10 Epic Reasons to Test Yourself by Redrawing Diagrams

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Study sessions sometimes seem like an endless search for new or creative activities to try.  There are many different ways to study.  Unfortunately, we generally fall back on one or two methods.  Either we rewrite our lecture notes or read our textbooks and take notes as we do it.  We might even pull out some flashcards when we want to be daring.  These are reliable options with tried and true results.  However, there are other alternatives we should keep in mind.  

Drawing and redrawing diagrams is a fantastic way to develop an understanding of the information in question.  Images are a huge component of memory and learning.  Creating illustrations to communicate a concept is a great way to test your knowledge.  Diagrams are also an excellent option when explaining a complex idea in little time without getting too wordy.

If you are on a constant quest for a study strategy that works for you, check out my free study planner and activity tracker.  This printable study guide template has more than 20 activities you can track over the semester.  It comes with a Pomodoro Planner so you can plan each study session.  Don’t waste a single moment of your study time.  Create a study guide to master each concept. 

Let’s be honest; we always fall back on the “Old Faithful” when nothing is planned.  Reading our textbook, rewriting notes, or creating flashcards over and over and over again.  However, there are other options out there.  Download the study guide template for free.

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What are diagrams, and Why are they Important?

A diagram is a graphic representation of the information you are trying to learn.  Diagrams are a great way to illustrate processes, cycles, and anything with spatial or visual components.  Adding diagrams to your notes is essential for a complete understanding of a concept.

Redrawing these diagrams from memory is a fantastic way to test your understanding.  It ensures that you can work with all of the details of the concept and have committed them to memory.  Adding dedicated study sessions where you quiz yourself by redrawing diagrams from your notes is a great way to incorporate active recall into your study sessions.

How to Test Yourself by Drawing Diagrams and Where do they Fit in your Study Strategy.

Adding this exercise to your study routine can help you test your memory and retention.  It’s also a fun and creative study activity that you can actually enjoy.  This strategy uses active recall to test your ability to remember and work with a concept in real time without any prompting.  This is clearly crucial during test time.

How to Test Yourself by Redrawing Diagrams:

Simply skimming through your notes is generally not a very effective study strategy.  However, you can transform that setback when you do this with purpose. 

1. Scan through your notes until you find a diagram. 

2. Once you find one, study it for 10 to 30 seconds, depending on your confidence level. 

3. Now, close your book and try to replicate the entire drawing from memory.

4. Once you have finished, compare it to the diagram in your notes.

5. Take a red pen and add in anything you left out

6. With that same red pen, circle anything you got wrong and correct it.

Repeat this process periodically to test your progress and learning of these concepts.  Keep it up until you have mastered each illustration. Using this same method, you can also do this with diagrams in your textbook.

Once you have a handle on an illustration and are ready to up the difficulty, you can create a list of diagrams with which you regularly quiz yourself.  When you decide to have this type of study session in the future, you can test yourself by redrawing the diagrams from the list without referencing the original illustrations.

This type of study activity can fit easily into any study plan.  Set aside time at least once a week to do this.  It’s a great alternative to practice quizzes and flashcards.  It can also help curb the boredom of your regular study sessions.

This exercise is also beneficial for creative types and visual learners.  Feel free to make the diagrams as intricate as needed.  For a little extra fun, you can also add some colour or stylize the illustrations to match your notes!

10 Reasons To Test Yourself By Redrawing Diagrams 

Testing yourself by redrawing diagrams is not only a creative and fun alternative to the typical study session but also has several benefits to help increase exam scores.  Using different methods to take in a piece of information and review it allows you to create more mental associations.  This intricate web of cues leading back to the information helps you retain and retrieve it when needed.

Let’s discuss some of the ways testing yourself by redrawing diagrams can benefit your test scores:

Redrawing diagrams from memory helps with recall.

A recent study discovered that drawing and redrawing diagrams could help you remember information.  Drawing the picture will add several layers of memory cues.  These additional memory cues mean that when it’s time to retrieve the knowledge, there are more clues to access it or paths to follow to find it.  This is especially useful when trying to remember cycles and spatial arrangements but can also help with words and definitions.  

Terminology is often used to describe a process or object.  Drawing the diagram associated with the word can help you to link the meaning.  This is especially beneficial to visual learners.

You can also extend this activity to flashcards.  Simply draw the diagram on one side with the terminology on the other.

