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Practice and understand · Lesson 7 of 11

Metacognition: How to Judge What You Really Know

Learn why feeling sure right after study misleads you, and how to judge what you know later, with only the question in view.

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In this lesson you learn to judge what you really know. It matters because people tend to stop studying something once they feel they know it. If that feeling is wrong, the gaps stay, and you only find them when it is too late.

Thinking about your own learning

Thinking about your own learning has a name: metacognition. It has two parts. First, you judge what you know. Then, you change what you do because of that judgment. For example, you notice you can’t explain a chart without your notes, so you turn that chart into a practice question.

The two parts depend on each other. A plan to restudy can only be as good as the judgment behind it. If you misjudge what you know, you may work hard on the wrong material.

The word Metacognition next to a thought bubble holding a page and a magnifying glass. Below, two cards joined by an arrow: 1, Judge what you know, and 2, Change what you do.(opens the full-size picture)
Metacognition has two parts: a judgment, then an action.

Why your judgment is too rosy

Right after you study, your judgment is too rosy. The material is fresh and comes to mind easily, and that ease feels like knowledge. A day later, some of it will be gone, with little warning of which part.

Having the answer in view fools you too. When you reread your notes, every point looks familiar, because it is right there on the page. At the test, the page is gone, and you have to get the answer back from memory alone.

An example page of notes with check marks and a pill that says Ease feels like knowledge. Beside it, a calendar card says A day later, and two bars compare Felt sure, which is tall, with Recalled, which is shorter, with a red question mark in the missing part.(opens the full-size picture)
What felt sure is more than what you can recall a day later.
An example question card, What were the three causes?, above an empty dashed box where the answer should be. A pill below says At the test, the page is gone.(opens the full-size picture)
At the test, there is no page to look at.

Judge later, with only the question

The fix is simple: judge later. A large review of memory studies found that people were far better at predicting what they would remember when they judged after a delay, not straight after studying. After a delay, trying to recall something is a real test of whether it lasted.

A pill that says Judge later above two panels. Straight after: the Felt sure bar is much taller than the Recalled bar, with a red question mark in the gap. After a delay: the two bars are the same height, with a check mark between them. A note says Review of memory studies.(opens the full-size picture)
After a delay, how sure you feel matches what you recall much better.

And look only at the question, not the answer. Cover your notes, read just a heading or a question, and try to produce the answer. Only then decide whether you know it. Then uncover the notes and check.

An example page of notes with three headings: Three causes, Key date and Main idea. Three causes and Main idea have check marks, Key date has a red cross. A speech bubble and a pill say Question first, then check.(opens the full-size picture)
Read the heading, answer from memory, then check.

Act on what you missed

Spend your next session on the points you missed, not the ones you already know well. It is tempting to go over the parts that feel good, but they are not where your time pays off. Let the misses decide what you study next.

Three example cards: a faded card that says Knew it with a check mark, a red card that says Missed, and an arrow to a calendar card that says Next session, holding two cards with red crosses. A pill says Let the misses decide.(opens the full-size picture)
The points you missed go into your next session.

Plan, check, adjust

You can make this a simple loop. Plan what you need to be able to do, for example “explain the three causes without my notes.” Check yourself later, with only the question. Then adjust, and change one thing next time.

A circle with three steps: Plan, what you need to do; Check, later, question only; Adjust, change one thing. A note at the bottom says From school guidance; less tested with adults.(opens the full-size picture)
Plan, check and adjust, then go round again.

An honest note

This loop comes from guidance for schools, so the evidence for adults is thinner. The idea of judging later, with only the question, is the better-supported part.

YOUR TURN

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Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you will learn to judge what you really know. It matters, because people tend to stop studying something once they feel they know it. If that feeling is wrong, the gaps stay.

Thinking about your own learning has a name: metacognition. It has two parts. First, you judge what you know. Then, you change what you do because of that judgment.

Right after you study, your judgment is too rosy. The material is fresh and comes to mind easily, and that ease feels like knowledge. A day later, some of it will be gone, with little warning of which part.

Having the answer in view fools you too. When you reread your notes, every point looks familiar, because it is right there on the page. At the test, the page is gone.

The fix is simple. Judge later. A large review of memory studies found that people were far better at predicting what they would remember when they judged after a delay, not straight after studying.

And look only at the question, not the answer. Cover your notes, read just a heading or a question, and try to produce the answer. Only then decide whether you know it.

A judgment only helps if it changes what you do. Spend your next session on the points you missed, not the ones you already know well.

You can make this a simple loop. Plan what you need to be able to do. Check yourself later, with only the question. Then adjust, and change one thing next time. This loop comes from guidance for schools, so the evidence for adults is thinner.

So, judge your learning later, with only the question in view, and restudy what you missed. Before the next lesson, cover your notes a day after studying and rate each point: knew it, half knew it, or didn't. Next, you will take notes and read in ways that stick.