PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - When I want to remember something, I write it down, a habit from school note taking. Some teachers recommend diagramming information to remember material.

An article in the journal Science reports that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall the information, retained 50% more a week later than those who used two other methods.

Two hundred college students, divided into four groups, read several paragraphs on a scientific topic. The first group read the text for five minutes. Another studied the text in four consecutive five minute sessions.

A third group diagrammed the passage linking ideas in an organized way. The fourth group took a “retrieval practice” test without the text in front of them, writing for ten minutes what they remembered. Then they reread the passage and took another test. A week later students in the retrieval group tested better than all the others.

Testing is not the answer to learning, but it may be best for remembering. Read the discussion in The New York Times.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio