Close the book first: retrieval practice for study

The technique

Rereading feels like studying. The words look familiar, so it feels like you know them. But familiar isn’t the same as remembered, and the exam doesn’t hand you the page to look at.

Retrieval practice flips it around. You close the book and bring back what you can: write it down, say it out loud or answer a question you wrote earlier. Then you check what you missed.

What the research found

In a well-known study from 2006, Roediger and Karpicke had students read two short passages. One they read again. For the other they wrote down everything they could remember, with no feedback. After 5 minutes, the reread passage did a little better. After 2 days and after 1 week, the passage they had tested themselves on was remembered better. In a second experiment, the students who only reread expected to remember the most. A week later they remembered the least, which is part of the trap.

A large 2013 review by Dunlosky and colleagues rated 10 common study techniques. Testing yourself was one of only two rated highly useful. Highlighting and rereading were rated low.

Does it work with ADHD?

Most of this research is with students in general. One small study did look. Knouse and colleagues compared 25 university students with ADHD and 75 without, learning word lists. Testing helped both groups by about the same amount 2 days later. It’s one small study, and word lists aren’t a semester of coursework, so treat it as encouraging rather than settled.

There’s also a practical reason it suits ADHD. Rereading has no edges: it’s easy to drift down a page and realise nothing went in. Recall has a clear task and a clear finish. You either got it out or you didn’t, and either way you learn something about where you are.

How to do it

• Pick one small chunk: a lecture, a chapter section or a set of terms.
• Close the book. Write or say everything you remember, in any order.
• Open the book and check. Mark what you missed or got wrong.
• Next time, start with the parts you missed.

Getting stuck is part of it. The effort of reaching for something is what helps it stay.

Try this week

Choose one topic you’ve already read once. Do one recall run with the book closed, then spend 5 minutes checking against your notes. Circle what you missed. That list is next week’s starting point.

A recall run

Choose 15 minutes. Signed in with the full layout, pick the subject under Subject, then type ‘Recall:’ and the topic in What are you working on?, for example ‘Recall: cell biology’. Press Start focus and write what you remember on blank paper.

If your mind wanders off, press I got distracted. That ends the run, and it isn’t a failure: it shows where recall got hard, which is useful to know. Press Start focus again when you’re ready to carry on. Afterwards, take a short break, then choose Custom for a 5-minute run with the book open to check. Topics shows how long your runs on each subject usually last.

Highlighting feels like studying

Highlighting is one of the most common study habits and one of the lowest rated in the 2013 review. It isn’t harmful, but it’s easy to colour a whole page and remember little of it. If you like highlighting, use it to choose what to test yourself on later.