Active recall

Instead of writing things down, just say it out loud. It saves time.

Incrementally increase the amount of content you write down / say out loud. Firstly cover up one page and recall it. Secondly, cover up two pages. Then try to recall the whole chapter without looking. Do that until you can recall all of the content you're gonna be tested on without looking.

What's more efficient is to layer learning. Check out Justin Sung's YouTube channel or Elizabeth Filip's How to Study videos.

Hope this helps. This is just what works for me.

I can’t remember better if I write it down instead of saying it out loud and I also like to use the blurting technique so before I start revising I write everything down that I have learnt.

Instead of writing things down, just say it out loud. It saves time.

Incrementally increase the amount of content you write down / say out loud. Firstly cover up one page and recall it. Secondly, cover up two pages. Then try to recall the whole chapter without looking. Do that until you can recall all of the content you're gonna be tested on without looking.

What's more efficient is to layer learning. Check out Justin Sung's YouTube channel or Elizabeth Filip's How to Study videos.

Hope this helps. This is just what works for me.

I can’t remember better if I write it down instead of saying it out loud and I also like to use the blurting technique so before I start revising I write everything down that I have learnt

What is layer learning

I have got a question on what I should do so I am doing GCSEs biology revising and after revising one topic should I do flashcards and quizzes or as I am going through each topic I should do flashcards and quizzes

Oh right, yes, writing does aid memory and blurting is a good tool to assess your gaps in knowledge. You might already do this but saying the content out loud while writing it out might help memory even more, since you're hearing and seeing the words at the same time.


Ah I should've asked what exams you were doing. Dw about layering if it's GCSE, but it might be something to consider for A-levels. It's just a revision method for when you have a lot of content, but I think GCSE isn't content-heavy enough to make it that worthwhile.


Depends on the difficulty. For efficiency, definitely do it after the topic. If you find the topic harder, do them throughout.

Ok thank you do you know how I can also improve I’m exam technique

What grades are you currently getting, or what marks?

How are ways I can interpret active recall into my revision. So let’s say I read through a textbook and then I close it and write as much of the information ast I can remember and then open the book up again and see what I can remember and what I have missed and then read again and write as much as I can remember and do this until I can write all of the information don without looking at the textbook

All 3 and few 4s