Source: Research by Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke; summarised in Make It Stick (Brown, Roediger and McDaniel)
Actively recalling information from memory, through self-testing, strengthens learning more than re-reading. The effort of retrieval is what makes it work.
When to use it
Use it whenever you study written material, training content or documentation.
How to apply it
Read or study a section once.
Close the material and write down everything you can remember.
Check your notes against the source and mark what you missed.
Turn the missed points into questions for your next session.
Test yourself again a few days later before re-reading.
Tip: Re-reading and highlighting feel productive but give a false sense of mastery.