Technique Spotlight: Why Retrieval Practice Is the Best Thing Students Can Do This Summer

As most schools break up for the summer this Friday, six weeks of freedom stretch out ahead of your students and, for many, so does the dreaded “summer slide.” It’s well documented that pupils regress academically over the break: government data has shown pupils falling around 1.6 to 2 months behind in reading and as much as 3.2 months behind in maths after an extended period out of the classroom, with the gap often widest for disadvantaged pupils. That’s a real dent in the progress made across the whole of the previous year and it’s the reason so many September lessons start with re-teaching rather than moving forward.

The good news is that closing that gap doesn’t require a summer of revision timetables and past papers. One simple, evidence-backed habit can make a real difference to how much sticks over the break and it takes minutes rather than hours: retrieval practice.

What is retrieval practice?

Retrieval practice is the act of actively pulling information out of memory, rather than passively putting it back in. Passive habits like re-reading notes or highlighting a textbook can feel productive but they don’t ask the brain to do any real work and we don’t recommend them as a revision strategy. Retrieval practice takes the opposite approach: answering a question from memory, writing down everything you can remember about a topic, explaining a concept out loud. Every time a student does this, they strengthen the memory and make it easier to retrieve next time.

It’s a core part of the techniques we teach through our Super Speed Study Skills and Exam Busters workshops and it underpins the revision advice we share with parents: much more time should go on retrieval and recall than on re-reading because revision should be active rather than passive.

Why it works

This isn’t a trend, it’s one of the most consistently evidenced techniques in cognitive science. It’s a strategy the Education Endowment Foundation regularly points to as one of the most effective, low-cost ways to improve long-term learning. The logic is straightforward: the harder the brain has to work to retrieve something, the stronger that memory becomes. Passive methods like re-reading or highlighting create a false sense of security, the content looks familiar, so it feels learned. That familiarity rarely translates into being able to recall the information later, under exam conditions or otherwise.

A simple way to introduce it before the holidays

You don’t need a complicated system to get students started. Before your class heads off for the summer, try suggesting this five-step self-quizzing routine:

1. Identify the knowledge — pick a topic from across the year, ideally one likely to resurface in September or next year’s exams
2. Review, then create questions — spend 5–10 minutes looking over notes or a knowledge organiser, then write around 10 questions on the content
3. Cover and answer from memory — hide the notes and answer the questions properly, writing full sentences or saying answers out loud rather than just thinking them
4. Self-mark and reflect — go back to the notes, mark the answers and be honest about the gaps
5. Revisit next time — bring the same questions back into the next session, focusing more time on the areas that were shaky

The same principle works with flashcards: one question per card, answers said aloud or written down (never just answered “in your head,” which research shows gives a false sense of knowing) and cards shuffled and mixed across subjects rather than worked through in a fixed order.

Even ten minutes of this, once or twice a week over the holidays, can meaningfully soften the summer dip and mean students walk back into the classroom with real, tested knowledge rather than a faded memory of a topic they once understood.

Supporting your students now and planning ahead for next year

The good news is your students don’t need to build any of this from scratch. If your school subscribes to our Online Resources Hub, retrieval practice is already covered within the Study Skills module. Animated technique videos, exclusive presenter content and downloadable guides and templates (including self-quizzing sheets and flashcard templates) that students can access 24/7, on any device, throughout the holidays. It’s worth reminding students where to find it before they leave for the summer, so the tools are right there when they need them rather than something they have to go looking for in September.

And it’s only getting better: from September, the Hub will be adding a whole new set of interactive and downloadable tools! A Revision Jigsaw, Technique Planner, Study Time Calculator, Revision Timetable, Pomodoro Timer, Cheat Sheet Tool and a Mind Mapping tool. This will make putting strategies like retrieval practice into action even easier once students are back.

If you’d like your students building habits like this into next year’s revision routine, our Super Speed Study Skills and Exam Busters workshops build retrieval practice into a full toolkit of revision strategies. Get in touch now and we can talk through provision for next academic year, ready to slot into your calendar from September.

For staff, our Crash Course in Attainment Raising Inset Day is also a great way to explore retrieval practice and other evidence-based strategies in more depth, ready to embed across your subjects from the start of the new year.

Wishing you and your students a well-earned summer break — see you in September!

Get in touch to find out more about our workshops and staff training: 01983 294737 | info@positivelyyou.org.uk | positivelyyou.org.uk