How to study effectively

Forget cramming, ditch the highlighter, and stop passively rereading. The
psychology of learning offers better tactics

by Paul Penn

Need to know
It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble. It’s the
things we know that ain’t so.
– quotation from the 19th century, likely apocryphal
The year was 1993 and, aged 16, I was about to sit my Geography GCSE
exam. This was an ‘old school’ style public examination, held in the school’s
gymnasium. A stifling odour of floor wax and dust hung heavy in the air.
Victorian-era single desks featuring ink wells that had been utterly redundant
for about three generations were arranged into rows with unerring precision.
The silence was so unnatural and oppressive, it seemed to have a tangible
density.

Nonetheless, I had crammed for this exam like a champion and was feeling
confident. I took a deep breath, opened my examination booklet and glanced
over the first page of questions. A gut-wrenching realisation quickly dawned
on me, captured perfectly by a single piece of graffiti etched into the haggard
surface of my desk. It read: ‘Oh Sh*t! There goes college, 1992.’

Clearly, I hadn’t been the only one whose confidence in their exam
preparation was misplaced. However, it wouldn’t be until I started teaching
psychology some 12 years later that I fully understood why. Here’s the bad
news: research from psychology indicates that our ability to accurately
monitor and evaluate our level of knowledge or skill (referred to as
metacognitive ability) is often flawed. These flaws tend to give us an inflated
perception of our knowledge and understanding, encouraging us to persevere
with ineffective methods of studying that quietly, but persistently, undermine
our efforts to learn. It’s easy to demonstrate this by examining some preferred
study practices and considering the misconceptions about learning that they
reflect. Let’s kick off things by looking at that perennial favourite: cramming.

Cramming seeks to stamp things in by intense application immediately before

the ordeal. But a thing thus learned can form but few associations.
– from Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s
Ideals (1899) by William James

We’ve probably all done it at some point. The evening before the big exam,
source materials sprawled out on the desk, a stockpile of energy drinks
substituting for the intravenous caffeine line that would be so much more
efficient (patent pending). Productivity is the order of the day, after all; it’s
cramming time. Sure enough, research confirms that cramming is a go-to
strategy for many students. However, since the late 19th century, research in
psychology has demonstrated that distributing your study time over a number
of shorter sessions works better than cramming all the work into one
marathon session. This is known as ‘the spacing effect’. It’s one of those rare
findings in psychology that goes pretty much uncontested, which makes it
even more perplexing that more of us don’t take advantage of it.

Another routine approach to study is to repeatedly reread sources. It’s not

difficult to explain why students rely on this approach. If you read a piece of
text repeatedly, that text will start to feel familiar. You will likely interpret this
feeling of familiarity as progress. Unfortunately, this perception of progress
is often illusory. It reflects a failure to consider a vital difference between
study and exam conditions: things always seem easy when you have the
answers in front of you. Inconveniently, most exams don’t allow you that
luxury.

A reliance on passively rereading material when studying also reflects a more

fundamental misconception about the nature of memory. We often view
memory as being akin to a somewhat unreliable camera; not so much an SLR,
more one of those Victorian jobbies – the kind that required 30 minutes of
exposure to capture a portrait, during which time the subjects had to remain
utterly still or else the photo would be ruined. This reproductive notion of
memory lulls us into thinking that successfully remembering a source boils
down to the amount of exposure we give it and that interacting with that
source will likely only ‘interfere with the shot’. However, thinking of memory
as if it worked like a recalcitrant camera is misleading and really unhelpful
when you’re studying.

Our memory doesn’t passively reproduce a source: it actively reconstructs it

according to our previous knowledge, experience and expectations. To stick
with the photographic analogy, the workings of memory are more like the
filters on a photo-editing suite than a camera. Using our memory effectively is
less about maximising exposure to a new source than figuring out how to use
our prior knowledge, experience and expectation filters to integrate that
source with what we already know.

Do not mistake activity with achievement.

