When studying for professional accountancy exams, many students find themselves overwhelmed with lots of information, complicated calculations, and unfamiliar concepts.
Students often tell me, “I spent so many hours studying and a few days later I didn’t remember any of what I learned”. This in fact is just the way our brain operates. In this article I will explore how we can transfer knowledge from our working memory in our long-term memory and why this is so important for exam success.
Working Memory
To be successful in our exams, we want as much information as possible to be stored in our long-term memory. I will come back to the concept of long term memory shortly.
When new information or an insight from our studies reaches our brain, it does not automatically get stored into our long-term memory. Instead, the information is stored in a temporary limbo. In other words, it is stored in our working memory. For example, when you are reading a case study or solving a calculation, your brain uses working memory to process each new piece of information.
Our working memory is limited. Research carried out by Miller (1956) shows that some people can hold as few as five things in their working memory at any one time. Some people can hold as many as nine things, but the number seven seems to be the magic number of how many things we can hold in our working memory at any one time.
Unfortunately, those seven things only stick around for a few seconds. They won’t stick around at all if we are distracted. To put this in perspective, if you read a paragraph from a textbook, it will only be held in your working memory for a short period. It will not automatically transfer into your long-term memory.
That’s begs the question, how do we transfer information from our working memory into our long-term memory. For our exams, we need information to be stored in our long-term memory so we can call upon this information when we need it.
From Working Memory to Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory is where knowledge is stored more permanently. Once a concept is embedded into long-term memory, it becomes easier to retrieve and apply, even in high-pressure exam settings.
The goal of study and learning should be to move information out of working memory and into long-term memory. To do this effectively, we need to move beyond “surface learning” and move and towards “deep learning”.
Surface Learning and Deep Learning
Surface learning relies on taking information at face value and not getting under the skin of a topic or concept. It is where we learn information off without having a real understanding of what we are trying to learn. Reading, writing notes and highlighting can lead to surface learning. Often, we cram information right before an exam. That results in surface learning and the information only reaches our working memory.
Deep learning on the other hand is where we focus on getting a deep understanding of topics and concepts so we can apply this information in whatever scenarios come up in the exam. To engage in deep learning, our learning must feel a little harder and more effortful. Study techniques like repeatedly testing yourself encourages deep learning and the transfer of information into long term memory.
Techniques to Encourage Deep Learning
- Practice Testing (also known as retrieval practice)
Testing yourself on what you have learned helps reinforce learning. Flashcards (put a question on the front of the flash card and answer on the back, shuffle your flash cards and then test yourself), past exam questions, quizzes, brain dumps and explaining concepts out loud are all methods of retrieval practice. - Spaced Repetition
Instead of cramming your study sessions, break them into more manageable smaller chunks. By spacing your learning, it gives your brain time to consolidate knowledge. - Elaboration
Ask yourself questions like “Why does this happen?” or “How does this relate to what I have already learned?” The more connections you make between new material and existing knowledge, the more likely it will be stored in long-term memory. - Interleaving
Mix topics or question types within a study session. For example, instead of doing 10 income tax questions in a row, mix them with corporation tax and VAT.
Cramming
If you favour cramming over spacing your learning, be aware that this can overload your working memory. You might feel like you know the information but without testing yourself, the information is unlikely to be retained long-term memory.
Conclusion
Studying for your exams is less about the quantity of hours you study and much more about the quality of study you do. Prioritise techniques that move knowledge from your working memory to long-term memory and focus on deep learning strategies that help you understand not just remember.
References
Miller, G. A. (1956). The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.