Active Recall: Study More Effectively in Less Time

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I still remember the number of afternoons I spent transcribing the textbook to a notebook, during school. Although it was a boring activity, I could easily combine it with social media, watching TV, or singing along my favourite songs (don't ask me which were).

If you re-read things multiple times, during multiple days, it will, eventually, work. You will be able to remember some of the information you read, and perhaps, succeed.

In the last year of high school, I got into the personal development world. And what a change. Suddenly, it did not seem smart to spend countless hours re-reading the same information, to retain a few things every time. There had to be a better way of learning — a more effective and efficient way.

I read multiple books on the learning process, such as “A Mind for Numbers”, “Make it Stick”, “Deep Work“, “How to become a Straight-A-student”, enrolled in studying online classes, got into learning research, and implemented and compared the methods. Because I was in school, I could actually test the methods and compare the results almost immediately.

Apart from many great things I took from different methods, one technique changed things drastically. A way of getting concepts, definitions, and formulas into my head, in a much faster way. I can easily say I halved the time spent studying while getting the same (and sometimes even better) results.

Active Recalling was that thing. I continued using it during college, in presentations, and to prepare for interviews.

What exactly is Active Recall?

It makes sense to focus on the word “active”. If you’re active in the learning process, you’re engaged, and your brain works effortfully. On the other hand, if you’re doing “passive” studying, you are re-reading things, for the sake of reading.

Which one is easier? Reading, for sure! I can spend much more time re-reading information than I can be active in the process. Still, the time you spend with passive learning might only give you the illusion of learning. On the opposite, and this is where things get interesting: with active recall, you can spend less time studying while getting better results.

Why use Active Recall?

Before the step-by-step approach to active recalling, I believe it’s useful to share why you should actually care about it.

In this study, students were split into 4 groups, and each group had to learn the material in different ways:

Read the material once;
Read the material 4 times;
Read the material once and built a mind map;
Read the material and used active recall.

In both tests (verbatim and inference), the active recall group did much better than the others: the active approach to learning outperformed the group who re-read the material 4 times.

As dumb as it sounds, sometimes I avoid doing an active recall. I can state a list of excuses for not doing it, but it all goes down to one thing: active recall requires more energy and focus than any other study-method. Because we tend to avoid activities perceived as effortful, it’s easier to stick to the bad-old-habits and continue having mediocre results.

How to Study with Active Recall

Sorry if I made it look really complex. It’s not. It is just a bit more challenging than the other methods, explaining why it yields better results. If you keep playing the same guitar jams, what’s the probability of increasing your skill level? Exactly. What is comfortable rarely is effective.

There are many different ways to practice active recall, and they all work equally well. But you might prefer one over the others. Regardless of being keen on analogue processes or digital ones, I’ve got you covered.

Analogue Strategies for Active Recall

#1 Written Method

Questions: Come up with questions that test your knowledge. You don’t need well-thought or smart questions. Just simple and self-explanatory ones:
“What is Herzberg motivation theory?”
“What is cultural awareness?”
“How to conduct a competitive analysis?”.
Answers: Use the Pomodoro Technique, and start answering the questions from what you have remembered — book closed! There is no need for pretty hand-writing, neat notes, or colourful highlighters. The purpose of this exercise is to find gaps in your knowledge and solidify content.
If you’re having difficulty explaining what Herzberg really meant with hygiene factors in his theory, highlight the question, and go back to the books to understand it better. If you wish a more detailed approach to this, read the Feynman Technique.
Repeat: Repeat the process until you have a solid and concise answer to all the questions. Skip the questions you already know the answer to — efficiency is the key. If you were to memorize all the world capitals, I'm sure you would not waste time repeating the ones you know since you were 12.

#2 Verbal Method

Questions: The verbal method still requires you to come up with questions within the topics you’re studying.
Answers: If it takes you too much time to write the answers to the questions you came up with, use the verbal method to recite them out loud. The principle is the same: finding gaps and reinforcing the learning acquisition.
Repeat: When you can’t effectively verbalize the answer to a question, it’s time to go back to your notes, and deepen the knowledge of that particular topic — finding gaps and reinforcing the learning process.

The written method consumes more time than verbally reciting the answers. But writing might help you to maintain high levels of focus and is less awkward in a public space.

Get a free video on how to use Digital Tools to implement Active Recall

Digital Strategies for Active Recall

#1 Flashcards & Anki

As you've seen, active recall relies on testing yourself on the material. This is done by recalling and reformulating the content you've read, with your own words, and thus making an effort to retrieve information. Have you ever played games in which you have a question on one side of the card and the answer on the other? This is active recall — you read the question, and actively search for an answer in your mind.

Although you can create flashcards by hand, it is time-consuming, impractical and unsuitable for potential changes in the flashcard content. Thankfully, there is a free and reliable digital solution — Anki.

Anki is free software and app for creating flashcards to test your knowledge in a variety of topics. Not only is it efficient to create flashcards on Anki, but also to conduct reviews by subject or tag. It takes advantage of spaced repetition by using an algorithm that knows when to show you a particular card — the more you know it, the less it will appear.

What usage does Anki have in Learning?

Memorize definitions, formulas and facts;
Learn a new language (vocabulary, sounds, sentences);
Get familiar with the notes you took on research studies, books, speeches and courses.

I've been using Anki for a couple of years now, and I swear by it. During my Master’s Degree, I created flashcards for most subjects, and I can say the following: I knew "everything" 7 days before the exams. Although I don't recommend only using Anki when studying, it worked because the courses were mainly theoretical. For example, for statistics, the exam required to solve problems, so I relied on exercises rather than Anki. The key is understanding what each topic requires and adapting your study method accordingly.

#2 Notion

If you're not familiar with Notion... you must be! It is a free note-taking app capable of doing much more than that, including creating databases, keeping track of habits, and even doing some simple calculations, like an Excel sheet. I use Notion to take notes on the books and articles I read and the courses I take. Because I have so much information there, I find a particular tool handy to engage in active recall.

In Notion, the toggle tool allows you to hide information that becomes accessible when you open the toggle. Just like a flashcard — you have the question, answer it, and only then check the notes. You can even nest questions and answers inside each other. I used Notion as a strategy for active recall, and it works really well. The only downside is that you don't have spaced repetition incorporated within, like in Anki. Here is a real example from a Strategy course: