Question about the Past Perfect Tense

What is the best way to say the sentence:

I tried to recollect some grammar rules that I had learned before.

or I should say:

I tried to recollect some grammar rules that I learned before?

IMHO, there's no difference in meaning, so it doesn't matter which you choose. Colloquially, I'd probably use “remember” instead of “recollect” and contract “I had” to “I'd”, but apart from that, either of them are perfectly acceptable.