Understanding Recall Readiness

You've probably noticed a score in your Cerego reports that goes beyond completion. One that tries to answer "what do my learners actually know right now?" We've just updated how that score works. It's now called Recall Readiness, and it's simpler, more honest, and easier to interpret than what came before.

What is Recall Readiness?

Recall Readiness is the probability that a learner could recall something if you quizzed them on it right now. A score of 75% means roughly a 75% chance they'd get it right.

It goes up when people study. It goes down over time as memories fade. That's basically it.

How does it work?

Two things determine a learner's Recall Readiness for any item:

• How long ago they studied it. Memories decay. Something reviewed yesterday will have a higher score than something last touched a month ago.
• How strong the memory is. Repeated study over time builds stronger memories that decay more slowly. Five reviews spread over a few weeks produces a much more durable memory than one cram session.

For a single item, Recall Readiness is just the learner's current memory strength for that item.

For a set or course, it also accounts for how much of the content they've started. If someone has started 60% of a set and has 80% memory strength on what they've studied, their Recall Readiness is 48%. The score doesn't give credit for content they haven't touched yet.

What changed from the old Readiness Score?

The old score took the raw memory strength and ran it through a bunch of additional math: adjustments for review frequency, item characteristics, and other modifiers. The intent was to make a better prediction, but in practice it made the score harder to explain and sometimes produced results that didn't make sense.

We removed that extra layer. Recall Readiness reports memory strength directly. That means:

• You can explain it. "This learner has a 60% chance of recalling this material right now" is something anyone can understand.
• It reacts quickly. Study shows up in the score right away. So does time away.
• Low scores have an obvious cause and fix. Score dropped? They haven't studied recently. The answer is always more study.

Your scores might look different

If you've been watching these numbers for a while, expect some changes:

• Bigger spread. The old formula squeezed scores toward the middle. You'll now see higher highs and lower lows. That's not a bug. It's a more accurate picture.
• Steeper decay. Learners who haven't studied in a while will show lower scores than before. The knowledge was always fading; the score just wasn't showing it.
• Faster recovery. After a study session, scores bounce back right away.

What to do with it

• Find learners who need a nudge. Dropping scores mean fading knowledge. A timely reminder to review can make a big difference.
• Pick the right moment for assessments. If Recall Readiness is high across your group, it's a good time to test. If it's low, maybe send a review assignment first.
• Look past completion. Finishing a course and retaining what was in it are two different things. Recall Readiness tracks the second one.

Have questions? Reach out to your Cerego account contact or support team.