Active recall and spaced repetition: how to study so it sticks
Rereading and highlighting feel productive but don't work well. Active recall and spaced repetition do. What they are, why they work and how to use them for matric and university exams.
· 3 min read · For high school and university students
Most students study by rereading their notes and highlighting. It feels productive: the material looks familiar, so it feels like you know it. But familiarity isn't the same as being able to remember it in an exam.
Learning research points to two methods that work much better: active recall and spaced repetition. Both are simple, free and work for every subject.
Active recall: test yourself instead of rereading
Active recall means pulling information out of your memory instead of putting it in again. Every time you try to remember something, you make that memory stronger. Psychologists call this the testing effect, and it's one of the most reliable findings in learning research.
How to do it
- Close the book and write down everything you remember about a topic. Then check what you missed.
- Turn headings into questions. "Newton's second law" becomes "What does Newton's second law state, and when does it apply?"
- Use flashcards, with a question on the front and the answer on the back. Say or write the answer before you flip.
- Do practice questions without looking at examples first.
- Explain it out loud as if you were teaching a friend. Where you stumble is where you need to study.
Why it feels harder
Active recall feels harder than rereading, and that's the point. The effort of remembering is what makes it stick. If studying feels easy, you're probably not learning much.
Spaced repetition: review just before you forget
We forget quickly. Without review, much of what you learn today will be gone within days. But each time you review something, you forget it more slowly.
Spaced repetition means reviewing material at increasing intervals: soon after you learn it, then a few days later, then a week later, then a few weeks later. This is called the spacing effect, and it's much more effective than cramming the same amount of study into one night.
A simple schedule
After you learn a topic, review it with active recall:
| Review | When |
|---|---|
| 1st | The next day |
| 2nd | 3 days later |
| 3rd | 1 week later |
| 4th | 2–3 weeks later |
If you get it right easily, you can wait longer before the next review. If you struggle, review it sooner.
Putting them together
The best approach combines both: test yourself, on a spaced schedule.
A study session might look like this:
- Start with review (15 minutes). Quiz yourself on topics that are due for review.
- Learn something new (30–40 minutes). Work through notes and examples, then close them and try questions.
- End with recall (10 minutes). Write down the main ideas from today without notes.
What about cramming?
Cramming can get you through a test tomorrow, but you'll forget most of it soon after. That matters because most subjects build on themselves: Grade 12 maths needs Grade 11 maths, and second-year modules need first-year ones.
If you have limited time before an exam, it's still better to spread your study over several days than to do it all at once.
Making it easier
The hard part of these methods is the setup: writing good questions and keeping track of what to review when.
Qondi can help with that. Upload your notes and it makes study guides with flashcards and practice tests with memos, then quizzes you on what you found hard. It remembers which topics you struggled with, so your next session starts where you need it most.
The short version
- Rereading and highlighting feel productive but don't work well.
- Active recall: close the book and test yourself.
- Spaced repetition: review at growing intervals, not all at once.
- If studying feels hard, that's usually a sign it's working.