Study guides
Short, sourced answers to the questions students really ask. Every number links to its study.
How to study effectively, according to the research
Ten study techniques compared in a 2013 review. Two earned a high rating, practice testing and spacing. Here is how to use them.
Read the guide →Active recall, why quizzing yourself beats rereading
Reading once then quizzing three times gave 61% of ideas recalled after a week, against 40% for rereading four times (Roediger, 2006).
Read the guide →Spaced repetition, how long to wait between two reviews
Spacing beats massing. The best gap between two sessions depends on how far away the exam is, with the benchmarks from Cepeda’s 2008 study.
Read the guide →What Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve really shows
Ebbinghaus measured time savings, not percentages of memory. The 1885 values and the Dros replication side by side, with what they mean.
Read the guide →Does learning by teaching work? What research says about the protégé effect
Explaining a topic to someone can help you remember it, especially without notes. What Nestojko, Fiorella and Koh found.
Read the guide →Why rereading your notes is not enough
Rereading four times gave 40% of ideas recalled after a week, against 61% with self-quizzing (Roediger, 2006). The illusion of mastery explained.
Read the guide →How to make flashcards that actually work
A good card asks a question and makes you produce the answer from memory. What Rowland, Kornell, Slamecka and Rawson found.
Read the guide →How to make a study schedule before an exam
A week-by-week study schedule built on Cepeda’s best-gap findings (2008) and Rawson and Dunlosky’s successive relearning.
Read the guide →Does cramming the night before an exam work?
Spacing beat cramming the night before for 90% of Kornell’s participants. What you can do better when you have no choice but to cram.
Read the guide →Does interleaving, or mixed practice, really help you study?
Mixing exercise types instead of grouping them. What Rohrer and Taylor (2007) and the Dunlosky review (2013) show.
Read the guide →Is highlighting your notes actually useful?
Highlighting or underlining gets a low utility rating in the Dunlosky review (2013). Why it feels good, and what to do instead.
Read the guide →Sleep and memory, why sleeping after you study matters
What Jenkins and Dallenbach (1924), Rasch and Born (2013) and Murre and Dros (2015) describe about sleep after learning.
Read the guide →
Lumi is waiting to study with you
Teach it your first card tonight.
