Recent research out of Washington University suggests a great study tip for students:

• One group of students studied a text passage for 5 minutes, and then were given 3 immediate recall tests on the material. [ study-test-test-test ]
• The 2nd group also studied the text passage for 5 minutes initially, but they were not given any tests. Instead, they were allowed to restudy the text passage for another 5 minutes each time their counterparts were involved in a testing session. In other words, they got to study the material for 20 minutes all together [ study-study-study-study], while the students in the 1st group got to study only 5 minutes.

The results are amazing: When tested 1 week later, the [study-test-test-test ] group scored dramatically better, remembering 61% of the passage versus 40% by the [ study-study-study-study ] group.

“The study-only group had read the passage about 14 times, but still recalled less than the repeated testing group, which had read the passage only 3.4 times in its one and only study session.”

For those of you whose study skills mainly involve reading and reading your notes & text, this should be a wake-up call. The take-home learning strategy and study tip to improve memory is that a large portion of your study time must involve finding and creating ways to test yourself- before the big exam date.

The above research was published in March issue of Psychological Science by Henry L. Roediger III, Ph.D.

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