Self-Testing Method - Essay Example

In the recent past, educationalists and social commentators have deduced and thought about techniques and methods that could be used to realize maximum benefits. This is to imply the means and ways in which a person may study so as to retain information over a long period of time. They include self-testing or the self-quizzing method and the rereading and summarizing method. In principle, the self-testing method and technique are where a learner spreads the study sessions over a period of time and studies at paced intervals (Gómez & Manzano-Macho, 2003). It is important to note and mention that this method is beneficial since it allows the student or the learner to improve his or her memory grasp and thus it is an effective way of learning. In principle, a learner who uses this method is able to retain the things he or she has; learned and thus is likely to perform better in examinations.

Subsequently, it is critical during the self-test method since the learner get ample time to refresh his or her memory so that in case there is a concept or an issue that the learner has not understood, he or would be in a position to understand it better.  For instance, if a student learns about a technical subject such as the sciences or mathematics, the student would be in a prime position to gauge his or her ability and the progress he or she has made thus re-adjust accordingly. It goes without saying that a student or learner understands his or her pace of understanding concepts, thus, he or she would be better equipped to re-learn the same concept in case he did not understand it better.

On the other hand, the rereading, summarizing, and underlining method is ineffectual therefore it has less benefit to the student during leaner. Basically, this is a method where a student skims and goes through the learning material several times while underlying the critical points of learning. In retrospect, this is time-consuming since the memory grasp of the student is not activated and the learner or the student would not be in a good position to gain. Thus, this argument and line of thought seem to articulate that this method is not so gainful or effective for a learner or a student. This is because, in the long run, the student would not be in a position to remember the things that he or she learned.

As a matter of fact, the learner or the student would be in a position to deceive him or herself that he or she has understood the concepts, but the reality may be different. If a person skims or uses the method of rereading the concepts or the topic, he or she may feel that he or she is conversant with them. However, the brain or the mind, or the learner may not have mastered and memorized the concepts being learned. In the long end, the student may gain less and as a result, it would imply that he or she was just wasting time in the name of studying.