Read, close, recall: a short study exercise

Give your reading a small job

Choose a short section you want to learn. Read it, close or cover it, and write or say what you remember in your own words. Then reopen it and check. This is retrieval practice: trying to bring information to mind when the source is out of sight.

The point of this exercise is to produce something you can compare with the text. A blank, a doubtful detail and a confident mistake all give you a specific place to return to. You need no timer or score.

Try the sequence on any short section

• Read for meaning. Choose a paragraph or a small section with a clear purpose. If you cannot follow it while it is open, clarify the vocabulary or argument first.
• Close or cover the source. Explain the main idea, then add the details that matter. Use a few sentences, a sketch with labels, or a spoken explanation. Copying the visible text is a different activity.
• Mark uncertainty. Write “I think…” or “I cannot remember…” instead of filling a gap with an invented fact. Keep your first attempt long enough to compare it.
• Check and correct. Reopen the source. Identify what was accurate, what was missing and what needs changing. Write the correction beside the original attempt, including the condition or exception you overlooked.
• Return later if the material matters. At another study session, try recalling it before reopening it. Choose a manageable opportunity in your schedule; this exercise does not prescribe a best interval.

What the research supports

In Roediger and Karpicke’s 2006 experiments with university students learning prose passages, recall practice led to better retention than repeated study on tests after two days or one week. Repeated study did better at five minutes. Those results do not establish one best routine for every text, learner or deadline. The exercise below is Coru’s practical adaptation; its effect on your learning has not been measured.

Practice text: The North Hall game shelf

This notice and the game shelf are invented by Coru for this exercise. Read the notice once with attention. Then cover it or scroll it out of view before answering the questions.

The North Hall game shelf lends board games to local residents. Each person may borrow one game for seven days. The loan desk opens on Thursdays from 17:00 to 19:00. When a game is returned, a volunteer counts its pieces at the desk while the borrower is present. Any missing pieces are recorded before the game is lent out again.

Recall before you check

First give a brief explanation of the notice without looking. Then answer these questions, still without the notice. A spoken answer is fine. Stop before the next section until you have made your attempt.

• 1. How many games may one person borrow at a time?
• 2. How long is the loan?
• 3. On what day and at what times does the loan desk open?
• 4. When a game is returned, where are its pieces counted, and who must be present?
• 5. What must happen before a game with missing pieces is lent out again?
• 6. Does the notice say whether a borrower can renew a loan?

Check against these answers

Reopen the notice too: these answers are a guide to its meaning, not wording you must reproduce exactly.

• 1. One game per person.
• 2. Seven days.
• 3. Thursdays, from 17:00 to 19:00.
• 4. At the desk, with the borrower present. A volunteer counts the pieces.
• 5. The missing pieces must be recorded before the game is lent out again. The notice gives no further procedure for incomplete games.
• 6. It does not say. No renewal policy is given. “Renewals are allowed” and “renewals are forbidden” would both add information.

Turn a difference into a correction

Suppose your first answer was “Friday, 17:00–19:00”. Keep the useful part and correct the day: “The times were right; the desk opens on Thursday.” If you left out the borrower’s presence, add that condition. If you guessed a renewal rule, replace it with “Not stated; I would need to ask.”

Do not turn the number of matching answers into a judgment about your memory ability. This is one short, invented text. Check the source itself too when studying real material: recalling a claim accurately does not establish that the claim is true.

A four-line note to reuse

Keep the source reference so you can find the exact section again. Fill the recall and uncertainty lines with the source closed, then complete the correction after checking.

• Source and section: ___.
• From memory, in my words: ___.
• Uncertain or missing: ___.
• Checked correction and a question for next time: ___.

For a text about concepts

Replace the notice questions with three prompts: What is the central idea? How does it connect to another idea in this section? Can I make an example and explain why it fits? Try them with the text closed, then check both your explanation and your example.

Label an example you invented as your own. If the source does not settle whether it fits, leave that question open and find further explanation. For procedures, also check the order of steps and their conditions. Choose prompts that match what you need to use, rather than remembering every sentence.

Sources & further reading

• Roediger and Karpicke (2006) — Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention