How should you revise to maximise your chances of recall in an exam?
Give research findings to support the points made.
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/revise.htm

"Before looking at how memory can be used to maximise chances of recall in an exam, it may be interesting to look at already existing memory aids which are used spontaneously by students at different levels of education

This was invetigated in a study by M.J. Soler and J.C Ruiz (1996) who found that students have a greater preference for external aids (such as written notes, diaries etc.), over formal memory aids.

Harris (1980) also found that external aids were used more than mnemonics when a study of memory aids was conducted.

Park et al. (1990) gave the explanation that this occurred because formal memory aids required careful learning which was not common in everyday life. This was not the only explanation, however, as students who already had knowledge of formal mnemonics still did not use them more than other students and so difficulty in using them provided an alternative explanation.

Of the students who did use formal mnemonics, verbal was the most commonly used and images the least.
The study also found that general memory strategies, which can also be considered to be 'normal memory functions' because no special training is need, such as short-term recognition and mental rehearsal, were the most commonly used memory aids at all levels of education.

This was the most common strategy because of the minimal cognitive effort involved but it may not necessarily be the best to maximise chances of recall in an exam. Although this particular study looked at methods which students spontaneously used, there was no indication as to whether they were  successful students and so it could not be deduced as to whether the most commonly used strategy was the best.

Ways to enhance the retention of medical instructions for patients were explored in studies by Ley (1972) who presented the most important instructions and advice first and subsequently found that retention was improved. This idea is an example of primacy effect  (NL) where material that is presented first is recalled the most.

In another study by Ley, Bradshaw, Eaves and Walker (1973), recall was improved by 42% when statements were given to patients using definite categories, which supported existing evidence that semantic categorisation improves memory.

There was also an improvement in recall when specific rather than general statements were given (Bradshaw et al. 1975). These results can be manipulated during revision by revising
the most important (or most difficult) subjects first, organising work into definite semantic categories and by writing specific rather than general notes.

As seen above, the organisation of material is important for memory ability. When subjects were left to learn 16 unrelated words in any order they wished, the more subjective the organisation of the words, the better the recall (Tulving 1962, 1964,1968b). When the experimenter prompted a group about how words were to be organised in a study by Mandler and Pearlstone (1966), and recall was compared with a group who organised their own words, then both groups did equally well, which suggests that it is simply the fact that organisation is present that improves recall. For both groups, recall also improved the more categories used.

In another study by Pollio and Gerow (1968), the importance of using categories both during learning (storage) and at recall (retrieval) was shown when one group of subjects received names of categories of 25 words and were told that each word fitted into one of the five categories, another were told this information just before recall and the final group were not cued at all. The first two groups showed no significant difference in what was recalled and both recalled more than the third group which received no cueing.

Retrieval cues such as categories, therefore, can be helpful both during leaning and at recall to call up
something that has been learnt but not spontaneously remembered.

Formal mnemonics, although found to be the least favourite memory aid in the study by M.J Soler and J.C Ruiz, proved to be effective both in a conventional classroom setting and in private learning for
undergraduates learning medical terminology using the keyword memory technique in a study by
Troutt-Ervin, Eileen,D (1990). For as long as 8 weeks, students scored significantly higher in assessments using sound-alikes(keywords) and visual images than the traditional methods. The method used was a type of elaborate coding where words are linked to something already known, ie pegword mnemonics, where once the rhyming concrete pegwords are learnt, images of them are formed which can then be imagined to interact with each other in a sequence. This method is useful for learning lists of words which may or may not be useful in revision. If revision required learning vocabulary then the visual-spatial imagery mnemonic has been demonstrated to be a good technique for this in studies by Sweeney and Beliezza (1992).

Students learning the meaning of abstract words were either given the meaning of the word and its use in context or given its meaning and a linking word where visual imagery was used to imagine the linking word performing the meaning of the word. Using the visual imagery mnemonic, 59% was the mean performance of subjects compared to a 14% mean performance of subjects using the other method.

Visual memory can be shown to be fairly impressive when looking at studies such as Goldstein and Chance (1971) who used three different tests; photographs of women's faces, photographs of magnified snowflakes, and ink blots. 14 from each were shown for 3 seconds per stimulus and after 48 hours recall was tested. The results were all significantly above the 14% detection rate that is expected by chance being 71% for faces, 48% for ink blots and 33% for snowflakes. It would seem, then, that using visual imagery can improve retention. Lapadat, Judith,C, Martin, Jack (1994), for example, studied students' retention of declarative and episodic information from regularly scheduled lectures and their preferences for imagery or verbal methods.

A. Pavio's (1986) dual coding theory predicted that using elaborate images during lectures would help the recall of episodic and declarative information and this prediction was supported by the results from the study.

