How to find out what your child actually remembers

One of the hardest things for parents to know is whether their child has actually learned something. Your child might spend an hour reading through their notes, highlighting important information or watching a revision video, and afterwards feel as though they know the topic really well. But how do you know whether they will still be able to remember it tomorrow, next week or when they actually need it in an exam?

There is a very simple way to find out. Instead of asking your child to look at the information again, ask them to put it away and see what they can remember without looking. This is the basic idea behind a technique known as a Brain Dump, and it is a surprisingly useful way of helping children understand what they actually know.

The difference between seeing and remembering

Imagine your child has been revising the causes of the First World War. They have read their notes several times and everything looks familiar. If you put the notes in front of them and ask, "Does this make sense?", they will probably say yes. But familiarity isn't the same as being able to remember something. The real test is what happens when the notes disappear. Can they explain the main causes? Can they remember the key events? Can they describe the different factors involved? If they can, that's a good sign. If they struggle, they have just discovered something important: this is an area they need to revisit.

This is one of the reasons retrieval practice is such a powerful learning strategy. Instead of putting information into the brain again, your child has to try to pull it back out.

So what is a Brain Dump?

The idea is remarkably simple. Your child chooses a topic they have been learning and then, without looking at their notes, writes down everything they can remember about it. It might be a science topic, a history unit, a maths process, a piece of literature or anything else they have been studying. They don't need to worry about beautiful handwriting, perfect sentences or organising their ideas neatly. The aim is simply to get as much of the knowledge out of their head and onto the page as they can. You could give them five or ten minutes and say, "Write down everything you can remember about this topic” and then let them get on with it.

Don't worry if they can't remember everything

This is an important part of the process because children can sometimes become frustrated when they discover that they have forgotten things. They might think, "I've revised this, so why can't I remember it?" But forgetting some of the information is not a sign that the technique has failed. In many ways, it is the whole point.

If your child remembers everything, they have shown that the knowledge is already fairly secure. If they remember some things but not others, they have identified areas that need more attention. If they can hardly remember anything, they have discovered that they probably need to go back and learn the topic again before trying another Brain Dump later.

The exercise isn't about proving that your child knows everything. It's about finding out what they know.

Now check the answers

Once your child has finished, this is where the second part of the process begins. They can take out their notes, textbook or another reliable source of information and compare it with what they have written. What did they remember correctly? What did they forget? Did they misunderstand anything? Are there important details that were missing?

This turns the Brain Dump into something much more useful than simply testing memory. Your child now has a clear picture of what they know and what they need to work on. They can then spend some time revisiting the areas they missed before putting the notes away and trying again another day.

Parents can make this really easy

You don't need to be an expert in your child's subjects to help them with this. In fact, you don't even need to know whether their answer is correct. You can simply ask your child to choose a topic, give them a piece of paper and say, "Tell me everything you can remember about this." When they've finished, they can check their work themselves.

You could even make it a little more informal. If you're in the car, walking somewhere or sitting around the kitchen table, you might simply ask, "You've been learning about the Romans recently. What can you remember?" You aren't teaching them anything. You're just giving them another opportunity to retrieve what they know.

It doesn't have to take long

One of the best things about a Brain Dump is that it doesn't need to become another huge revision session. Five or ten minutes can be enough to reveal a surprising amount about what your child knows. It can be used at the beginning of a study session to find out what they already remember, or at the end of a topic to see what has stuck.

It can also be repeated over time. Your child might do a Brain Dump on a topic today, revisit the gaps they identified and then try again a few days later. The second attempt may contain much more information, and that progress can be quite motivating. Instead of simply saying, "I've revised this topic three times," your child can actually see that they are remembering more.

It is a test, but it isn't really about tests

Some children hear the word "test" and immediately think about marks, grades and getting things wrong. That's not what this is about. A Brain Dump is simply a way of asking the brain to retrieve information. There is no mark at the end and no reason to feel embarrassed if something has been forgotten. In fact, discovering that you can't remember something is useful. It tells you what to do next. That is a much more productive way of thinking about revision than simply spending another hour reading through the same notes and hoping that the information will eventually stick.

The best revision isn't always the revision that feels easiest

This is perhaps the biggest lesson behind the Brain Dump. Reading through notes can feel productive because everything looks familiar. Your child can see the information in front of them and think, "Yes, I know this." But when they have to put the notes away and retrieve the information for themselves, things suddenly become more difficult. That's okay.

Learning isn't about making everything feel easy. It's about making the knowledge easier to remember when you need it.

So the next time your child tells you they have finished revising a topic, don't necessarily ask them to read it again. Ask them to put the notes away. Give them a blank piece of paper and say: "Okay. Tell me everything you can remember." You might both learn something from what happens next.