Exams and Use as Preservatives of Course-Acquired Knowledge

AbstractRetention of material learned in college-style technical courses was measured by a repeated final examination given one year later. Matched groups of students also repeated the final examination six weeks or six months after the end of the courses. The six-month group showed almost no loss over the year. The six-week group suffered about the same considerable loss as did a control group with no intervening examination. Questionnaire measures indicated that students who used over 10 percent of the examined material in their average monthly work also forgot very little. Apparently, course-acquired knowledge can be kept fresh over long periods by small amounts of properly spaced review activities.