Learning takes
more than
reading.
You can know a page almost by heart and still draw a blank when you need it. What you do after reading makes a difference.
Try a little experimentAn octopus has
three hearts.
Keep that in mind.
We’ll come back to it.
Close the notes.
Find the answer.
Rereading can make an answer feel familiar. Trying to recall it asks something different of you: can you bring it back without looking?
Research finds that practising retrieval can help you remember more later than spending the same time rereading. Check the answer afterwards, especially when you’re unsure.
This is what flashcards are forHow many hearts does an octopus have?
Try it without looking back.
Give it some time.
Then come back.
New information tends to get harder to recall with time. Spreading your practice across several sessions helps it last longer than doing all your practice at once.
You don’t need to work out every interval yourself. Mnemo uses FSRS to schedule your flashcards around how well you remember them.
How Mnemo schedules reviewsSuccessful recalls push the next review further out.
A fact is better
with a little context.
An octopus has three hearts. Two sit beside the gills and move blood through them. The third takes the oxygenated blood and sends it around the body.
The number is easier to remember once it has a reason behind it. You are not just memorising “three”. You are remembering the circulation.
Back in
your notes.
A question you couldn’t answer is a useful place to start. Go back, fill in the gap, and write an explanation that makes sense to you.
Mnemo gives your notes, flashcards, and mind maps a home together, so each can be part of the same study session.
Take a look inside MnemoEnough for today.
Learning carries on after you close the laptop. During sleep, your brain helps stabilise and integrate what you’ve learned.
Leave some room for that part, too.
A little further reading.
The research that informs how we think about studying in Mnemo, if you’d like to go a little deeper.
The studies behind this page
- RecallingTest-enhanced learningRoediger & Karpicke, 2006
- SpacingDistributed practice in verbal recall tasksCepeda et al., 2006
- ForgettingReplication and analysis of Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curveMurre & Dros, 2015
- UnderstandingImproving students’ learning with effective learning techniquesDunlosky et al., 2013
- SleepAbout sleep’s role in memoryRasch & Born, 2013
- And the octopusEight ways octopuses keep surprising usNatural History Museum
On to the next
thing you’ll learn.
A subject you love. An exam coming up.
There’s room for it in Mnemo.
