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Retrieval practice: myth or fact?

Ten things teachers hear about retrieval practice. Pick myth, fact or partly true. Every answer comes from the Library's evidence card and the studies it lists.

Question 1 of 10

Rereading your notes works about as well as quizzing yourself.

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The best answer to every question, and why
  1. Rereading your notes works about as well as quizzing yourself. Myth. Yes. In the 2006 experiment by Roediger and Karpicke, students who took recall tests remembered substantially more two days and a week later than students who reread. The Dunlosky review rated rereading low utility.
  2. In that same experiment, rereading won on a test five minutes later. Fact. Yes. It did. The tested students pulled ahead only on the tests two days and a week later. That's why rereading can feel like it works.
  3. Retrieval practice only works in a lab with college students. Myth. Yes. Agarwal and colleagues counted only experiments run in real classrooms, 50 of them, and found the benefit across education levels, subjects and test formats. Their review notes few of those classes were outside Western, rich countries.
  4. Quizzes for retrieval practice should be graded, so students take them seriously. Myth. Yes. The card says mostly no. A grade turns practice into a performance; keep it short and low-stakes or ungraded, and use the answers to decide what to reteach.
  5. Questions where students write the answer gave bigger benefits than questions where they pick it. Fact. Yes. Rowland's meta-analysis found larger benefits from recall formats (write the answer) than from recognition formats (pick the answer).
  6. Multiple choice can't count as retrieval practice. Myth. Yes. It counts, as one kind of question. The card's advice: don't rely on it alone, and make the wrong options plausible so students have to think.
  7. A federal practice guide rates quizzing to bring key content back as Strong. Fact. Yes. The IES practice guide by Pashler and colleagues (2007) rates it Strong.
  8. There's one agreed number for how big the effect is. Myth. Yes. The card quotes no single headline number. Adesope and colleagues found the size depends on the kind of practice test, the students, the outcome and how the study was run.
  9. Retrieval practice feels more productive to students than rereading. Myth. Yes. Usually the reverse. In the 2006 experiment the rereaders were more confident they'd remember, and the card warns it can feel worse at first because students get things wrong.
  10. Retrieval practice is only good for memorizing facts. Partly true. Yes. Many of the best-known studies measure recall of facts. Retrieval questions can also ask students to explain, apply and compare, and how far fact quizzing carries over to deeper understanding depends on what you ask.

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