Let me save you some time: highlighting your textbook doesn't work. Neither does re-reading your notes five times. I know it feels productive. It's not. Decades of cognitive science research tell us what actually works — and most students aren't doing it.
1. Active recall (testing yourself)
Instead of re-reading chapter 5, close the book and try to write down everything you remember about chapter 5. This is uncomfortable — you'll realize how little you retained — but that struggle is exactly what makes your brain form stronger memories.
A landmark 2011 study by Karpicke and Blunt found that students who practiced retrieval (testing themselves) remembered 50% more material a week later compared to students who used elaborate study techniques like concept mapping.
How to do it: After each study session, close your materials and write a summary from memory. Use flashcards. Ask an AI tutor to quiz you. The format doesn't matter — what matters is that you're pulling information out of your brain, not just putting it in.
2. Spaced repetition
Cramming the night before works for tomorrow's test. It fails spectacularly for long-term retention. Your brain consolidates memories during sleep, and it needs multiple sleep cycles with the same material to really lock things in.
Spaced repetition means reviewing material at increasing intervals: today, then in 2 days, then in 5 days, then in 2 weeks. Each review right before you're about to forget strengthens the memory dramatically.
How to do it: Start studying at least a week before any exam. Use an app or study planner that schedules reviews for you. Even spacing out your study into two shorter sessions on different days beats one long session.
3. Interleaving (mixing topics)
This one is counterintuitive. Instead of studying all of chapter 3, then all of chapter 4, then all of chapter 5 — mix problems from all three chapters together in one session.
It feels harder and slower. Your accuracy during practice will be lower. But your performance on the actual test will be significantly higher. Why? Because interleaving forces your brain to practice identifying which approach to use, not just how to execute an approach you already know is coming.
How to do it: When doing practice problems, don't do 20 problems of the same type. Do 5 from each of 4 different topics, shuffled randomly.
4. Elaborative interrogation (asking "why?")
When you learn a fact, ask yourself why it's true. "The heart has four chambers." Okay — why? What would happen with three? Why not five?
This forces you to connect new information to things you already know, which creates richer memory networks. It's simple, it's fast, and it works across every subject.
How to do it: After learning any new concept, spend 60 seconds asking yourself "why?" and "how does this connect to what I already know?" You can also ask an AI tutor to explain the reasoning behind facts — it's great at this.
5. Dual coding (words + visuals)
Your brain processes text and images through different channels. When you combine both — reading an explanation AND looking at a diagram — you create two separate memory traces, making recall much easier.
This doesn't mean making your notes pretty with colored pens (sorry, aesthetic study accounts). It means drawing a quick diagram or flowchart alongside your written notes. Ugly is fine. The point is having both a verbal and visual representation.
How to do it: For every major concept, create a simple visual — a diagram, timeline, flowchart, or comparison table. It doesn't have to be artistic. Stick figures are fine.
The meta-point
Notice that all five techniques have something in common: they're slightly uncomfortable. They require more effort than passive re-reading. That effort is the point. Learning that feels easy usually isn't learning — it's just familiarity. Real learning involves struggle, and that's okay.