Back to blogStudy Tips

Five active recall techniques that outperform rereading

March 5, 20266 min readBy Student Success
Handwriting study notes with textbooks nearby.
Photo: Unsplash

If your study routine is mostly highlighting and rereading, these five techniques will improve recall without extending your schedule.

Key Takeaways

  • Use closed-book prompts for key definitions and mechanisms.
  • Generate exam-style questions from lecture objectives.
  • Teach the concept aloud in plain language to expose gaps.

Recall first, notes second

Start every session by recalling what you remember before opening notes. This reveals weak areas immediately and makes revision targeted.

Even two minutes of retrieval before review increases attention and encoding quality.

Use mixed prompt types

Combine short-answer, comparison, and application prompts in one set. This trains flexible understanding rather than memorizing one format.

For quantitative subjects, alternate conceptual prompts with one worked example from memory.