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📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Make It Stick” by Peter C. Brown.

After a 10-year collaboration with some of the world’s leading experts on human memory, the authors share studies, stories, and results on which memory tactics and strategies actually boost memory and learning.

Here are 3 lessons from the book:

📖

1) The #1 Best Way To Remember More

It turns out that the best way to remember more is to practice remembering.

And one of the most effective and proven tactics to do that is to quiz yourself.

In one experiment, college students studied various scientific topics and then either took an immediate test or restudied the material.

After two days, researchers found that the group that took the initial test recalled 68% of the material, compared to the restudy group which recalled 54%.

A week later, both groups were tested again. The advantage still held with the test group scoring 56% while the restudy group scored 42%.

In 2007, a similar study was done on 8th-grade students.

One group of students was given a short quiz (which didn’t count toward their grade) at the start of the class, before they were taught the lesson, and another quiz at the end of the class.

After three semesters, the students who had not been quizzed averaged a GPA of 79%, whereas the students who had been quizzed averaged a GPA of 92%.

Asking your brain to retrieve information, such as while taking a quiz or test, requires more effort than rereading material and thus leads to stronger results.

Another added benefit of testing yourself is that you get instant feedback on what material you know and where there are gaps in your knowledge.

If you don’t have any practice quizzes or tests, you can create flashcards.

Although testing yourself can seem unappealing, it’s been proven over and over again to be one of the most effective memory strategies.

📖

2) To Cram or Not To Cram

In a 1978 study, researchers found that cramming led to higher scores on an immediate test, but there was a tradeoff–it resulted in faster forgetting.

When researchers tested students two days later, the group that had crammed for the test had forgotten 50% of what they had learned, whereas the group that spent the same time studying but spaced out their learning had forgotten only 13%.

Here’s a vivid example of the importance of spacing out your practice sessions.

This study took 38 surgical residents and had them participate in 4 lessons on a microsurgery of reattaching severed aortas in live rats.

Half of the participants completed all 4 lessons in a single day. The other half took one lesson a week for 4 weeks.

A month later, both groups were tested on what they had learned.

Interestingly, the group that took one lesson every week outperformed their colleagues in all areas–faster surgeries, fewer hand movements, and greater success of completion.

The residents who took all 4 lessons in one day scored lower on all measures, and 16% of them damaged the rats’ vessels beyond repair and were unable to complete their surgeries.

📖

3) How To Improve Your Muscle Memory

Here’s a fascinating experiment conducted with the baseball team of Cal Poly University.

The team was split into two groups, and each player practiced hitting 45 pitches.

The first group practiced hitting pitches that were divided into 3 sets.

For example, the first set would be 15 fastballs, the second set 15 curveballs, and the third set 15 changeups.

The other half of the team also practiced hitting 45 pitches, but the pitches were randomly interspersed.

So it could be a curveball, then a fastball, then another fastball, and so forth.

After 6 weeks of these extra practices, the researchers assessed players from both groups.

Both groups had benefited from the extra practice, but those who had practiced on the randomly interspersed pitches displayed better hitting compared to those who practiced on one type of pitch thrown over and over.

The researchers concluded that although it might feel productive to do the same action over and over again, it requires less effort from your mind.

The baseball players who didn’t know which pitch was coming next had to put in more effort and better simulated a real-life game.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) One of the best ways to remember more of what you learn is to test yourself:

• Create flashcards

• Take practice quizzes or tests

• Close your book and write down everything you’ve learned

2) Cramming can work in the short-term, but leads to faster forgetting:

• If you want to remember a subject for longer, space out your study sessions.

3) If you want to improve your muscle memory, instead of repeating the same movement or drill over and over again, mix up your practice and try to make it as realistic as you can to a real game.

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Alex W.