School has trained us all to think of wrong answers as failures. Red ink on a test represents a lower grade and thus a worse educational outcome. Teachers tell us to “learn from our mistakes,” but really the damage is done: our GPA has suffered. On to the next unit. Hope for better luck this time.
Well, now you’re out of school. And it’s time to stop abandoning your wrong answers and unanswered questions and start paying attention to them. Nobody’s grading you anymore, and moving on too quickly will leave you with weaknesses in your vocabulary that will stop you from progressing later on. So how can you make sure you’re not leaving valuable knowledge behind?
Re-learn your wrong answers.
Byki Deluxe has four self-testing modes: 1) self-reporting, 2) written, 3) listening comprehension, and 4) dictation, and all of them will allow you to create a new Byki list from your incorrect answers. We recommend that you always, always do this. Because unless you were aiming for less than 100%, you don’t want to leave gaps—or worse, false knowledge—in your memory. Learning the material on your plate is only step one of a successful language-learning process. If you really want to be able to speak French or Arabic when the time comes for you to use it, then you have to
- Learn the words
- Test yourself
- Re-learn your wrong answers
- Periodically refresh what you know
Step 3 can be tempting to skip. Nobody likes to look at the red ink on their exam; we like to pretend it never happened; we want to move on and get a fresh start. Don’t. Instead, look your mistakes in the eye and drill them until they’re correct in your memory. Then — and only then — will you progress unhindered down the path toward language nirvana.
And trust us, speaking another language is totally nirvana.