– a favourite maxim of the US basketball coach John Wooden

As you can see, then, the most common approaches to studying are often not
what psychologists would recommend. I’m painfully aware that even when
faced with evidence that study methods such as cramming and rereading are
relatively ineffective, you’ll probably still harbour an inclination to fall back on
these habits. You might argue: ‘Cramming has got me this far, so it can’t be
completely ineffectual.’ You’d be right; it isn’t completely ineffectual.
However, there are far superior alternatives, especially if your goal is to retain
what you’re studying for any length of time. Had I studied properly for my
geography exam all those years ago, I might now be able to remember more
than just the names of four of the mechanisms of coastal erosion. (Not that
this doesn’t make me a blast to sit next to at dinner, you understand.)
So, having identified a few studying approaches that aren’t all they’re cracked
up to be, let’s consider some more effective alternatives. The approaches I’m
about to advocate are good practice irrespective of what subject you are
studying and do not require any prior knowledge of psychology to implement.
By making fairly basic changes to the way you study, you can improve your
learning, follow the example of high-achieving students, and turn the process
of studying from a chore that must be endured into an activity that can be
enjoyed.
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What to do
Space out your study sessions

As noted above, it’s better to distribute the time you have available to study
over a greater number of shorter sessions than it is to cram your studying into
a single marathon session. In thinking about exploiting this ‘spacing effect’ in
your own studying, you might wonder whether there is an optimal method of
spacing out your study sessions. Is there an ideal number of sessions? Is there
an optimal interval between sessions?

The good news is that simple guidelines on scheduling your study sessions are
sufficient. In terms of the number of sessions you use, too few is more of a
problem than too many. If you have 12 hours to dedicate to a topic, it’s better
to study over six two-hour-long sessions than it is to study over a couple of six-
hour-long sessions. In terms of the length of intervals between your
sessions, research indicates that longer intervals tend to be associated (up to
a point) with better retention. However, since studying often takes place in a
limited timeframe, you should prioritise the number of sessions over getting
the longest possible inter-session intervals.

Alternate between studying similar topics

We often believe that it’s best to ‘block’ topics when studying – to allocate a
period of time for one topic, and to conclude a review of it before moving on to
the next one. However, contemporary research has consistently indicated that
alternating between different topics (referred to as ‘interleaving’) can be more
effective, especially for topics that are similar in nature and might otherwise
be easily conflated.

As an example, if you were learning about psychoactive drugs (for a friend, of

course), you’d probably want to look at different classes of drugs: eg,
stimulants, depressants and hallucinogens. Broadly speaking, you could deal
with these topics in one of two ways: blocking or interleaving. The blocking
approach would involve studying each class of drug sequentially; you would
conclude your review of stimulants in their entirety before moving on to
depressants and then hallucinogens. Alternatively, you could interleave the
classes of drugs by organising your studying around categories of information
within them. For example, their definitions, exemplars, mechanism of action
and profile of psychological effects. Interleaving would involve first looking at
a definition for each class of drug, before moving on to an example from each
class, followed by their respective mechanisms of action, and then finally their
profiles of psychological effects.

Here’s a general rule of thumb you can follow in figuring out whether it might
be better to block or interleave your study efforts. Research indicates that
interleaving seems to bias your attention towards looking
for differences between topics. Therefore, it’s most effective when you’re
studying topics that are similar (and require more effort to distinguish from
each other). It’s also effective under conditions where you have discretion
about assigning information to a category, as might be the case if you were
classifying works of art. In contrast, blocking seems to focus your attention on
looking for similarities between topics. Therefore, it’s best used for topics that
can be easily distinguished and/or when category membership has been
predetermined, such as would be the case if you were learning about elements
of the periodic table.

Focus on constructing your own understanding of a topic, not

reproducing someone else’s

In the ‘Need to Know’ section above, we noted that memory is fundamentally

reconstructive, as opposed to reproductive, in nature. If you rely on passively
rereading your course materials, you’ll tend to end up using your memory to
try to reproduce the author’s understanding of the subject rather than
generating your own. So, what is the best catalyst for generating your own
understanding of what you read? The answer is to question what you read as
you’re reading it. By responding to your own questions, you are forcing
yourself to think about how to explain the subject matter in your own words
and with reference to your previous knowledge and experience.

