When it comes to learning things, having to recall content from memory is better than simply reviewing the content
There is an unambiguous link between having to remember a thing right now, and your ability to remember it later. This is a form of Direct Learning, in effect. You trying to recall something now is directly doing the thing that you’ll be doing later when you need to remember it. You aren’t able to lull yourself into a false sense of ‘having learned’ due to the Mere Exposure Effect. Retrieval is an example of Desired Difficulty.
Retrieval Tactics
- Flash Cards & Spaced Repetition Systems
- Free recall - write down something you just finished listening to
- Close the book