Correcting your diagrams shows precisely what has been forgotten.

When you draw the image from memory and then compare it to the original, you can easily see what you have overlooked.  Either by adding it incorrectly or leaving it out altogether.

In the drawing process, individual labels and landmarks will trigger others and help to elaborate on the already known data.  The missing areas will stand out much more clearly as the diagram is fleshed out, allowing comparison with the original.

As you fill in these gaps or correct mistakes, you amend the information in your memory to help better recall these details for next time.  Drawing and redrawing the diagram from memory is a great way to test what you have retained.  Correcting this illustration afterwards helps demonstrate what you still need to learn.

Redrawing diagrams repeatedly induces muscle memory.

When reviewing a topic, try writing out everything you can remember about it to see where the holes are in your recall.  As you continue to draw the image over and over, you will intuitively be able to replicate it with less and less effort.  This ease of recollection is ideal as establishing a fluency with the required knowledge is an asset.  Test time is often hectic and anxious.  Being able to recall the information under this kind of pressure with little effort is ideal.

Diagrams are also a fantastic way to demonstrate your knowledge on an exam.  This is especially useful for the long answer and essay questions.  As you are trying to explain a concept, use this diagram to reference and illustrate precisely what you are describing.  This way, you can focus on intricate details, ensuring you get your exact point across to the marker.  Memorizing your diagrams ensures that this is possible.

Drawing out diagrams helps to demonstrate dynamic events and complex processes.

Events that are continually changing, as well as cycles, take a lot of time and effort to describe.  With a diagram, you can easily depict these actions with little effort.  Having the steps drawn out, labelled, and captioned, can help represent such a process.  For a visual learner, this is imperative. 

This exercise can also help to clarify complicated processes and add certainty to complex concepts.  The information does not always come to you in the order you want it to.  Drawing out the diagram, especially in a complicated process, allows you to work out complex steps by filling in the information as you remember it.

When you draw the diagrams over and over, you will recognize where the information goes and what steps are missing.  This will help you more easily answer questions about these processes.

Diagrams clearly and efficiently convey information.

During the exam, some ideas are just hard to describe.  You may be exhausted from hours of concentrating, or perhaps the answer is on the tip of your tongue, but you just do not know how to say it.  Drawing a diagram, labelling, and then referencing it is an excellent way to demonstrate that the information is known and understood, despite having difficulty describing it.

This logic can also help you apply the information to the current topics you are learning.  Drawing these diagrams until you can fully elaborate on what they are saying in the appropriate language can help you work with these complex concepts.  Explaining a topic using simple language is one way to demonstrate that you understand and can work with it.  Until you can do this fluently, you can create diagrams to help describe what you are trying to say before you have the words to say it.

Inserting or redrawing diagrams is a valid study activity.

To change up the “same old” study session, drawing and labelling, or redrawing diagrams from memory, can be a nice reprieve.  This is a simple way to test yourself when anxiety does not allow you to sit and read for hours.  Just go through the notes, stop at diagrams, and then close your book and draw them from memory. 

Going through your notes periodically to see if there are any new concepts to add new images is also a great idea.  As you understand concepts better, you may be able to visualize the information and create your own diagrams that help you explain them.  This is especially helpful for visual and spatial learners.  It is also a nice low-stress study activity you can do if you have a little extra time.

Try redrawing diagrams from your notes as a form of testing yourself.

Quizzing yourself and your fluency with concepts is the best way to establish what knowledge is accessible.  While it’s easy to feel confident with the information in front of you, you need to know how well you understand the information that’s not.

The best way to assess how well you can remember and retrieve information at exam time is by engaging in study activities that use active recall.  Some examples of this might be redrawing diagrams, taking practice quizzes, and using flashcards.  Each activity tests how well you can access concepts using only prompts.

When creating practice exams, add questions that require these diagrams. You can include questions that prompt mapping out a process.  You can also add the figure and leave arrows on the label.  This is great for both short answer and multiple choice questions.  Inserting a cycle and asking to describe how each step works is also an excellent exercise.

Diagrams enhance visual learning and understanding.

Memory, for many people, is primarily visual.  Turning a concept into a visual medium will help cement it in memory.  The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is valid.  Visualizing the topic is a recommended memory-enhancing technique.  Converting a complicated concept with an illustration can often show that a theory is understood better than an essay.    

