Using practice tests as a teaching tool has been criticized for emphasizing memorization over reasoning and for being narrowly focused on knowledge goals rather than the learning process. No doubt practice tests can be misused, overused, or poorly designed.  But they are also one of the most effective ways to reinforce knowledge and improve our ability to think about that knowledge.

Various studies have found that retrieval practice beats other methods of learning. For instance, in one study, two groups of students read a text for about 5 minutes. After reading the passage, one group had to write down everything they remembered, reread it and then write down everything they could remember again. The other group drew conceptual maps after reading the passage, organizing the information, making connections and forming ideas about the material. A week later the two groups were evaluated on what they had retained from the reading. Unsurprisingly, the retrieval practice group recalled more of what they had read than the conceptual mappers– but they also demonstrated superior conceptual understanding of the material. Besides that irony, when queried the week before, the retrieval practice group had been less optimistic than the conceptual mappers about how they would do on the evaluation.

 How to explain these effects? Here are some possibilities:

1.     Accessing memory strengthens memory of the thing accessed

2.     The more accessed, the more robust the memory (up to a point, of course)

3.     Knowledge triggers thinking about knowledge

4.     Lack of confidence puts in play cognitive processes that improve memory and understanding

Next: the downside of optimism

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html  Accessed on 12/6/16

J. D. Karpicke, J. R. Blunt Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping Published Online20 Jan 2011  DOI: 10.1126/science.1199327

M. Smith, V. A. Floerke, A. K. Thomas. Retrieval practice protects memory against acute stress. Science, 2016; 354 (6315): 1046 DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5067