Introduction

The best way to actively recall your notes and not having to put in too much effort in doing so? yup, that’s blurting!

In a nutshell blurting = abstract. I heard it somewhere on the internet, and by far it’s the best way to describe it! Read this article to the end to understand how to do blurting correctly. And in order to implement this technique correctly go read the active recall and spaced repetition article respectively!

What is blurting?

like I said the study method called blurting is best described as an “abstract” way of studying. That is, you throw in your thoughts, recalled only from your memory however you like. Although you got to follow the flow of the notes, you don’t have to fully write down sentences and examples.

You can write down everything roughly on a white board or a paper, in the form of flow chats, linking tree or mind maps. You can also just recall important definitions or key points that you highlighted in the notes.

How to do blurting properly

Yes, you do go ahead and scribble everything you remember on a paper, it’s fine. BUT a blueprint is always better. And helps you track your progress.

• Step 1: read through the topic, and make a flow chart in your head
• Step 2: interlink similar words or headings that connect, to remember better
• step 3: close the book, and write down/draw the flow chart and recall as much as you can
• step 4: fill in the left-out points, AND mark them with a colored pen in the book
• step 5: try blurting again but this time mainly focus on the gaps

if you have diagrams that sum up the entire thing, stare at it as much as possible and try to redraw and label it. OR just hide the labels and tell the labels aloud. As you’re doing so, recall any other interlinking info to the labels as well.

Guided blurting

If it is time consuming to do this for each topic, try thoroughly going through the entire chapter and write down the main headings and subheadings.

Any important note or example can be written halfway, and you can then close the book, try to complete the sentence and fill in the info about the headings in bullet points as well.

Conclusion

This may seem heavy on the first time, and it might be really time consuming too. If you blurt the new topics the day they’re taught, for e.g.: you come back from your lectures and try recalling all the material taught in the class, then blurt down the topic in depth the same day?

This helps you study in small chunks, and by the time your professor is done with the chapter, you can easily glide through all the topics in a hour or so.