Notes for iPadActive Recall: How to Study by Testing Yourself
Updated 2026-09-29 · By the Notes for iPad team
Active recall means studying by pulling information out of your memory instead of reading it again. It feels harder than rereading, and that's why it works. This guide explains the idea, the research behind it and simple ways to use it every week.
What active recall is
Active recall (also called retrieval practice) is the act of bringing information back to mind from memory. You ask yourself a question, try to answer without looking, and then check. Every time you do this, you practice the exact skill an exam asks for: producing the answer, not recognizing it.
Compare it with passive review:
| Passive review | Active recall |
|---|---|
| Rereading notes or the textbook | Writing down what you remember, then checking |
| Highlighting | Turning highlights into questions and answering them |
| Watching the lecture again | Explaining the lecture's main points out loud without notes |
| Looking over worked examples | Solving the problem yourself, then comparing |
Passive review feels smooth because the material looks familiar. Active recall feels effortful and sometimes frustrating because you notice what you've forgotten. That effort is a feature, not a bug.
What the research says
The idea that testing yourself helps you remember is known as the testing effect, and it has been studied for many decades. One well-known experiment is Roediger and Karpicke (2006). Students read short prose passages and then either reread them or took recall tests on them. On a test five minutes later, the students who reread did slightly better. On tests given two days and one week later, the students who had practiced recall remembered more.
That pattern shows up again and again in research on retrieval practice: rereading can help in the short term, but recall practice tends to produce more durable memory. It's also why cramming by rereading can feel fine the night before and fail you a week later.
Two practical points follow from the research in general terms:
- Check your answers. Recall works best when you get feedback, so you correct mistakes instead of rehearsing them.
- Struggling is okay. An attempt that fails, followed by checking the answer, still helps you learn.
5 active recall methods
1. Flashcards
Write a question on one side and the answer on the other. Keep each card to one idea. "What are the two stages of photosynthesis?" is a good card. "Photosynthesis" with a paragraph on the back isn't. Say or write your answer before flipping. Flashcards work especially well for definitions, vocabulary, dates and formulas. For languages, a vocabulary template with a fold-over answer column does the same job on paper.
2. Blurting
Pick a topic, close everything and write down all you can remember on a blank page for 5 to 10 minutes. Then open your notes and add what you missed in a different color. The colored parts are your weak spots, and they're what you review next. Blurting is fast, needs no preparation and works for any subject.
3. Cornell cue columns
The Cornell method has active recall built in. After class you write questions in the left cue column; when you review, you cover the notes and answer each question from memory. Over a semester, your cue columns become a ready-made question bank. Start with the Cornell notes template.
4. Practice questions and past papers
Do end-of-chapter problems, old exams and questions from your study guide under realistic conditions: no notes, timed if the exam is timed. Mark them, then redo the ones you got wrong a few days later. For problem-based subjects like math, physics and accounting, this is the most important form of recall.
5. Explain it out loud
Teach the topic to a friend, a study group or an empty room. When you can't explain a step, you've found a gap. This is the core of the Feynman technique, which adds a focus on simple language and fixing gaps.
Pairing active recall with spaced repetition
Memory fades over time, a pattern often called the forgetting curve (first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus in the 1880s). Spaced repetition means reviewing just as you start to forget: soon after learning, then at longer and longer intervals. Active recall is what you do at each review.
A simple schedule for new material:
- Same day: write cue questions or flashcards and test yourself once.
- 1–2 days later: recall again.
- About a week later: recall again.
- 2–4 weeks later: recall again, and before the exam.
If you get something right easily, space it out further. If you miss it, bring it back sooner. The Leitner system does this with physical boxes: correct cards move to a box you review less often, wrong cards go back to box one. Flashcard apps automate the same idea.
A weekly active recall routine
You don't need to overhaul how you study. Add recall to what you already do:
- After each class (10 minutes): write questions in the cue column or margin of your notes and a 2–3 sentence summary.
- Next day (10 minutes): cover the notes and answer yesterday's questions. Mark any you missed.
- Weekend (30–60 minutes per course): blurt each topic from the week on a blank page, check against your notes, then answer all marked questions again.
- Every few weeks: do a mixed set of practice questions from older topics, not just the newest one.
- Before exams: build a study guide made of questions, not summaries, and work through it with a study planner. See how to study for exams for a full plan.
Active recall on an iPad
Handwritten recall works well on an iPad. You can cover the notes column of a Cornell page with a sticker or a drawn box, write blurting attempts on a new page and mark gaps in a second color, and duplicate a page of questions so you can answer them again from scratch next week. Notes for iPad includes Cornell, study guide and vocabulary templates you can use for this.
Common mistakes
- Peeking too early. Give yourself a real attempt before you check.
- Only testing what you already know. Spend most of your time on the questions you miss.
- Recognition disguised as recall. Multiple choice you've seen before and cards you flip too fast turn into recognition. Say the answer first.
- No spacing. Recalling ten times in one evening helps less than recalling three times over two weeks.
Summary: Active recall means answering questions from memory instead of rereading. Use flashcards, blurting, Cornell cue columns, practice questions and explaining out loud, always check your answers, and repeat at growing intervals.
Frequently asked questions
What is an example of active recall?
Closing your notes and writing down everything you remember about a topic, then checking what you missed. Answering flashcards, doing practice questions and explaining a concept out loud without looking are also active recall.
Is active recall better than rereading?
For long-term retention, research on the testing effect generally finds that practicing retrieval beats spending the same time rereading. Rereading can feel more productive in the moment because the material looks familiar.
How is active recall different from spaced repetition?
Active recall is how you study (retrieving from memory). Spaced repetition is when you study (reviewing at increasing intervals). They work best together: recall at spaced intervals.
Can I do active recall with handwritten notes?
Yes. Cornell notes are built for it: cover the notes column and answer the questions in the cue column. You can also write practice questions in the margin of any page.