William Kendal
The Blurting revision technique is a study strategy that aims to improve recall and content memorization. It involves vocalizing information out loud from memory at increasingly long intervals. It can also be just writing down everything you can recall about a certain topic.
Blurting involves initially reviewing material, then trying to state the key ideas verbatim without looking at the source. After each attempt to vocalize the content from memory, the source material is rechecked to fill in any gaps. This cycle repeats at gradually extended intervals, from blurting every minute to every few hours.
Core features of the Blurting approach include:
- Oral repetition: Blurting focuses on speaking information aloud rather than just mental review
- Interval expansion: The time between review blurts increases incrementally
- Immediate fact checking: After blurting, the source material is reconsulted to validate accuracy
Effectiveness of Blurting
For memorization-heavy revision goals, Blurting takes advantage of the recall boost from verbalizing and self-testing across expanding intervals. The method leverages the spacing effect, where spreading repetition over time heightens retention. Immediately correcting mistakes also reinforces learning through feedback.
This technique is especially effective for subjects with extensive number of facts and other content, like biology, history, geography, or computer science.
While Blurting takes more active effort than passive rereading, the vocalization and temporal spacing appears to produce strong memorization results for many learners. However, more research may be needed to quantify Blurting’s efficacy over other standard study techniques. But anecdotally, the vocalization fluency targeted aligns well with exam needs.
Overall, Blurting’s use of verbal repetition, temporal spacing, and rapid feedback shows promise as a memory-centric revision strategy for acedemics. The vocalization fluency targeted also transfers effectively to test scenarios relying on verbal information production.
How to Use Blurting
First, get a piece of paper and write down everything you can remember about a topic.
Next, check your notes and compare it against your class notes and/or the textbook. Understand how much information is accurate.
Then, highlight any missing information by adding it to your paper.
Next, go through what’s missed in your first notes and try to memorize it.
Tips to use the Blurting revision technique
Here are some tips for utilizing the Blurting revision technique effectively:
- Choose content wisely
Blurting works best for fact-based information that needs memorization, like vocabulary terms, formulas, dates, names, etc. It has less impact practicing analysis or applications.
2. Start blurting early.
Begin vocalizing the key ideas soon after the initial learning. Don’t wait until the night before an exam. Spaced repetition is key.
3. Keep blurts concise
Try to state the core facts, definitions, etc. clearly and concisely. Verbose, meandering blurts are less effective. Precision builds fluency.
4. Expand intervals gradually
Blurt every minute, then every 5 minutes, then every 30 minutes, then every few hours. The mounting spacing between blurts strengthens retention.
5. Simulate exam conditions
For example, closed book blurting or under a time limit pressures recall readiness just like a test. This transfers the vocal skill.
