Testing Effect : Relationship Between Testing And Recalled Information

One of the main controversial disputes regarding education is if test taking is actually a beneficial form of a learning technique for students. Within the context of Henry L. Roediger III’s article, How Tests Make Us Smarter, Roediger goes into depth upon how giving students “low-stakes quizzes” could help improve their memory as well as consistent and spread out practice. Psychology In Action, written by both Karen Huffman and Katherine Dowdell, also restates similar learning techniques within their first chapter.

In the section “Tips from the Science of Memory-for Studying and for Life”, found in our textbook, “Experience Psychology”, the Arthur Laura A. King discusses the importance of study habits. She addresses the skills needed to turn short-term memory into long-term memory through organizing, encoding, rehearsing and retrieving the information we study and memorize. “No matter what the model of memory you use, you can sharpen your memory by thinking deeply about the “material” of life and connecting the information to other things you know.” (King. 2013).

McGuire and MacDonald (2009) hypothesized that the number of attempts and high scoring on quizzes are positively correlated. They also made the prediction that if an incentive (in this case, extra credit) were to be offered during the first five days that the quiz is available, then there would be more quiz attempts within those first five days. McGuire and MacDonald (2009) also predicted that taking the quiz while extra credit is offered (within the first five days) would produce a larger number of total attempts on the quiz. Additionally, they formed a hypothesis predicting that higher quiz grades would result from taking the quiz while extra credit is

Tests are a core part of school life. They act as benchmarks for students, allowing them to understand how much of the course

The results found that when retested at a later date, the participants who were tested, did far better than those who were only tested once. For the final test after all sets, the group that was consistently tested got

“Testing makes perfect, finds memory retrieval research” by The American Psychological Association informs the reader that rigorous testing may contribute to higher scores as opposed to the repetition of studying. In the research provided by the article, 4 groups of students were formed and only one group constantly tested Swahili-English words. A week later the same students were tested again and the group of constant studying scored and 80%, while the other

The article “More Testing More Learning,” by Patrick O’Malley, discusses that students get anxious about a big test and how more frequent test can reduce that. More tests help decrease anxiety by forcing students to study more often, therefore, they learn the material. Professors, however, don’t always like to give more quizzes because essay questions take a long time to grade. O’Malley eliminates that excuse with providing some solutions as well as a few alternative quiz question styles.

More recent research has shown that testing is not just a passive tool for assessing one’s knowledge, but it is actually one of the best tools for studying and remembering for the long-term. Karpicke and Roediger (2008) gave groups of college students a list of 40 Swahili-English word pairs, asked them to study it for a set time and then tested them on the list over a total of four consecutive study-test trials. Group 1 repeatedly studied and was also repeatedly tested over the whole list. In the other three groups, once a student had correctly recognized a Swahili word and recalled its English translation, it was either: repeatedly studied but dropped from further testing (Group 2), repeatedly tested but dropped from further studying (Group 3) or dropped from further studying and testing (Group 4). The results? Both group 1 and group 3 had the highest recall. Repeated studying had no effect on the student’s ability to recall the information on a final test, given one week later. Only repeated testing embedded the information in the memory, enabling the students to recall it later. Another interesting aspect of this study is that the participants were asked, “How many words do you think you will recall in one week?” Students in all conditions believed they would recall approximately 50% of the words. Students exposed to the most testing grossly underestimated their ability to recall the words while

Have you ever studied for a test? Studying for a test requires specific memory in order

Have you ever taken a test and the question is something along the lines of “What word means…?” I have multiple times and most of the time, I end up selecting the wrong answer and I always blame the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. This phenomenon causes me to not remember the word, even though it’s on the tip of my tongue, despite how hard I try to remember. Of course, the word I’m looking for will emerge in my head prior to turning in my examine. When this occurs, and for me, that’s often, I get undoubtedly annoyed with my brain and how it can’t remember crucial facts when I need them. However, when learning what our bodies are capable of to produce our memories, I am flabbergasted; there are three basic types that our brains are capable of producing-- sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. It always seems that I can remember subjects for a test but can never transport the ideas into my long-term memory. From my previous experience and going to college soon, it’s time that I reexamine the way I perform in the classroom to ensure that the knowledge I gain in my class transfers into my long-term memory. Our memories are made up of the various approaches to ensure that our three types of memory are working probably and allows me to enhance my performance in the classroom.

Roediger (2014) gives evidence for benefits of testing in his article how tests make us smarter. He explains that appropriate use of different kinds of testing, helps students to practice the important skill of retrieving and using knowledge. He gives an example from an assessment how well students remembered the material they had read. First students were tested on some. Most of the students recalled about 70 percent of the material. The students were asked to reread the other passages which were not tested, thus by re-exposing 100 percent of the ideas. The final tests were given after few days. The passages which were tested just after reading were remembered more than those that had been reread. He describes this improved retention after the testing as the testing effect or the retrieval practice effect, which makes the learning and remembering strong. This article supports that testing promotes retrieval phase. Testing involves recalling of the information from the memory, which is defined as retrieval, thereby it promotes to store

We all wish we could do better on our tests and retain our knowledge years after taking the class. This wish can come true with the information in the article The Power of Successive Relearning: Improving Performance on Course Exams and Long-Term Retention. This passage talks about the importance of practice tests and spaced study. The combination of both of these techniques is called successive relearning. Successive relearning for use in college will build a stronger long-term memory of the material and promote better grades on exams. Two experiments were performed to test the effectiveness the techniques used in successive relearning. Experiment 1 tested student performance on exams using self-regulated practice and restudy-only versus successive relearning. Experiment 2 tested student

This study was conducted on a college campus, where students are routinely expected to recall when tested on previous lecture material. As explained by Bartlett (1932), there is a difference in how memories are formed and retrieved. If the student has not committed the information to memory, it can easily be altered if there is pressure placed on the student to recall.

It is possible to increase your ability to retain and recall information so that it is easier for you to think of the right answer during your test.

In the results provided in the journal, we see that in the free recall testing, the use of the 3R method was more successful across the board than those who used note taking or rereading as their study strategy. The results of the students who used the note-taking strategy and the rereading strategy were not as significant as students using the 3R strategy.