Most people, including me, do not enjoy practice - even when practicing something they really want to learn. For me, that would be guitar and golf. However, reality (and research) suggest there is no other way to learn how to do something well without practicing it. Thus, it makes sense that we practice using strategies that are the most effective for remembering - both what we just learned---short-term memory and what we learned weeks ago or longer-- long-term memory. Unfortunately, many of the practice methods we learned in our youth are not the most effective. In my last entry, I briefly introduced four effective practice strategies. The first one and the topic of this entry is Distributed Practice (DP).

Distributed Practice is the process of practicing for short sessions that are spaced out over time.  This is in contrast to the often-used strategy of Massed Practice (MP) where content is practiced in one long session, either immediately after learning something new or right before an exam (i.e., cramming).  Research comparing Distributed Practice and Massed Practice has shown that Mass Practice is more effective for Short-term Memory (as in 1-2 days), however, Distributed Practice is twice as effective than Massed Practice for Long-Term Memory – sometimes up to several years!  Keep in mind you do you don’t have to study any longer when using Distributed Practice to get the added bonus of remembering things longer!

To further illustrate what Distributed Practice “looks” like, you can watch the video above. The Distributed Practice process starts after you have learned to perform the skill with pretty good accuracy.  Sometimes it might help to do a Mass Practice session (e.g., about 30 minutes).  After that, you wait a week and then practice for 10 minutes and repeat a couple more times until about a week before the exam/quiz.  Remember, this is an example.  How many distributed practice sessions and the length of time between them will depend on the length of time until you want to be accurate and fluent in the skill.  Some suggest the length of time between sessions should be about 20% of the time between initial learning and when you will be assessed.  For example, if you have 20 days until an exam, your sessions will be about four days apart.

So, why does Distributed Practice work?  The answer is in the title of this entry: “Forgetting helps Remembering.”  Basically, because there is the time between practice sessions you will probably forget a little bit of what is being studied.  This will require you to figure out/think about what you did incorrectly or struggled with, and fix it.  This process helps you better remember and understand what you studied.  Typically, the mistakes will continue decreasing as you move from session to session.

BRAIN TIP: Delaying re-exposure to content will result in some forgetting.  When your brain has to work hard to recreate the ‘lost’ information, it makes for accurate and longer-lasting retention.  Conversely, when you do ‘easier’ study techniques such as re-reading or highlighting it feels like you are learning more.  The ‘harder’ activity feels like you are not learning more. The opposite is true.  Don’t be fooled.  Yes, it is difficult but it is the difficulty that makes it more effective. This is Part 1 in a five-part series. You can find the introduction to the series, Making it Stick to Memory here.