If you’re gearing up for the MBLEx, or simply striving to refine your study habits for massage therapy school, learning how to incorporate active recall study techniques can significantly improve your retention and test scores. This learning method not only improves memory but transforms the way you internalize new information, from muscle anatomy and physiology, to therapy techniques.
What is active recall? Active recall is a learning strategy that involves retrieving information from memory on your own without the aid of cues. By actively trying to remember specific details or concepts, learners strengthen their understanding and ability to recall that information in the future. This method is particularly effective for academic studies and professional certification or licensing exams, as it helps solidify knowledge through practice and repetition.
In this blog post, you’ll learn why active recall is particularly powerful for those in the massage school. You’ll discover various techniques to implement active recall into your study sessions, see how it compares to other study methods, and learn how to effectively blend it with tools like practice tests to ensure you’re prepared excel on school tests and the MBLEx exam.
Understanding Active Recall
Active recall transforms the way we study by moving beyond passive observation to a more engaging retrieval practice. This technique involves challenging oneself to remember the material without peeking at the notes, effectively turning every study session into a mini quiz. Active recall is not just about memorizing facts—it’s about understanding the material thoroughly and being capable of applying it in other situations, such as during school exams, the MBLEx, or in practical massage scenarios.
Contrasting this with passive study methods like simply re-reading text or copying notes highlights its effectiveness. Traditional study methods might give the illusion of competence because they often involve merely skimming over the surface of the material. However, research has shown that these methods are less effective in securing long-term knowledge. Active recall, which demands greater mental effort and engagement, not only strengthens memory but also deepens comprehension of the material.
The real power of active recall lies in how it activates the brain differently than passive reading or listening. When you force your brain to recall information, it enhances the consolidation process, where initial fragile memories are transformed into stable, long-term memories. This is important for massage students (or any healthcare or wellness students) who must accurately recall detailed information on topics like anatomy & physiology, kinesiology, and pathology. By integrating active recall into your study habits, you ensure that you retain important details not just for your exams, but also for practical application in your professional life.
MBLEx Practice Tests
Massage therapy students who use MBLEx practice exams have a greater chance of passing the massage licensing exam the first time. Our quizzes and full-length exams cover of all 7 content areas of the MBLEx. They also provide correct answer rationales and record your results for your review.
Active Recall: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques
Active recall transforms learning from a passive viewing of information to a dynamic, engaging process that enhances both memory retention and understanding. Here’s how you can integrate this method effectively into your study routine, especially as you prepare for the FSMTB Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam.
Flashcards
Flashcards, whether physical or digital, are a dynamic study tool that effectively leverages the active recall strategy to enhance learning. You can customize flashcards with various types of content, such as key massage terms with definitions on the back, anatomical images with descriptions, or individual muscles with details about its origin, insertion, and action on the reverse side. Both physical and digital flashcards offer the flexibility of portability. Plus, digital flashcards often come with advanced features like spaced repetition and the Leitner system, which systematically organize review times to maximize retention of the information.
Self-quizzing
Self-quizzing is a method where you test your own understanding of the material without looking at notes or textbooks, effectively reinforcing your memory and comprehension. This can be done by writing down questions from your readings or creating quizzes on key topics like massage principles, muscle functions, or treatment protocols.
Practice tests
Practice tests (retrieval practice) involve testing yourself in conditions similar to an actual exam, which helps consolidate your knowledge and reduces exam anxiety. By actively retrieving information, you reinforce what you’ve learned about massage therapy practices, making it easier to recall under exam or real-world conditions.
Practice testing as a study method, is recognized as having high utility for enhancing long-term retention and understanding across various educational contexts. According to a 2013 research study, practice testing is beneficial for learners of different ages and abilities, significantly boosting performance across many criterion tasks. This method contrasts sharply with lower utility techniques like rereading or highlighting, which do not consistently improve performance. Therefore, practice testing stands out as a reliably effective approach, recommended for its broad applicability and potential to improve educational outcomes.
Peer Quizzing
Peer quizzing involves students or members of a study group testing each other on the material they have learned, which can be an effective active recall strategy. For massage students, this could involve quizzing each other on topics such as anatomy, treatment techniques, learning muscles, or client consultation approaches. This technique fosters a collaborative learning environment and reinforcing the material for both the quizzer and the responder.
