Life Fright

So this book is a doozy. If you thought that you were adept at memorizing and learning new concepts just because you had the grades to back it up like I did at the start of the book, well let me tell you. This book pulls no punches in breaking down the assumptions of why the common methods of rereading and those late-night cramming sessions are ineffective ways to cement new skills and concepts for the long term. It may have served you (and me!) for next day exams, but the recall over the time definitely did extinguish rather rapidly in my experience. This is in effect, bolsters our short-term memory skills when we really should be aiming for strengthening long-term memory for better use of our time and for future application.

Make It Stick is a research-backed book where proven approaches build up upon each other to give readers the best set up and techniques to retain knowledge and study more effectively. One of the eye-opening methods mentioned was jotting down what you recall as well as questions to answer about material upon reviewing it. This is definitely more labor intensive than simply rereading the text, but it bolsters the retrieval process which ultimately achieves the task of making it into the long-term memory bank.

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