Study Mistake 4: Not Testing Your Understanding

How to self-test correctly to reinforce your learning

This is part 4 of the series: “The 6-Step Approach to Perfect Grades and Effective Learning.” Here’s part 3.

Photo by Ethan Medrano on Unsplash

We all know learning requires serious effort. We mentally prepare ourselves beforehand. During every study session, we work hard and put in several hours of work. I remember multiple long study sessions during high school and college, interrupted only by bathroom breaks and short trips to get food and water. A lot of learners are very proud of our efforts. Nobody can question our determination. But there’s a problem.

Our brains are not computers — putting in more study hours doesn’t necessarily lead to better results.

Learning new information doesn’t automatically mean we’ve understood all of it, or that we’ll remember the ideas when needed. Sometimes, we retain 80% of the ideas. If the material is very new, maybe we learn only 5%. How can we be certain about what we’ve learned?

This is why self-testing is one of the most important steps in every learning program. It’s the only way to ensure our study hours are not wasted effort.

Imagine a mechanic fixed your car’s brakes, but then told you they didn’t check the brakes actually work correctly. You wouldn’t get into that car, would you? So why don’t we double check our learning in the same way? If you need to deeply understand concepts for your job, or to pass an exam, self-testing gives you the best chance of success by ensuring you’ve learned as well as you can.

Some learners don’t self-test. Of those that do, some make a subtle but serious mistake: they don’t self-test in the right way.

In this article, we’ll discuss my favorite techniques to self-test effectively.

Use practice tests wisely

Practice tests are a common self-testing method used by students everywhere, especially those about to sit for an exam.

One helpful way to prepare is to do practice exams in a way that closely matches the exam environment: a quiet room, no distractions, using only the allowed materials, same time limit, and so on. Such a practice exam is often called a “mock exam”, as it mocks or copies a real exam situation as much as possible.

Mock exams are helpful because they help you practice the rhythm of test taking, including maintaining focus for the full test duration, and working at an appropriate pace to complete the exam on time.

A common mistake I’ve seen students make is doing mock exams whose format is different from the actual exam. A mock exam is most beneficial if it forces your brain to retrieve information in the same way as during the actual exam. For instance: if your actual exam will require writing an essay based on a prompt, you won’t get much preparation from a mock exam involving multiple choice questions.

Prefer recall over recognition

Recall and recognition are two different mechanisms by which we retrieve information from our brains. Recognition involves seeing a solution and recognizing it as correct, whereas recall involves recreating the answer from scratch, without any prompts, hints or clues.

Remember that our brains don’t like effortful thinking, and are always searching for shortcuts to avoid work. Recognition feels easier because a lot of the “work” has already been done for you, and so our brains prefer recognition over recall.

However, using recall is better for both your learning and retention.

If I asked you to draw and fully label a human heart from scratch (i.e. using recall), you’d need to concentrate to retrieve all relevant details from your brain, and put them together correctly. The task would feel like hard work.

However, if I showed you an image of a heart and asked if it was correctly labeled (i.e. using recognition), you’d be able to answer with less mental effort, because the image provides multiple hints, and contains details that fill gaps in your knowledge.

This is why studying via recognition is a classic learning shortcut, and why I strongly recommend against it. Learning by recognition leads to overconfidence in your understanding, which will hurt you in the long run.

Tips on using Recall

To avoid falling into the “recognition” trap, limit the information you expose yourself to when self-testing. Don’t give your brain any hints of the solution you’re trying to recreate. For example:

1. Use the Feynman technique: test your understanding using the Feynman technique. It is a great way to consolidate your learning using recall.
2. Modify multiple-choice tests: First complete a multiple-choice test without referring to the multiple-choice answers. Why? Because the choices trigger recognition of relevant ideas and “nudge” you toward the correct answer. Don’t rely on these nudges as they might not always be available. After the first pass, you can repeat the test in the normal way.

