and it totally makes sense. But again, (it's tough). Do you think it's good to read for 60 to 90 minutes and then try to remember, or do you think it'd be better to read by paragraphs and then try to remember? Also, regarding the intervals, do you think that 5 minutes are just enough, or do you think they should be 10-15 minutes? Thanks again for your great work.
another problem is I could not recall anything ; now with active recall but coupled with memory palace almost the whole Oxford Medical Handbook has been learnt - why>
Tell me your methods please
Solid advice - and it sure beats the tedium of flashcards! The only thing I'd add is that to get the best out of this technique you need to apply smart encoding to the information in the first place. I'm presuming you'd agree with this, even through it wasn't explicitly covered in the vlog?
Yes - I'm working on a video going into more depth on encoding. Probably won't be out for a few months though.
@@benjaminkeep This is excellent news - it's a topic that's often poorly covered. It's going to be valuable to get the insights of a genuine expert like your good self...
So you mention that we should do something else while we wait to do our next free recall session. Can we continue studying the same topic but go back and try to do free recall on only the things decided prior? Creating almost a free recall loop.
Hi Benjamin, congrats on the video, that was very interesting! I have a question - as a professor I always use free recall with my students (usually 2-3 times during a 2-hour long lecture), but I do that orally (so basically they “teach each other” what they just learned). I’ve noticed that here (and in other videos) you always mention a written form of free recall. Have you ever found a study showing any difference between retrieving by speaking out loud and by writing it down? Thanks!
Hi Plinio, glad to have you here! Your question is more complex than it appears.
To be honest, I think most researchers use written free recall because it's easier to record, store, and analyze. There is research that compares spoken and written free recall, but not always in the context that we might be interested in. In eyewitness memory research, researchers are interested as to which method produces the most accurate recollections (and the least fabrications). People who use free recall as outcome measures in their research are concerned about which form more validly represents the students' declarative knowledge.
There is some evidence for a "written superiority effect" and, conversely, a "spoken superiority effect" in terms of how accurate the recall is to the material that was studied (which are sometimes word lists, sometimes objects, and sometimes pictures that tell a story). Some studies find no meaningful difference. Immediate accuracy is a slightly different question than long-term learning outcomes, however. As far as I can tell from a very brief look at these research articles, it's hard to say which, ultimately is going to be maximally helpful for long-term learning. So it probably doesn't matter that much. It's not a topic that generates a lot of interest, so there's just a handful of papers through the years.
BUT, there's a lot of interesting things going on. First, writing is much slower than speaking, so that means less output speed from writing. Whether that's a good or bad thing is hard to say. Speaking tends to produce more repetitions and more "extra" utterances. Cognitively, writing also requires you to engage with the graphemes - the written letters in a way that you don't have to do when you speak. Again, maybe that's helpful if you're doing free recall on material you've read. Maybe it's just extra processing that's not necessary b/c it's not squarely focused on remembering the material. You say that students "teach each other," which raises another interesting factor - whether the presence of a listener impacts the value of the free recall. Could very well benefit it. Writing has the advantage of being able to be critically reviewed or updated later, which is nice. I'm sure I'm missing some other interesting differences between the two modes.
What you're doing sounds great, so I hesitate to suggest anything different. If writing makes a difference it's probably not that big. But you might experiment with having students write instead of speak once or twice and see how it goes. If you do, please write me back and let me know how it goes (you'll have to @ me if you respond in this comment thread). Good luck!
Some references:
Janczyk, M., Aßmann, M., & Grabowski, J. (2018). Oral versus written recall of long-term memory items: Replicating and extending the writing superiority effect across knowledge domains. The American Journal of Psychology, 131(3), 263-272. (Finding a written superiority effect)
Bekerian, D. A., & Dennett, J. L. (1990). Spoken and written recall of visual narratives. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4(3), 175-187. (spoken superiority)
Sauerland, M., Krix, A. C., van Kan, N., Glunz, S., & Sak, A. (2014). Speaking is silver, writing is golden? The role of cognitive and social factors in written versus spoken witness accounts. Memory & Cognition, 42, 978-992. (favoring written, but not finding large differences; in the eyewitness area)
@@benjaminkeep Wow thank you so much for taking the time to write such a great reply, that was very kind of you and very informative! I''ll find a way to do a little research with my students about that and get back to you. That's not exactly my field (I study the psychology/neurlinguistics of bilingualism), but I'm very interested in active learning and this idea of having the students do a spoken free recall came from those techniques teachers use in the classroom (3, 2, 1; teach-okay; think-pair-share), but you raised a lot of very good points I'll try to investigate - among others, the presence of a listener in free recall makes a lot of sense, maybe that gets in the way (at least in a first free recall - maybe it adds a little beneficial difficulty in the next ones). I'll think about it. Thanks again for your great work here on TH-cam! Have a great day!
