The Read And Recall Technique - Learn Everything You Study, by Tom Watchman on YouTube. 26 min 37 s.
- Video length
- 26 min 37 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Pick one short section of your textbook, such as a single heading or a couple of pages. Keep it small enough to finish in a few minutes.
Read the section once, slowly and actively. Pay attention to definitions, lists and anything the book highlights.
Close the book or look away. Without checking, write down everything you can remember from that section on your paper.
Open the book and compare your notes to the text. Mark what you missed and what you got wrong.
Re-read only the parts you missed, then close the book and write those points again from memory.
Repeat the cycle with the next short section. Work through the chapter in small chunks rather than all at once.
At the end of the chapter, put the book away and write a summary of the whole chapter from memory.
Check your summary against the book and note any gaps to review the next day.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep each chunk small, because trying to recall too much at once makes the method slow and frustrating.
Write your recall from memory first and check the book afterwards, or you lose the benefit of testing yourself.
Review the gaps you found the next day so the material stays in memory.
Do not just re-read and highlight, since that feels productive but does little to test your memory.
Questions
How long should each read and recall chunk be?
Keep it to a single heading or a couple of pages. Short chunks make recall easier and let you spot gaps quickly.
Do I need to write my recall down?
Writing it down is best because it shows exactly what you remember. Saying it out loud also works if you have no paper.
How often should I repeat the recall?
Run the cycle for each section as you read, then do a full chapter recall at the end and again the next day.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
