So mga mares, I recently had a 1-on-1 with my boss regarding my work performance for this year. Truth be told, while I've been with my company for almost 2 years now, I'm still navigating my way through the task assignments and feeling like an imposter most of the time, just trying to do my best to work through them. I told my boss as such. Thankfully, my boss was understanding of my situation. She told me that there are simply no shortcuts and to improve, I have to do the work day by day coupled with a more deliberate approach to work. She then gave her advice about what I could do and study to get a better handle of the job.
Make it stick
Because of this conversation, I became interested in seriously studying again and went over and re-read portions of the book "Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Brown, Roediger III, and McDaniel, having read it back in college and before law school. Per the book's byline, the book talks about evidence-based principles of successful learning. As I read Chapter 2, I realize how much I failed to grasp one of the book's points when I read it as a younger reader (which explains why I wasn't really able to apply what I learned then T_T)
Chapter 2 discusses retrieval practice (or the active pulling of information from our memory rather than passive input) as the very mechanism that makes our learning stick. Retrieval practice usually involves testing ourselves either through practice tests/mock exams, flashcards, or teaching someone else, rather than just re-reading our material over and over again. As I re-read and chewed over this portion, I had my eureka moment: Tests are not there to make you suffer but is actually part of the learning method, a.k.a. retrieval practice!
Let me repeat that: Tests are part of the learning process!
Why oh why did I fail to grasp that then?! For a long time, I had balked at and stressed over examinations in college and law school. I appreciated them as the end all and be all determinant of my standing in class and whether or not I would go up the next grade.
Now, with this new information, I realize that if I fail a test, it just means what I studied didn't really stick or wasn't covered by the test.
While a test might seem like a judgment on who we are, especially with the way it is presented in school, it actually is not! A test result instead is more a determinant of the "stickiness" or breadth of what you've learned. Either you study again and take the tests, which is the usual route or maybe you recalibrate either by changing the subject or changing the material.
So many hours of crying over failed tests, thinking that failed performance was a judgment of who I was, when I could have just studied again or re-directed my course.
Nevertheless, I am thankful to God for having grasped it now. This realization is valuable not only for what I need to study for work, but also the other subjects I would like to explore further.
To my mares who are parents stumbling on this post, I invite you to read Make it Stick if you have not yet done so. Aside from giving you a new perspective on tests for your children, there are other principles in the book to unpack and learn. Let's learn together.
Especially regarding what the book says about memorization. But, that's a subject for another post.
