What is it?

Forced retrieval is forcing yourself to remember a term, concept, or idea out of thin air.

Why it works

When studying, learners often make the mistake of reading and re-reading their notes.

They do this with the assumption that the information will “stick.” But for reviews to be effective, they have to be forced. This means: you have to force yourself to remember it out of thin air.

Reading and re-reading notes doesn’t force you to remember anything. The information is right in front of you.

Forced retrieval is about creating unique scenarios that force you to remember what you’re learning without the help of notes and resources.

While this is much harder than re-reading notes, it’s far more effective at improving long-term memory. It’s the cognitive strain that you subject your brain to that pushes what you’re learning from short-term to long-term memory.

How to use it

There are two main ways to use forced retrieval:

  1. The notecard method
  2. The Feynman Technique

The Notecard Method

  1. Create a front-back notecard. On the front, write a question, term, or some prompt that will require you to recall what you need to memorize. On the back, write the answer, the definition, or the response to the prompt you wrote on the front. Create a card for every piece of information you need to memorize.
  2. Read the front of the card and force yourself to remember what’s on the back (without looking). If you see a question on the front of the card, verbally state the answer out loud. If you see a term on the front of the card, verbally say the definition out loud. If you have a visual prompt on the front of the card, verbally state the answer that’s on the back of the card. Once you come up with your “final answer,” turn the card over and see if you are right.
  3. Repeat until every card is easy to remember. Repeat this process of reading the front, forcing yourself to recall what’s on the back, and checking if you were right. Do it until every card is easy for you to remember. Then, change the cards up to recall the information from different perspectives or add new ones for new information.

The Feynman Technique

  1. Open a blank document and write the topic or concept at the top of the page. Then, right below, write out an explanation of the topic or concept as if you’re explaining it to a child. Don’t use any notes or reference material. Challenge yourself to go straight through the entire explanation on your own.
    1. If you can make it all the way through, that indicates you have a solid understanding of the topic or concept.
    2. If you can’t, identify where you got stuck and go back to your learning material to review. Repeat this process until you can get through the entire explanation without needing any source material.
  2. You can take this a step further by challenging yourself to create higher-level explanations — for example:
    1. Imagine you’re explaining it to a five-year-old — this will force you to create analogies, use simpler words, and assess your current understanding.
    2. Imagine you’re explaining it to a college freshman — this will allow you to incorporate more detail and higher-level concepts while still maintaining a concise explanation.
    3. Imagine you’re explaining it to an experienced practitioner — this will allow you to use the full range of vocabulary, concepts, and ideas you’ve learned while challenging yourself to maintain sufficient accuracy.