Recall vs. recognition

There are two equally important skills needed to get a passing score on any FSA exam: recognition and recall. The highly comprehensive video lessons we include in the online seminar are intended to help you as much as possible with recognition, and the memory aids we include (Flashcards, condensed outlines, etc.) are intended to aid in recall.

Many FSA exam questions require you to recognize key concepts. This requires a conceptual understanding that you hopefully established during the initial learning phase of the online seminar while going through all of our video lessons. The more concepts you understand, the easier it is to see through all of the technical “window dressing” in FSA exam problems and get down to the underlying core concept being tested. 

But it is very important not to let your mind “trick” itself into thinking it can recall, when it’s merely recognizing.

Recall is a different skill: it’s the ability to produce information from a list or a source reading based the question asked. Questions like:

  • List the characteristics of…
  • Describe step X of process Z

In other words, recall requires memorization, but it’s easy to be fooled into thinking you’ve memorized something when in fact you are simply recognizing it on a flashcard or outline. To mitigate this pitfall, I highly recommend the following strategies:

  • Use active recall as much as possible. When possible, physically write out detail and answers to flashcard questions. If this is too slow or impractical, try saying the answer to a flashcard out loud. By writing or speaking the answer, it forces your mind to truly build those neural connections between keywords and list detail. 
  • Create images (even very simple ones) to associate with lists. The human mind is significantly better at remembering pictures than words alone. 
  • Try to associate emotions and sounds with lists and keywords. Like images, the human mind is more likely to remember sounds and emotions than just words on a page
  • Flag or use our Flashcards app to tag/identify cards you consistently struggle with. Review these cards more often than others.
  • Create other mnemonics and memory devices as you have time
  • Find a study buddy or someone else to quiz you on flashcards so that you have to speak the answer

It’s also important not to obsess too much about memorization and recall because many, many FSA questions require concept recognition and synthesis across multiple readings. Even in the final month, it’s not too late to continue making the those conceptual connections by continuing to consume the video lessons and reference the detailed study manual and source material. Continue writing margin notes, etc. during this phase as well to stay as active as possible.

It’s also important to remember that you will not be able to memorize every possible detail. There is simply too much on the syllabus for that. The good news is that you can fall far short of perfect and still pass the exam and even get a 10. Just continue doing your best to balance recall and recognition right down to the final week, and stay positive!