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 reviewsEach review gives you another chance to recall it. Over time, you can leave more room between reviews.
An illustration of the pattern, not measured results. Everyone’s timing is different.A fact is better
with a little context.
Three is a number to remember. Two hearts sending blood past the gills, and one sending it around the body, is an explanation you can work with.
Ask why. Compare it with something you know. Explain it in your own words. The useful part of a mind map is thinking through the relationships you draw.
Make room for those connectionsoxygen throughout its body.
Move blood past the gills
to pick up oxygen.
Sends that blood around
the rest of the body.
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.