My pleasure! Always great to exchange ideas with teachers and other experts! Good luck!
The speaker uses the free recall technique to remember everything. This involves studying the material first to familiarize oneself with it, then taking a short break to do something else. After the break, the speaker returns to their desk with a piece of paper and a pencil but does not open the textbook. Instead, they try to recall and write down as much as they can remember about the study material. In the case of learning Chinese vocabulary, this includes the character, pronunciation, and meaning of each word. After attempting to recall everything, the speaker then checks the textbook to see what they missed and makes corrections. This process is repeated several times with increasing intervals between recall sessions, which helps to strengthen memory retention efficiently.
Hey Dr. Keep, thank you so much for this video!
I am a undergrad studying maths and cs. Recently I've been binge watching videos on how to study more efficiently. I was wondering if you could offer any advice on how to effectively study complex math topics. The current method I am using is just brute forcing and actively reading through an entire chapter; if I don't understand a theorem, then I would slowly go through its proof. It allows me to understand the concepts and thus remember it for a short period. However, this process takes about 2-4 hours per chapter depending on its difficulty, and I would forget about the contents after completing the problem sets and exam. My question then is how should I break down my textbook readings, so I can more effectively use my time and retain the information longer? I watched your video on textbook advice, but I'm stuck on how to structure my readings. Since a lot of concepts in math require building upon previous connections and knowledge, I'm afraid that if I don't binge read, then I won't be able to form those connections and thus spend even more time on rereading. And afterwards, how should I work to retain my understanding of those concepts and connections? I heard about creating recall questions for the chapter, then going through them with active recall just so the conceptual understanding sticks. What are your thoughts on this method? And what would be a good way to revisit an older concept using the points you bring up in this video (for example, in physics, say you perform a few rounds of active recall on the contents of chapter 1; while learning chapter 2 and so on, would it still be as effective to perform active recall on different topics in a day)?
Sorry for the jumbled thoughts and long comment, and thank you for your content.
Sorry for not replying earlier to this. This is just a guess, but I think that you're not integrating what you learned into bigger and bigger pictures.
I think going through proofs - even ones that you think you understand - can be quite productive and is absolutely a good thing to do. But do you ever spend time organizing the proof techniques you have? Or, instead of entirely solving a problem by proof, just trying to organize several problems by the kinds of proof techniques that might be productive for them? Re-reading is only productive when there is a purpose to it (i.e., you have a question, you know something is unclear, etc.).
Seeing a proof techniques on a single problem is not really enough to understand it. You need to see multiple examples of the technique working and not working (maybe examples where it looks like it wouldn't work, but actually does and it looks like it would work, but actually doesn't). Another thing to keep in mind is solving the same problem with multiple methods. This, again, leads to more organized knowledge structures. You can also think about chaining proof techniques together to solve more complex problems.
I don't know if the above comments are helpful. But hope they are.
Mathematics, in some way, is comparable to languages and body building at the same time. Get confident with notation, repeat and stay on the most important proofs (periodically revise them and try to improve their readability and clarity), especially those that let you remember multiple concepts at once, and eliminate redundancy. Include also the proofs with unusual or different techniques. Practice them like you would do with any other sport. Thus, reorganise your mind around your favorite set of proofs and think about the big picture and how they connect each other.
However, mathematics is so vast and you certainly have duties. Struggling to follow your professors and the program is only normal. Be at peace with yourself. You're doing well..
P. S. Forget about speed if you want to retain for a long time.
Awesome content 😮
I've been enjoying all the videos
Keep up the great work
When doing another interval, do you have to study the material like you did in the first one? Should I do it anyway?
Not necessarily. If you are persistently forgetting something, then it's a really good idea to encode it more effectively - look at that material, figure out how to make it memorable - images, comparisons/relationships with other parts of the material, stories, breaking into parts, etc. But I wouldn't, as a matter of course, automatically study again. Just do the free recall and really test yourself.
Alright, thank you for replying.
I use active recall to memorize words in Shum, the Language of Meditation.
brilliant, thank you. free recall in humanities like literature, philosophy, etc. any ideas? tutorials?
i know that information taken in before bedtime is more ingrained in memory. so should i do readings/watching videos before bed, or active recall sessions for said readings/videos before bed?
I probably wouldn't recommend doing anything mentally active right before sleep. A good "wind-down" routine is best for getting a good night's sleep (which will help with memory consolidation).
Personally, I like to start the day with free recall, especially if I'll be doing more studying on the same topic. The time away (sleeping, doing other things) is good for a little bit of forgetting which should make the recall session a bit more productive. But if we tested the two schedules against each other, I don't know that we'd find a big difference.