Feynman Technique (Teaching Others)
The Feynman Technique involves explaining complex concepts in simple terms to another person, reinforcing understanding and retention. Massage therapy students can benefit from this method by teaching classmates about various massage techniques or the physiological impacts of massage, which helps solidify their own understanding and uncover any knowledge gaps.
Active vs. Passive Learning
To maximize the effectiveness of your study sessions, especially for final exams or the MBLEx exam, it helps to understand the differences between active and passive learning strategies. Active learning involves directly engaging with the material through methods that stimulate recall and application, thereby enhancing memory retention and understanding. Passive learning, on the other hand, often involves less engagement, leading to superficial knowledge retention. Below is a comparison of these strategies to help you choose the most effective ones for your study habits.
| Active Learning / Study Strategies | Passive Learning / Study Strategies |
|---|---|
| Taking practice tests and self-testing | Reading and re-reading |
| Flashcards | Listening to lectures without engaging |
| Practice problems | Watching videos passively |
| Paraphrasing and summarizing notes in your own words | Copying notes verbatim |
| Teaching the material to someone else | Skimming through study materials |
| Creating concept maps & mind maps | Highlighting text without analysis |
| Applying concepts in practical settings | Memorizing facts without context |
| Simulations, role-plays, and group discussions | Attending tutorials without participation |
| Creating and answering your own questions | Using study guides without interaction |
| Cornell note taking method | Taking notes in a linear, non-interactive manner |
| Peer teaching sessions (e.g. Feynman technique) | Passively receiving information during group study |
| Engaging in active recall (testing recall of information without cues) | Reviewing class notes without processing or summarizing them |
This table highlights the fundamental differences between active and passive study strategies. By choosing more active techniques, such as self-testing or teaching the material to someone else, you can significantly improve your comprehension and retention of information. These strategies not only prepare you better for exams but also equip you with the skills necessary for practical application in your professional life, ensuring you are well-prepared to excel both in tests and in practice.
Active Learning Study Methods
While our main focus in this blog post has been on active recall, it’s also valuable to explore a broader range of active learning strategies that complement and reinforce these techniques. This section briefly describes some practical active learning methods that will engage you more deeply in your studies. You’ll learn about strategies ranging from concept mapping and the Cornell Note Taking Method to dynamic activities like role-playing and simulation-based learning. Each method is designed to bolster cognitive engagement, essential for mastering complex subjects in massage therapy curriculum, by fostering a comprehensive understanding and practical skills application. For each of these active learning methods, I’ve also included ideas and examples of how to incorporate active recall techniques.
Concept Mapping
Concept mapping involves creating visual representations of information that show relationships between different concepts. For massage therapy students, this could involve mapping out body systems, treatment protocols, or nerve pathways, which helps in organizing information systematically and enhancing understanding. To incorporate active recall with concept mapping, once you’ve created a map, periodically test your recall by attempting to redraw the entire concept map from memory, focusing on the connections and hierarchy of concepts without looking at the original. This practice not only reinforces the relationships between concepts but also strengthens your memory of the material covered, making it a practical approach for massage students to solidify their understanding of complex topics.
Cornell Note Taking Method
The Cornell Note Taking Method structures notes into two columns: one for the notes themselves and another for key points and questions. This method is especially useful for massage therapy lectures, as it allows students to actively engage with the content by summarizing and questioning as they learn.
To enhance the Cornell Note Taking Method with active recall, after completing your notes and key points, cover the detailed notes section and use only the key points and questions to actively recall the detailed content. This method of self-testing ensures that you reinforce the information covered during lectures, particularly useful for remembering detailed massage techniques and therapy protocols.
Summarizing & Paraphrasing
Summarizing and paraphrasing are techniques used to restate information in your own words. For students of massage therapy, these methods can be applied to study materials to reinforce understanding and retention of complex topics such as anatomy, ethics, and the client assessment process, encouraging deeper learning and recall. To apply active recall with summarizing and paraphrasing, after reviewing your summarized and paraphrased notes, set them aside and try to summarize the main points again from memory. This exercise forces you to recall and articulate the core concepts and details of your massage therapy studies without relying on visual prompts, deepening your comprehension and ability to remember and use the information in practical settings.