Although it is clear that the instruction to use visual imagery aids memory, there has been some argument as to whether literal visual images are used or some abstract representation.

In contrast to the elaboration of words to help memory, reduction coding mnemonics reduce the information so that first letters of words are used to make an acronym, a famous one being the colours of the rainbow; 'ROYGBIV'.According to Craik and Lockhart (1972) the deeper the level of processing, the longer the storage so by using mnemonics for revision, the information is processed more deeply than when using general strategies and so retention is increased which in turn provides abetter chance of recall in an exam.

Another aspect which has an effect on levels of recall is the context in which the learning has taken place. This is called the context dependency effect and is when recall is impaired when the environment becomes dramatically different. Godden and Baddeley (1975) demonstrated this effect when doing a study on the memory capacity of deep sea divers. The subjects learnt words either on the beach or 15 feet below water and recalled them in either environment. If learning and recall happened in the same environment, these subjects remembered about 40% more than the subjects who, for example, learnt the words in the water but recalled them on the beach. Context dependency involves external cues in the environment while state dependency involves internal cues such as the physiological state of the subject. Goodwin et al. (1969) found that in memory tasks where subjects had learnt the material whilst drunk, they would recall better when drunk than when sober and vice-versa. Therefore, the nearer the place of revision and the mood of the person to the actual exam situation, the more chance of better recall.

In conclusion, in order to gain the best chance of recall in an exam, the organisation of material, preferably using as many categories as possible, and the use of retrieval cues are important during revision and also at the time of the actual exam. Also to gain the best advantage, revising in an exam-like environment with a consistent frame of mind may help. Techniques which involve deep levels of processing like formal mnemonics, especially ones that require visual imagery, would aid retention so improving chances of recall when it came to the exam.

References
NL_TI_Baddeley A      NL_University Lectures and Memory
Baddeley, A, (1990)
Human Memory: Theory and Practice East Sussex, Laurence Erlbaum Associates
Cited in Baddeley (1990):
Bradshaw et al. (1975)
Goldstein and Chance (1971)
Goodwin et al. (1969)
Harris (1980)
Ley (1972)
Ley, Bradshaw, Eaves and Walker (1973)
Sweeney and Bellezza (1982)

Craik, F.M and Lockhart, R.S (1972)
Levels of processing: a framework for memory research
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour 11, 671-684

Lapadat, Judith, C, Martin, Jack (1994)
The Role of Episodic Memory in Learning From University Lectures
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 19, 266-285.

Cited in Lapadat & al.:
Paivio, A (1986).

Soler, M.J and Ruiz, J.C (1996)
Spontaneous use of Memory Aids at Different Levels of education
Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 41-51

Cited in Soler, M.J and Ruiz, J.C (1996):
Park et al. (1990)

Troutt-Ervin, Eileen,D (1990)
Application of Keyword Mnemonics to Learning Terminology in a College Classroom
Journal of Experimental Education, 59, 31-41

Wingfield,A and Byrnes, D.L, (1981)
The Psychology of Human Memory
London, Academic Press

Cited in Wingfield and Byrnes:
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
Pearlstone (1966)
Pollio and Gerow (1968)
Tulving (1962, 1964, 1968b)  "


See the full original:  http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/revise.htm

"Essay on Exam Revision:
This is very good. It consistently makes links between research and suggestions for revision
techniques - which is what the title asks for. There are a few other areas that could be developed (any
ideas?).
The strongest points are answering the question, rather than just talking about 'mnemonics', for
example; and showing evidence of thorough reading, including up-to-date journal articles.
I've altered the referencing from the original (which was excellent, but long-winded), to group all the
secondary references (things you haven't read mentioned in sources you have read) together. There
is no 'official' way to do secondary references, but we think the style used here is appropriate.

This was rated 'excellent' on the assessment criteria Answering the Question, Depth and
Scholarship, and Referencing, and between 'good' and 'excellent' on Brevity and Clarity
It got a first-class mark overall. "
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/comm.htm#revise

See also
NL_TI_Everyday memory ALL
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/site.htm
http://www-psychology.unimaas.nl/Base/research/Everyday%20memoryuk.htm
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/soc/bscpsych/memory/w6.htm

Memory and Remembering : Everyday Memory in Context  AZ
by John A. Groeger  NL_John A. Groeger
Paperback - 302 pages (October 1997) Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0582292204
http://www.omega23.com/books/b/si_memory.html

Encyclopedia of Learning and Memory by Larry R. Squire (Editor)
Our Price: $134.95
Hardcover - 678 pages (December 1996)
MacMillan Library Reference; ISBN: 0028974085

EVALUATION OF INNOVATION
Prof A.H. Johnstone  Centre for Science Education, University of Glasgow
http://science.ntu.ac.uk/chph/improve/johnston.html