Expose yourself to different perspectives

Deepen your learning by exposing yourself to the same material from different perspectives. For example:

1. Find other classes discussing the same topic. Different classes usually present different angles. Maybe one class discusses the industrial revolution from the perspective of scientific advances, while another class considers its effect on society (factory work, population changes, etc).
2. Review homework problems from a different class. The problems will encourage you to consider different aspects and view the material differently.
3. Review a topic using notes from different teachers. Each teacher might emphasize different concepts, or give homework problems that test different ideas.
4. Discuss content with colleagues. We each have different backgrounds and life experiences, so we learn the same ideas differently. Discuss a topic with a co-worker or classmate, and you’ll notice they interpret concepts differently, or they have a better grasp of an area you’re unsure about. These discussions benefit both parties, make learning more fun, and deepen your relationships.
5. Review online materials. Online writers have a very specific viewpoint, which may differ from your perspective. For example, you might read a blog that disagrees with your textbook’s interpretation of events. This will lead to a more nuanced understanding of your subject.

Create your own questions

While learning, you’ll typically engage with the same material multiple times and become very familiar with it. You’ll quickly get a sense for areas you understand deeply, and areas you still have gaps to fill.

So you’re in a great position to test your own understanding by creating your own questions. For example:

• Why is this conclusion true? What are best arguments I can make for and against it?
• How are ideas A and B related? Which other ideas have the same relationship?
• Why is this interpretation of concept A wrong? How would I correct someone with this inaccurate understanding?
• What are the building blocks of this idea? What assumptions would need to change for this idea to be wrong?

Don’t be afraid to ask basic questions, and test yourself on ideas that seem “obvious”. First, a lot of misunderstanding hides behind things we think are obvious. Second, what’s obvious to you might be unclear for someone else.

Ask yourself questions repeatedly. Be curious. You know where your understanding is not solid. You know which ideas make your brain flinch with uncertainty. Be brave and go to those uncomfortable places. It’s better to find gaps in your understanding while self-testing, instead of during a final exam or a presentation to your vice president.

As you repeatedly self-test, you’ll grow comfortable with acknowledging your knowledge gaps. You’ll learn to search for answers with curiosity and excitement, instead of fear and insecurity. Soon, each learning step will fill you with optimism and satisfaction.

Solidify your understanding

Let’s say your self-testing reveals a gap in understanding. What should you do? Here are the steps I follow.

Identify knowledge gaps

Your first goal should be to determine the source of your misunderstanding. Perhaps you’ve forgotten an important fact. Maybe you’ve drawn the wrong conclusion from the study material.

If you’re having trouble resolving the issue yourself, use other resources available to you. This can be your lecturer, co-workers, teaching assistants, or resources on the Internet.

If you’re stuck on an idea, learning via a different medium can often be helpful. For example, if you’ve been relying only on your textbook, watch a YouTube video instead. If you’ve been watching lecture videos, discuss the ideas with a colleague.

How will you know you fully understand the idea?

• You’ll be able to explain the idea in your own words, without any jargon
• You’ll also be able to use the idea to effectively solve problems
• You’ll understand the idea so well that it sounds obvious

Be patient. Clarifying your understanding can take 2 minutes, or it might take several days. Don’t give up. Filling knowledge gaps early and often establishes a strong foundation, and makes it much easier to build on your knowledge in future. Trust me, it’s a worthwhile investment.

Record tricky ideas

After identifying and resolving your knowledge gaps, note down the idea you had trouble with. This can be in your notebook, or in a separate location.

The note should be brief, with just enough detail to help you remember the idea when you refer to it later.

Revisit tricky ideas in your next session

During your next study session, start by self-testing on the tricky ideas you recorded in previous sessions. Why should you start with these ideas? Because your focus is at its peak at the start of a study session, and you’ll get the most benefit from solidifying ideas you understand the least.

If your self-testing shows you understand the tricky idea, remove it from your list. If you still had some difficulties, leave the idea in your list, and again try to clarify your understanding.

Over time, your “tricky idea” notebook will show your progress: you’ll see a long list of previously tricky ideas that you now understand deeply. This is a sign that you are approaching mastery, so congratulate yourself!

Putting it all together:

• Self-testing is the only way to verify you’re deeply learning the material. Self-test early and often.
• Don’t allow your brain to take shortcuts. Aim for 100% recall, instead of recognition.
• Review content from multiple perspectives. This approach deepens your understanding and helps you connect different related ideas.
• Be your own knowledge skeptic. Regularly ask yourself questions to verify your knowledge. Obvious questions are particularly good at revealing hidden knowledge gaps.
• Aim to clarify your understanding as soon as you can. Filling in gaps ensures your knowledge is built on a solid foundation.

Here’s the next post in the series: Study Mistake 5: Not reviewing material often enough.