Memorisation is not the same as revision
Say it one more time for the people in the back
I think this is one of the biggest mistakes students make when revising.
They muster up the motivation to sit down at their desk (or on their bed),
And open up their books,
Only to ‘read over their notes,’
Or perhaps make a few flash cards and test themselves.
-
They may triumphantly then approach mum or dad 30 minutes later and say,
Please test me on these flash cards,
And when they get them mostly right,
Everyone feels good about themselves.
Unfortunately, when I say revision,
This is not the type of effective revision I am referring to.
-
Why does this not work?
It really frustrates me when I hear about students approaching memorisation in this way,
Because I know they’re trying,
And they’re actually putting in enough effort,
But nothing seems to stick in their long term memory,
Making them then less likely to put in the effort in the future.
If you teenager does well in mini tests but then struggles in end of year exams this is especially for you.
-
When you go over a bunch of notes again and again in a relatively short period of time,
You are testing your immediate recall.
It makes sense,
As in reality all you are doing when you are testing yourself,
Is looking over something and then seeing if you can recall it 2/5/10 minutes later.
So this is what you get good at.
And then when mum tests you,
You seem like you know your stuff.
This is called massed practice.
The problem is the real test examines you on lots and lots of information that you need to recall over the long term.
And you might think,
Come on Joel, you have to learn information like this initially, surely.
I wish you could but the problem is,
It doesn’t work for most students.
-
Some of you will have heard of spaced repetition.
And it really is the secret that unlocks long term memory.
And the good news is anyone can do it,
But it does take a bit more effort to set up.
You need to practice bursts of content – im talking 5-minute chunks – with progressively bigger gaps in between the practices.
And you might say,
Come on Joel, there’s too much too learn that way, it’s overwhelming.
And you would be right,
This is when you need to be strategic.
As all information is not created equal.
So you want to identify the information that you currently don’t know,
That would be worth the most number of marks in an exam,
And is easy enough for you to understand,
And start there.
If you are someone that is aiming for a very top grade and therefore needs to have a fairly comprehensive understanding of the curriculum,
You need to start sooner,
Which is why I am writing this in November.
-
Being straight up with you,
This works very differently for students aiming for the 4 Vs students aiming for the 9.
If you are aiming for the 4.
I promise you,
You don’t actually need to ‘memorise’ quite as much as you think you do.
The biggest mistake you will make is having no plan as to which content you should focus on.
Once you have a strategic process,
You can memorise the most important bits in a spaced repetition manner.
And then your grade will come down to your application – THIS IS WHAT STUDENTS SHOULD BE WORKING ON SITTING DOWN AT THEIR DESK, NOT MEMORISATION.
-
For students aiming for the 9,
Whilst you absolutely will need to memorise content in this manner,
Really your grade will come down to understanding,
And of course,
Your skills.
-
The morale of the story
- Memorisation should take place in short bursts.
- You need to used spaced repetition – Parents you can help to set this up.
- Your ‘revision’ at the desk should focus on improving your skills.
- For students aiming to pass – your grade will come down to whether you can identify the most important information to memorise and your skills.
- For students aiming for a 9 – your grade will come down to whether you have a full understanding and your skills.
-
I hope you all have a great week ahead,
Best wishes,
Joel