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Active recall

Hi,

I’ve heard that active recall is really good and I was wondering, did any one purely rely on it for science igcse/gcse in studying/ revising (for example using just flashcards/quizlet)? Did you make any written notes at all?

Thank youuu
For me, writing notes didn't help the content stick in . To understand the content you kinda do need to read it at some point, but to save time I used my revision guide as my sole source of reading material (along with my past essay answers). Reading through my revision guides after lessons, throughout revision period & in lunches before the exams (well mocks for me as I was in the COVID Y11 group!) helped me consolidate stuff.

But for the majority of my revision time, I relied on Active Recall and it really did help (god bless Ali Abdaal and his revision videos for telling me about Anki). I went with Anki (the best flashcard app for me) as it can work offline, so when you're on a long bus journey you don't need to waste time and can use spare time to revise. :wink2:

Grades themselves aren't perfect indicators of whether my approach was the right one, but based purely on my mocks my grade was 8-8 (I did combined science) so I don't think I did too much wrong!

As long as you're doing a fair bit of active recall when revising, writing notes or not won't be the end all be all. Just do what you think is effective for you - if writing notes has worked in the past for you and doesn't waste time, then feel free. :smile:
(edited 3 years ago)
Thank you so much!!! This is really helpful:smile:) I have tried active recall here and there and it has worked! By the way, do you think I have time to make flash cards as I have 2 months left till my exams?
Original post by Ileenileen
Thank you so much!!! This is really helpful:smile:) I have tried active recall here and there and it has worked! By the way, do you think I have time to make flash cards as I have 2 months left till my exams?

No prob! Am happy I could help :smile:

Hmm.... it all depends on how much time each day you have really! If you're making digital flashcards, I recommend you find a digital revision guide and copy and paste chunks from that to speed up the process.

If you come to a point where you're really struggling for time, find a pre made deck on Anki / Quizlet / other flashcard app for your exam board (check the reviews).

Or, use active recall in a different way to flashcards : there's tons of different methods that you can look up.
At one point I did a topic each day, which you might find useful to do. You write down on a scrap piece of paper everything you remember about the topic, then read through that chapter / page of revision guide. Anything you didn't remember note down on your Notes app, if you get time to review that topic again before exams you can focus on the bit you keep forgetting.

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