Interleaved Practice
Interleaved practice involves studying different subjects or topics in a mixed sequence rather than focusing on one type of material at a time. For example, this might mean alternating study sessions between kinesiology, hands-on techniques, and marketing a massage practice to improve problem-solving skills and promote deeper understanding across subjects.
To integrate active recall with interleaved practice, after studying a mixed sequence of subjects like anatomy and client documentation, randomly quiz yourself on key points from each topic. This can be done through quick, impromptu tests or flashcards shuffled to present topics in an unpredictable order, effectively challenging your ability to recall and apply knowledge across different areas of your massage therapy training.
Elaborative Interrogation
Elaborative interrogation is a technique where you enhance learning by asking questions about the material being studied. This approach is particularly beneficial when studying topics like why specific massage techniques are effective for certain client conditions, thereby connecting theory with practical application. To effectively incorporate active recall, question the underlying reasons behind phenomena such as the physiological and psychological effects of soft tissue manipulation. Asking questions like, “Why does massage reduce stress physiologically?” or “How does manipulation affect the lymphatic system?” helps deepen understanding and solidify the material in your memory, making it applicable to complex client treatments and interactions.
Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals to prevent forgetting. Utilizing apps or a written study schedule, massage therapy students can effectively use this method to remember crucial details about muscle groups, therapy techniques, and client assessment over longer periods, ensuring retention is maximized.
To effectively implement active recall with spaced repetition, after each review session, massage therapy students should attempt to recall key details without referring to their notes. For instance, after a scheduled review of joint structure and function, challenge yourself to describe the biomechanics of a knee joint without assistance. This method reinforces the memory trace each time, deeply embedding the knowledge necessary for assessments and professional practice, ensuring you’re not only prepared for exams but also for practical application in client care.
Mind Maps & Visual Aids
Mind maps and visual aids help in organizing and visually connecting concepts, which can be particularly beneficial for massage therapy students studying complex systems like lymphatic drainage or blood flow through the heart and body. By drawing branches that represent different aspects of a concept, students can create a visual summary that aids in quicker recall and understanding.
To enhance mind maps and visual aids with active recall, after creating a visual representation, such as a mind map of the lymphatic system, periodically test yourself by reconstructing the map from memory. Focus on accurately placing key elements like nodes and pathways, and describing their functions without looking at the original map. This practice not only reinforces your understanding but also improves your ability to quickly recall complex anatomical relationships during exams or client assessments.
Role-playing Exercises
Role-playing exercises allow students to practice massage therapy techniques in a controlled, educational setting, simulating real-life client interactions. This method helps students apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios, enhancing their confidence and skill set.
To integrate active recall with role-playing exercises, after each role-play session, take a moment to reflect and verbally summarize the key techniques and decisions you made during the scenario. For example, after simulating a session for a client with chronic back pain, recall and outline the steps you took, the massage techniques applied, and why they were chosen. This reflective practice not only cements the learned techniques but also enhances your ability to apply them intuitively in real-world situations.
Group Problem-Solving
Group problem-solving encourages students to work together to find solutions to hypothetical or real-case scenarios in massage therapy. This collaborative approach not only reinforces learning through discussion and debate but also enhances critical thinking and application skills in a practical setting.
To incorporate active recall with group problem-solving, after each problem-solving session, individually summarize the key points discussed and the solutions proposed without referring to group notes. This could include recalling specific treatment strategies for special populations or the rationale behind certain massage contraindications discussed. Actively reconstructing the discussion and solutions from memory helps solidify the learning and ensures that each student can independently recall and apply the knowledge in similar future scenarios.
Case Study Review
Case study reviews allows a massage student to analyze real-world scenarios, applying their theoretical knowledge to specific client cases. This method is particularly beneficial for dedicated learners as it helps them critically evaluate different therapeutic approaches and outcomes, enhancing their ability to design personalized treatments based on individual client needs.
To effectively use active recall with massage case study review, after examining a case, try to recount the key facts, decisions made, and reasoning behind each decision without referring back to the text. This exercise will strengthen your recall of diagnostic and treatment processes, ensuring that you can apply these concepts adeptly in actual practice scenarios.
