Acing tests: avoiding the tip of the tongue phenomenon

You know that feeling, when you know you know something but it seems to stay on the tip of your tongue. What is happening is that this particular piece of information is encoded in your long term memory but that the neural connection that you use to retrieve it is weak. The way to avoid this is by practising retrieving information that you want to be available to you at short notice. This is why any learning must include testing. Putting that together with yesterday's tip: spaced testing over several days is most effective. This avoids information bouncing around in your short term memory.