Taking this one step further and drawing out the diagram and the requisite labels will add more memory cues to make a better impact.  Drawing out the information as you understand it also helps you to create a detailed connection to the input allowing you to conceptualize it better.  This works exceptionally well if you are struggling to understand it.  Sometimes it can help to pinpoint exactly what part of the concept you have trouble with.

Adding written descriptions to diagrams improves retention.

Adding labels and descriptions to sketches can help clarify understanding and enhance retention.  A simple summary paragraph attached to the diagram will provide memory prompts.  This description will further prove that the process is understood.  Summarizing a topic with simple words is the best way to demonstrate this.

Suppose steps become unclear when you return to a topic in a later study session.  In that situation, this paragraph will help you to clarify any misunderstandings.  It’s easy to assume that you will remember each detail of a diagram when you revisit it in the future.  The truth is this is often not true.

It is easy to forget the small details, even when an intricate diagram has been created and labelled.  Writing a summary paragraph can help to establish a concise explanation of any hard-to-remember information that may not be immediately obvious in the diagram.

Reading all the time gets boring while drawing lets your creativity flow.

While repetition helps with memorization.  Doing the same thing over and over every single day gets boring.  When you are bored, you are literally working against yourself, especially if you are trying to study.  Boredom eats away your focus and makes it nearly impossible to concentrate, seriously diminishing your ability to remember what you are working on.

Spicing up study time with different activities can not only break up the monotony but also help to retain information better.  Drawing images from memory can be a great use of a Pomodoro block.  This change of pace can shift thinking to a more creative outlet before an intense block of focusing on something intricate.

Best tools to get started 

I start out all of my diagrams in pencil.  This way, I can erase any mistakes or reorient my drawing if I run out of room.  My favourite pencil for both drawing and note taking is this Bic Velocity #2, 0.7mm mechanical pencil.  I do not have words to describe how smooth it is.  Because I hold my pens with a death grip, it’s incredibly comfortable even after hours of writing, drawing, and note-taking.

Once I have sketched my diagram, I start by drawing all the lines with a black fine-liner marker.  My standard every day is for this fine-liner felt marker.  Since it is 0.4mm, it lets me add intricate details and is smudge-free.  I use it for outlining, drawing tiny details, and labelling.

If the diagrams are very complicated, I will draw them on graph paper or trace them from the textbook using tracing paper.  These paper options are great to have on hand so I can ensure that each illustration is as accurate as possible.

Adding colours to your drawings is essential to making them as comprehensive as possible.  I am a big advocate for colour coding, making the diagram more dynamic and stimulating.  Being a visual learner, I also find it easier to remember illustrations when they are colourful.  I prefer pencil crayons for this because they are such a versatile medium.  I can blend the colours and control exactly how they appear in my notes. Markers are also an option when colouring your diagrams. 

If you like to stylize, your notes brush pens are a great option.   My favourite is Tombow because they are dual-tip.  They have the brush pens on one end and a fine-tipped marker on the other.   This way, I can keep everything coordinated on the same sheet of paper when switching back and forth between headings and labels

Mildliners are my highlighter of choice for the same reason.  They come in a whole array of colours and hues that allow me to set the mood for each set of notes.  I can still apply all my colour coding techniques using my colour key.  Each pack has a different theme and hue, so I can change the look of my notes while staying true to my established colour coding routine. 

Mildliners I also dual-tipped with the traditional highlighter style tip on one end with a fine felt tip on the other.  This means I can use the same colour for my highlighting while referencing or emphasizing parts of my diagram without having to colour match across brands.

I love stylizing and personalizing my notes because it is a fun, mindful exercise. I do this with my final copy of notes so that they are more aesthetic and organized to look at. This is not necessary, but it is something that I enjoy and helps me to feel good about my progress.

Incorporating diagrams into your study sessions and using them to test your recall of a concept is a fun and exciting change from boring reading sessions.  It’s also a fantastic active learning technique.  With the right tools and application, this study strategy will help you get the mark you want on your exams.

Integrating this testing method is simple and seamless.  With all the benefits to your learning, retention, and recall, it’s easy to see how this simple study strategy can help you to excel.

Don’t forget to pick up your free Study Planner and Activity tracker.  You can plan each study session to ensure that you review the information in various ways.  It has a tracker to record how you study each concept throughout the semester.  This will ensure nothing gets forgotten.  The tracker has more than 20 study activities you can log over the semester.  It’s free, and you can download it here.

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