How to Create Effective Active Recall Questions

One way you might apply active recall—retrieving information from memory—is through creating your questions. The problem, however, with making active recall questions is that you might fall into the trap of creating questions that aren't meaningful. That is, you recall information through repetition without understanding it. 

An example of this is creating questions that are purely based on "who or what, when, where." Although there's nothing wrong with these questions, it's not enough to promote deep comprehension of the material. In addition, recalling information without understanding it is a problem because information remembered, memorized, and absorbed without the understanding first what it means is detrimental to learning. 

You want your questions to involve understanding how all the pieces of information fit together. You want your questions to apply to new learning situations. Finally, you want your questions to be connected to previously known knowledge. In short, you want your questions to be meaningful and effective.

Below are the three best methods that promote exactly that, and I hope you find these tips helpful.

 Ask How and Why Stuff Works

The first method is through elaborative interrogation, aka, asking how and why stuff works. This self-explanatory method initially makes you generate how and why questions based on the material.

For example, instead of only asking what's the definition of a machine, you could add elaborative questions such as, "how does a machine work?" or "why does it work?" or "why do we need machines in the first place?" 

You can incorporate this method by first listing in a document or a sheet how and why questions after reading your notes/readings. You then find the answer to those questions via textbook, google, or straight up asking the teacher, and put that in a separate document. 

When going through the revision process, you quiz yourself by answering the questions you have created and checking your answer by looking at the solutions you also made (this quiz and recall method implements active recall). 

Create Concrete Examples

The second method is using concrete examples. You can use concrete examples by taking a concept and creating an illustration based on real-life experience (or, even better, based on your own experiences). Concrete examples work because human memory can remember factual information more effectively. So, when a statement is specific and concrete, it promotes meaningful learning and makes the information more memorable and meaningful.

You can use this method by first looking at your books, lectures, notes, and other materials for concrete examples. You then create a list of questions, similar to the sample before, that ask for those examples. Then, when preparing for a test, you quiz yourself by answering the questions you have constructed until you work your way up to recalling concrete examples from memory. 

Mind Maps

Finally, the third method is by using mind maps. Mind maps are helpful because it weaves content together, making them useful for understanding. 

To use mind maps, you lay the main idea in the middle and connect other ideas, insights, or concepts through lines, making it look like a spider. This process is meaningful because it makes you see where things fit together as a whole and how one idea leads to another. 

Here's an example of a mind map about global warming from mindmapsunleashed.com (note: your mind maps don't have to be this pretty; what's important is their functionality) 

You can use this method by first creating your mind map or finding similar diagrams in your class materials. You then compile the mind maps or charts in a single file or sheet. After that, you create questions that ask you to draw those mind maps or diagrams from memory. Finally, when preparing for a test, you quiz yourself via the questions you created, then look at the compiled mind maps or diagrams you also designed to check your answers. 

Conclusion

Using these methods might seem like overkill. Answering those questions when preparing for a test will take a long time and will be challenging, especially drawing diagrams and mind maps from memory. But, this difficulty is what makes it desirable, meaningful, and memorable. By recalling how and why stuff works, concrete examples, and mind maps from memory, you're implementing practical active recall questions that will help you accelerate deep learning.