What feels like the best way to prepare for a test is usually rereading. That works if the test is five minutes away. If the test is a week away, it works worse than testing yourself, and that's where most people lose points.
In one study, students either read a text four times or read it once and then wrote down what they remembered three times. After five minutes, the rereaders remembered the most. After a week, that had flipped: the students who tested themselves remembered clearly more. Yet the rereaders believed they would remember best. Another study showed that the best gap between review sessions grows the further away the test is.
Pick your path based on how far off the test is:
- A week or more away: test yourself, with a few days between each round.
- Tomorrow: test yourself on the most important material instead of rereading everything.
- Several months away: leave weeks between review sessions.
- Make your own test if you want to take it further.
A first step today: write five questions you think will be on the test. Answer them tomorrow without looking at the book.
What feels like the best way to prepare for a test is usually rereading. The text flows, you recognize everything, and it feels like you know it. That works if the test is five minutes away. If the test is a week away, rereading works worse than testing yourself, and that's where most people lose points. This article looks at what two studies say about studying for a test and gives you four paths based on how far off the test is.
What feels safest gives you the least
In 2006, Roediger and Karpicke had students study short texts in one of two ways. One group read the text four times. Another read it once and then, three times, wrote down everything they remembered, without being told what they'd missed. Half took the final test after five minutes, half after a week.
After five minutes, the rereaders remembered the most. After a week, it had flipped: the students who tested themselves remembered clearly more, and the difference was large. The interesting part is what the students themselves believed. Those who had reread four times were the most confident they'd remember the text, and those who had tested themselves were the least confident. Their sense of it pointed the wrong way.
- Reread four times Best after five minutes, worse after a week. Felt safest.
- Read once, test three times Worse after five minutes, best after a week. Felt least certain.
What feels safest today isn't what sticks on test day.
The study was about texts and facts, and it doesn't show that rereading is pointless. The first time you read, you need to understand. It's the second, third and fourth time that do more good if you spend them recalling what you read. Why effort fools us is covered in the guide to study techniques.
How big a gap you need
Spreading out your review works better than doing it all at once, but how far apart? In 2008, Cepeda and colleagues had more than 1,350 people learn a set of facts, review them after a gap of up to three and a half months, and take a final test up to a year later.
The answer was that the gap should grow with how long you need to remember. For a test a week away, the best gap was about one to three days. If you need to remember something for a year, the best gap was several weeks. Past the best gap, results dropped only slowly, so a gap that was too long cost less than one that was too short.
That means a test three weeks away isn't a problem to solve the night before. It's three or four short sessions spread out over the weeks.
Four paths, based on how far off the test is
A week or more away. For you if you have time but tend to leave everything to the end. Split the material into sections and test yourself on each section at least twice, with a couple of days in between. First step: put three short sessions in your calendar today, a couple of days apart.
Tomorrow. For you if you have one evening left. Don't reread everything; you won't have time, and it won't stick anyway. Pick out the most important material, turn the headings into questions and answer without looking. Spend your time on what you get wrong. First step: make ten questions from the headings and answer them before you open the book again.
Several months away. For you if you're studying for a big test, like an admissions test or a final exam. The key here is going back to old material with weeks in between, not just studying new material. Start every session with a few minutes on something you covered a long time ago. First step: write a list of everything you've already covered, and pick one item from the top of the list for your next session.
Make your own test. For you if you want to take it further, and it's the most demanding path. Write a whole test, with as many questions and the same time limit as the real one, and take it a few days before without any help. Grade it strictly. Whatever you miss is what your last few days should focus on. First step: write the first three questions of your own test today.
Spend your time where you get it wrong
It's tempting to test yourself on what you already know, because it feels good. But a question you get right every time has already done its job. Mark each question with how it went, and start your next session with the ones you missed. Don't drop a question because you got it right once. Answer it again a few days later, so you know it has stuck.
Work in short blocks with your phone in another room. How to set up the blocks is covered in the Pomodoro Technique, and if the test involves a lot of memorization, memory techniques can help with lists and sequences.
A first step today: write five questions you think will be on the test. Answer them tomorrow without looking at the book, and start your next session with the ones you missed.
This is the understanding and a first step. Atlas is where it becomes a habit. If you add Study & career as its own area, you'll find Plan the session, The hard part first and Deadline check as suggestions to make your own, and under Learning you'll find Teach it. You log every session and see, week by week, how your test prep is going. Try Atlas free for 7 days, and cancel whenever you want.