Better Ways to Study

Self-test, self-test, self-test

Self-testing is the act of assessing your knowledge by practicing test questions. Retrieval practice is the act of remembering information to answer a question. Self-testing forces you to actively recall information, which strengthens your memory and understanding and is more effective than passive activities like rereading textbooks, looking over your notes or “restudying.”

Some self-testing strategies are more effective than others (Dunlosky et al., 2013, Gurung and Dunlosky, 2023). Use these research-backed options to make your study more efficient and effective, mimic the exam experience, and reduce your stress along the way.

Person taking test at desk

4 Self-Testing Strategies

  1. Test yourself early in your study process. You don't need to know the right answer to start testing yourself, you’ll learn it as you repeat your practice.
  2. Test yourself using the question-types on the exam (practice problems, multiple choice questions, essay questions). Practice in the format that you'll need to perform in; flashcards have limitations and should be used sparingly!
  3. Create your own questions, then answer them. This gets you thinking about the material and what's important.
  4. Find example problems. This can be from homework, lecture, study guides, or your work with classmates to make and exchange problems with each other.
Study materials with a notebook that has "Friday EXAM!" written in it.

Space Your Study Out

Your brain relies on repetition to remember information and uses its sleep cycles to consolidate memories. When study sessions are spread out, you retain information better in your long-term memory (Doyle & Zakrajsek, 2019). Spacing out or distributing your study over multiple learning sessions results in better recall and test performance (Gurung & Dunlosky, 2023).

Spacing out study may mean forgetting and having to relearn; as frustrating as this feels, it's actually helping you retain the information for longer. Another bonus? Shorter study sessions can support improved concentration and focus.

5 Strategies to Effectively Distribute Your Study

  1. Identify how much time you need each week to study, learn new concepts, and practice using them. If your exam is coming up, try the 7-day study plan if your schedule permits, or emergency studying if the exam is coming up quick. 
  1. Revisit material and restudy previously studied content. While you may need to spend 80% of your study time on new content each week, try to dedicate 20% of your time to old content each week, too. 
  1. Use different study activities for different sessions. Varying your practice creates multiple pathways back to that information in your brain, try out different study activities with your content.  
  1. Monitor your recall. Forgetting information is a common, but continued practice over multiple sessions will help you monitor what you can remember and what still needs reinforcement (Gurung and Dunlosky, 2023).  
  1. Build sleep into your schedule. Deep sleep helps consolidate information and make connections to existing knowledge, moving the information into long-term and more stable memories (Doyle and Zakrajsek, 2019).  

BONUS! Plan time to reflect on your approach. What's working, what isn't, what can you change, and what needs to stay the same? Schedules aren't always flexible, but what can your learn from small changes?