Learning Commons:Content/Learning Challenges/Memory

From UBC Wiki

The Problem

I forget the important stuff. While attending classes, taking notes and doing your assigned readings are important parts of learning at university, simply doing what is asked of you by your professor will not necessarily result in your retention of new information or a deep understanding of key concepts. While you may be putting in lots of study time, and feel as though you are studying hard, how, what and where you are studying may be impacting your memory. To improve your retention of information you need to rethink some of these thoughts and practices:

Memorizing the facts is what's important in learning.

At university, what's important is your understanding of concepts and ideas, when to apply them and how and in what circumstances they are useful. This sort of understanding is enhanced when you look for the connections between concepts and ask yourself questions about what you are reading so that you can extract meaning. Simply re-reading your notes or textbooks will not lead to remembering important information, your learning must take place at a deeper level than that. Most teachers will not test for the memorization of isolated facts, they will ask you to demonstrate your comprehension of a concept by applying it. Being able to interpret a concept and think about it deeply is key to retaining new information.

If I put in the effort, I will learn

Intention to learn does not actually help your memory, nor does simply playing close attention to the material you are studying. All learners have various levels of processing that go from shallow to deep. In order to remember information, you must use your deep level processing, this means using study activities that involve interpreting information and relating it to your prior knowledge or experience.

Using ineffective study methods

Cramming, multi-tasking, re-reading (without self testing) are all methods that fool us into thinking we are learning and being productive with study time. Reflecting on your own study methods and a willingness to try new approaches is a good step to improving your understanding of new concepts. Just putting in the time, does not mean that you are actually learning, you must spend time interpreting and applying new concepts to make your study time useful. It is also important to continue studying even after you can simply recall a new concept. You must be able to recall it quickly and easily to have truly mastered it.

Learning should be easy and fast (if I'm doing it well)

In fact, when we are learning something new by re-reading and highlighting (rather than self testing and solving problems), our brains often fool us into thinking that we are learning. This is called a fluency or familiarity bias and it happens when we think that something familiar and clearly explained has actually been learned. In fact, the best way to test whether you know something is to try to teach it to someone else - this will help you clarify your gaps in understanding.

So how can you overcome some of these biases and problems and study better? Have a look at the strategies section for some good ideas.

The Myths

The following myths about learning are relevant to the challenge of memorizing.

Myth 2: I only need one good method for studying.

Sometimes, study methods that worked in high school - just don't serve you well in university. If your tried and true study strategies aren't working, use a different approach. Monitor your learning, by measuring your knowledge against what you expect. Before you start studying, guess how it'll go. Predict your homework and test results, and see if you're accurate or not. Notice when your expectations fall short of (or overshoot) reality, and adjust your approach accordingly. This is called metacognition, and it's an important part of effective learning.

There's also some evidence to suggest that mixing it up (in terms of where, when and how we study and learn) promotes recall (Carey, 2015)

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Bust the Myth

  • Reflect on your studying by asking yourself these three questions: what did you do? Was it effective? What can you change?
  • Test your perceptions. After an exam, make a prediction of how many questions/problems you answered correctly. When you get the test back, see how your score matched with your prediction. If you were way off, consider changing your study strategy to incorporate more self-testing, spaced study sessions and varied approaches to practice.
  • Use strategies like generating your own questions and creating concept maps. Need some guidance? Take a look at this video by Dr. Stephen Chew, on How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Putting Principles for Learning into Practice.

Myth 4: If I memorize enough to pass the test, I've learned it!

If you stay up all night cramming for a test, you'll probably pass. If you've got a test tomorrow and you haven't cracked a book, you don't have a choice. But have you really learned anything while you were cramming? Cramming doesn't give the brain time to process information and make critical connections necessary to retrieve it from memory later. If you have classes that build on previous courses, you'll wish you'd spaced out your studying. That's your note to self for next time.

Learning goes beyond your test scores: critical thinking analysis, applying principles to solve problems, the ability to assess your effectiveness, revise, and apply what you know are skills that you'll need through the rest of your life. If you have a test the next morning, you might have to pull that all-nighter, but you'll do better on the test and remember the material for longer if you spread your learning out, and use some of the strategies laid out here.

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Bust the Myth

  • Apply learned material. Try to think about situations where you might use what you're learning: come up with your own examples of a concept, or try to teach it to someone else. All these activities require you to retrieve what you know, and every time you retrieve it, you're relearning it.
  • Think ahead about the classes you'll be taking, and what you'll be expected to know when you take them. Get some advice from a second year professor, TA or academic adviser. Take note of concepts you'll need to know well for the future, and focus your time on those items.
  • Learn from failure. If you fail an exam, take steps to analyze what went wrong and change your strategies for next time. Take a deep breath, and do your best to learn from the experience. For some guidance on what to do, review Dr. Stephen Chew's video: I Blew The Exam-Now What?

The Strategies

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Strategies that work!

Understand the difference between facts and concepts

  • Facts are things that just need to be memorized and there's no way around it, they include things like formulas and dates that will need to be recalled on a test. A way to help you memorize these are mnemonic devices which associate facts with acronyms or rhymes such as ROY G BIV for the colours of the rainbow.
  • Concepts are bigger ideas that you need to grasp deeply. A way to determine whether or not you truly understand something is if you can put it into your own words, either orally or in writing. Recall makes your reading active and will improve your retention of new information.

Aim for understanding (vs. surface knowledge)

  • Know the difference between recognition and recollection. Information can seem familiar when we are reviewing even if we don't yet have it committed to memory.
  • Try teaching or explaining to others what you are learning (in your own words). Respond to their questions. Then have them tell you what they learned and compare this to your notes or the text. You really begin to understand something when you can teach others.
  • Make connections between course concepts, different courses, and real-world situations. If you’re having trouble understanding something, ask yourself how these concepts apply to your life. Mind maps and concept maps can help you visualize the connections and lead to meaningful learning, as they force you to re-organize and make sense of the information as part of a bigger picture (rather than isolated concepts and facts). Redo your notes as a diagram or as a concept map.
  • Ask good questions (of yourself and others). Check your thinking by asking questions about what you’re learning. What’s being said? Who is saying it? Why are they saying it? Who else says this? What do I believe? Why do I believe it? What’s missing? Where is the error in this and how can I fix it? Why does another solution work better? Asking good questions helps us solve problems, make thoughtful decisions and think creatively. Adopting this practice can lead to insights that can open up doors in your thinking and improve your learning significantly. More on 5 Habits that will improve how you ask questions!

Create good study habits

  • Check out our toolkits to help you develop good note taking and textbook reading strategies.
  • Most university students can concentrate on studying for about 25-30 minutes, so make sure to keep your study sessions short and sweet and break them up with a 5 minute break period where you do something fun. Studying for a long time doesn't really mean you are studying hard or well.
  • Create a quiet study area free from temptation (stay away from your bed, the TV and the fridge). Study in the same place every time to create a routine, as this will force your brain to go into study mode automatically. This is especially helpful if you face a wall where you won't be distracted by outside sources.
  • Get enough sleep, as being tired will greatly impact your ability to retain information.

The Toolkits

Check out some of our student toolkits to support your learning:

The Links

Videos

Health and Wellness at UBC:

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