Distributed practice

There are several ways of generating long-term retention. Distributed practice is the most natural way to achieve this. We do not need any additional mnemonic devices: we just need to space our learning sessions intelligently and quiz ourselves.

How does this work? If we want to remember something for years, we need many exposures to the material. Instead of reviewing the same mindmap or flash cards at given periods of time, we can learn the material from different perspectives. This is very effective and time-wise efficient, but we need to do it for a long time. We cannot activate distributed practice three days before exam and hope for the best, we should do what we are typically asked to do: invest a couple of hours every week for 2-3 months to study the material. Suppose we have 4 books about the subject and it takes all in all 12 hours to read these 4 books. If we read all of them in one day, we will probably remember 5% of what we read. This is improved if we use mnemonic devices but only in the range of several days, after a couple of weeks we will still remember nearly nothing. If we read for 15 min each day for 48 days we will also remember very little. It takes us several minutes to remember the context of what we read and why we read it, so distributing the reading too thin will not generate retention. However, if we read 90 min twice a week for a month we will have a relatively good understanding of the material. Below are some key points in distributed practice.

When should we do distributed practice?

Since distributed practice is very effective, we should do it whenever we can. In real life, we seldom have enough time for distributed practice and need to use other methods instead. When we can anticipate what we will learn and when we will study, we can plan the learning schedule. However, quite often we do not even know what we will have to deal with a month from now, and it is impossible to create learning schedule in the environment of high uncertainty. Researching the material from various viewpoints using varying media may to some extent replace distributed practice ensuring varied exposure to the material.

What should a session look like?

The way we learn is very similar to gym practice: we stretch, do 2-3 sets and stretch again.

1. Recall context. At the beginning of each session, we should spend some time remembering what we have previously learned. It helps to have flash cards for the material, or some questions to guide the way we recall. Occasionally we need to reread very fast (prereading speed) what we already learned, so we get the context of our reading.
2. Learning. Then we should have 2-3 sets of learning of ~20 min each separated by short 5-10 min breaks to rest. It is best to take breaks at the end of the reasonable chapters or tasks
3. Summary preparation. At the end, we should prepare a short summary of what we learned, maybe in form of practice questions which we will answer during the next session

How often should we practice?

The sessions should be spaced enough for our long-term memory to work, and yet sufficiently close that we will not forget what we learned. This means that 2-5 times a week would be good enough. It is also possible to have 2-3 sessions per day as long as the brain has enough time to rest between the session, especially if it is possible to nap between sessions.
Students who need to learn a lot tend to sleep less to make more time for practice. The effective approach would be just the opposite, to allow long-term retention of what you learn.

Immersion

If multiple distinct media sources are available for a subject, alternating between these sources can be highly beneficial. This approach, known as distributed practice, involves engaging with various sources instead of sticking with one until completion before moving on to the next. This method is strongly linked to immersion, as each type of media activates different chains of associations and senses, allowing us to engage with the material on multiple levels. Different senses encode the information in diverse ways, fostering dual coding and enhancing long-term retention. Additionally, this approach can reduce fatigue. Therefore, if computer training, reading, and video materials are available on a subject, it is advantageous to use all these media in relatively short sessions rather than focusing on a single form of practice for an extended period.

Context

When we get multiple exposures to the material, we remember different parts of the material in different contexts. By having different contexts with different associations we are less likely to forget the material, and more likely to use it creative in our lives, however, we need to make sure that our understanding is not piece-wise. To this end, we need to make a conscious effort and think how different contexts of the material are connected to each other. The result of this thought process may be a mindmap connecting different contexts, or an example how we can use different contexts to reach a common goal. Typically we can simply practice each skill separately within its own contexts, or all skillset together to solve a set of problems.

Summary

Distributed practice is a learning plan that enables effective coverage of given material. If we can create such a plan, is best to practice with several resources, spending ~90 min a day per resource. This way we generate better understanding and get less tired.

===============
now back to our original programming: the two most effective learning techniques.

What were these two techniques?

1. Distributed practice
2. Practice testing

Distributed practice is simply spreading out your practice sessions over time. So instead of studying five hours straight on the same subject, you study one hour per day, for five days.

Practice testing is simply trying to answer a question without looking at the solution. So that could mean doing a math problem to learn math or answering a flashcard to remember a fact.

Why do these techniques work, and how can you apply this to your own learning?

Why Does Distributed Practice Work?

Distributed practice is so effective because of the spacing effect. This says that spreading exposure to something over multiple sessions, separated in time, will have a better long-term impact on memory. Why might this be the case?

One possible explanation is that, in order to turn into long-term memories, your short-term exposures to information need to be consolidated. Spending more time with the material, but not allowing space between for consolidating the information may mean some of the extra exposure time is wasted.

Another possible explanation may be that, as you start using information, your brain needs to activate the context of memories which it is a part of. This is difficult, and each time you activate this context, you strengthen your ability to do it in the future. Studying in one batch only needs to load the context once, so it doesn’t strengthen as much as having to recall from scratch multiple times.

Whatever the exact explanation turns out to be, however, the reality of the spacing effect in learning science is clear.

How to Apply Distributed Practice

I don’t recommend fragmenting your studying sessions into tiny slivers to maximize the spacing effect. This has the unrelated downside of making focus very difficult to accomplish.

A better way to implement distributed practice is simply to review older units, chapters, tests and classes on a schedule. Don’t make learning the current lesson your only goal. If you devote a little extra time to doing review, those accumulated reviews will make far more impact than a cram session at the end.

Why Does Practice Testing Work?

The explanations for the benefits of practice testing are also numerous. But here I’d like to focus on just one: the difference between recall and recognition.

See, to most people, learning is just learning. If you know something, you should be able to recognize that it’s the right answer as well as be able to recall the answer on your own if someone asks you a question.

However, clever experiments in memory research give evidence that recognition and recall may, in fact, involve different psychological processes. And even if the two processes do share a common mechanism, it’s simply not the case that being able to recognize a piece of knowledge is equivalent to being able to recall it.

Being able to remember something has two parts: first you need to have the knowledge represented in your brain somewhere. But then, crucially, you also need to be able to find it at the right moment.

This second ability is what makes it possible to feel like you know everything on a test but still do dismally. It doesn’t matter if the knowledge is in there “somewhere” if you can’t locate it when you need it.

Practice testing gets around this since it forces you not just to store information, but also to develop strategies to search for it at the correct time.

How to Apply Practice Testing

The best way to apply practice testing is to avoid its opposite: passive learning. Don’t re-read your notes unless you’re searching for the answer to a particular question. Instead, cover up your notes and see if you can reproduce the main ideas and themes without looking at them.

This also means that if you do have access to practice questions, use them! Nothing will serve you better than doing large amounts of practice questions as the foundation to learning a subject.