Revision strategy 3: talk about it!

Surprisingly, one of the simplest but most powerful memory techniques that students can use is as simple as just talking through the ideas they want to try and commit to memory. This simple strategy is supported by psychological research into what is termed  the ‘production effect’ which has shown that talking through important ideas or even just reading them aloud can make the ideas stand out in the brain and potentially be easier to recall from memory when needed in an exam! When we verbalise key ideas we are engaging multiple senses- vision, speech, hearing and this has been shown to strengthen neural connections which therefore enhances memory. Having verbalised information it also becomes easier to recall since the memory of having said it aloud will provide an extra cue that the brain can use for retrieval.

To put this into practice try asking your child to read all information about a topic they are findingtricky to understand to you as if they are a teacher. This could not only help them boost their memory by harnessing the power of the production effect but also help them check their understanding. They could even pretend to be a podcaster or a TV presenter and record themselves explaining key content. When I was a teenager this is actually how I used to revise. Long before I had any real understsanding of the science of learning I used to record myself reading out my history notes in an American accent and it really did help it stick! 

This is super simple strategy but it really does work so encourage your young person to perhaps extend the ways they usually revise and give it a try!