Simulation-Based Learning
Simulation-based learning offers a powerful way for you, as a massage therapy student, graduate, or practitioner, to hone your skills in a risk-free environment. For example, you can use simulations to practice new massage skills like assisted stretching techniques, new soft tissue manipulation techniques, joint mobilization, or proper draping techniques, all within a virtual environment that mimics real-life scenarios. Through realistic scenarios and virtual setups, you can practice and refine your techniques without the stress of immediate real-world consequences. After each simulation session, actively recall the steps you took, the massage techniques you applied, and the rationale behind your decisions. This reflection not only cements what you’ve learned but also prepares you to apply these skills confidently and competently in actual client interactions.
Summary and Key Takeaways
Active recall can supercharge the way you study, making the process more than just memorization—it’s about genuinely understanding and engaging with the material. Here’s a quick recap of the crucial insights on active recall and its benefits, especially for those preparing for the MBLEx:
- Boosts Memory Strength: Active recall compels you to pull information from memory, reinforcing neural pathways and securing knowledge deeply within your long-term memory.
- Superior to Passive Learning: Active recall demands more brainpower than passive learning methods like simply reading text over again or jotting down notes without engagement. This enhanced cognitive effort leads to stronger retention and a deeper grasp of the material.
- Variety of Effective Strategies: Employing a range of active recall strategies—such as self-quizzing, cumulative tests, and peer-driven question sessions—keeps your study sessions lively and enriches your learning experience.
- Useful Tools and Techniques: Integrating tools like flashcards, digital apps for spaced repetition, and mind maps can help you systematically review and recall information, optimizing your study time and effectiveness.
- Engaging Study Techniques: Applying interactive techniques like using a whiteboard to visualize information and the structured approach of the Cornell Note Taking Method can transform your study sessions from dull to dynamic.
- Long-Lasting Educational Advantages: Beyond just acing exams, active recall ensures that you retain your learning for real-world applications, boosting both your professional capabilities and your confidence.
By weaving active recall into your study habits for the MBLEx or any other examination, you’re setting yourself up not just to succeed on the test but to retain and apply your knowledge professionally, enhancing your long-term success and expertise in your field.
FAQ
What are the benefits of using active recall study techniques for MBLEx exam preparation?
Active recall study techniques significantly enhance your MBLEx preparation by strengthening your recall and deepening your understanding of complex topics like anatomy & physiology. When you engage in methods such as practice tests and spaced repetition, you’re doing more than just memorizing; you’re ensuring that you can swiftly and accurately retrieve information during the exam. This approach minimizes the need for last-minute cramming and instead it builds robust long-term memory, making it an essential strategy for anyone aiming to excel in massage exams.
Can active recall techniques improve long-term retention of information?
Yes, active recall techniques are particularly effective for improving long-term retention of information. By repeatedly testing yourself on the material, such as through the use of flashcards or creating practice questions, you reinforce the neural pathways associated with the learned content. This process, known as retrieval practice, ensures that information is more than just remembered—it’s deeply embedded in your long-term memory, making it readily accessible for future use, such as in professional settings or advanced studies.
What are the best digital tools for implementing active recall in study routines?
For implementing active recall in your study routines, MBLExGuide offers an array of top-tier digital tools tailored to the needs of massage therapy students & practitioners. Our platform includes online practice tests, quizzes, and digital muscle flashcards, all of which can be integrated with spaced repetition techniques to enhance active recall. Additionally, our complete online MBLEx review course is designed to simulate real exam conditions, providing a comprehensive toolset for consistent engagement and deep learning. These resources are optimized to promote long-term retention and recall, making them ideal for your exam preparation.
What are some examples of active recall techniques for visual learners?
For visual learners, active recall techniques can be particularly engaging when incorporating visual aids like diagrams or mind maps. Creating detailed infographics that outline processes or timelines, and then attempting to recreate them from memory, can significantly enhance memory retention. Additionally, using color-coded flashcards to associate different concepts or details can help in visually segmenting and recalling information more effectively during study sessions. These methods not only support active learning but also make the recall process more intuitive and memorable for visual thinkers.
What are the best active recall techniques for kinesthetic learners in massage school?
For kinesthetic learners in massage school, active recall techniques that involve physical activity can enhance learning. Techniques such as role-playing different therapy scenarios or using practice models to apply techniques can embed knowledge through hands-on experience. Additionally, creating physical flashcards that require you to move and organize them as part of a group study session can help simulate treatment planning and procedure sequencing. These strategies make learning tactile, engaging the body in the learning process and solidifying retention.
References
Reference: Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., …, & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266