You can use an approach called elaborative interrogation to systematically

incorporate the process of questioning into your reading. This technique
involves annotating your sources with questions that require an explanatory
response from you. You can provide this response verbally, initially using your
sources for assistance. Do this iteratively with the aim of eventually not
needing to consult your sources at all during the process of responding to
your questions.

In using elaborative interrogation, try to focus on explanation as much as you

can; your aim is to make the information as meaningful to you as possible.
Phrasing your questions so they begin with ‘why’ or ‘how’ will help you do
this, as will thinking about concrete examples of more abstract concepts. For
example, you might annotate this section with the question: ‘Why is
responding to your own questions conducive to the reconstructive nature of
memory?’

Make retrieval practice an integral part of your studying

Given that people often study to prepare for an exam of some kind, it’s ironic
that we tend to favour approaches such as rereading over testing our ability to
retrieve information from memory (retrieval practice). Testing is not just a
way of measuring learning; it can also be a powerful mechanism of learning.
This is another one of those findings in psychology that is so robust as to now
be considered axiomatic. It’s referred to as the testing effect.

Contrary to how it might feel, both success and failure to retrieve information
are helpful for your memory. Both outcomes serve to calibrate confidence in
your perception of your knowledge. This is invaluable information in orienting
your studying so that it is based on evidence of progress rather than
guesswork! When studying, it’s not what you think you know that matters, but
rather what you can prove you know. Strange, isn’t it? You probably always
thought of tests as your nemesis and studiously tried to avoid them. Yet that
whole time, you could have used them as a tool of learning.

You should not make the mistake of dismissing retrieval practice as a cynical
exercise in ‘learning to a test’. Its usefulness is not limited to scenarios where
you know what questions will be featured in a forthcoming exam. Nor does its
effectiveness depend upon congruence between the content or format of your
retrieval practice and the exam you eventually take. Furthermore, the benefits
of retrieval practice are not simply limited to facts; they also extend to
concepts and the transfer of knowledge from one domain to another.

You can incorporate retrieval practice organically into your studying by using
the read, recite, review (3R) approach. This involves reading a short passage
of text, putting the source to one side and trying to recall the information in
your own words, before checking your recall against the source for factual
accuracy. You repeat these steps until you are satisfied with your ability to
capture the meaning (not words) of the source material in question. If you
type out your attempts to recite information from your sources rather than
just verbally recall them, you’ll be organically producing notes that capture
your understanding of the material.

Don’t just highlight material, think about it

By this point you will have gathered that interaction with your sources is
important in studying effectively, but you should know that not all types of
interaction are created equal. For example, highlighting text is a method
that’s widely used by students. Ostensibly, this seems like a perfectly sensible
thing to do when studying. Explicitly identifying the most important parts of a
source should help focus your attention by filtering out less relevant material
and reducing the burden on your memory.

However, the literature on the effectiveness of highlighting makes for

unhappy reading, especially if you own a stationery shop. On the rare
occasions where a study has shown highlighting to have a positive effect on
learning, it’s not been the act of highlighting per se that is behind the effect.
Rather, it’s the thinking behind what is being highlighted – why the
highlighted information is significant – that counts. Indeed, research indicates
that the people who report using highlighting most frequently tend to do it the
least effectively and get the least benefit from its use. I know it’s nice to think
that a highlighter works like an optical scanner with a direct connection to
your long-term memory, but it is no substitute for mentally engaging with the
text.
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Key points – How to study effectively

 You can’t rely on intuition about how well your studying practices are working
for you. Intuitive judgments of learning are often inaccurate and tend to
produce an inflated perception of progress.

 Avoid defaulting to habitual, passive approaches to studying such as rereading

and highlighting sources. These do not take advantage of the reconstructive
nature of memory, and make it more tedious and less effective.

 Systematic engagement with the meaning of your source material is the key to
successful studying.

 Rather than cramming your studying into an extended session before the
exam, it’s much more effective to distribute the time you have available for
studying over a larger number of shorter sessions.

 When you are studying similar topics that might be easily confused, it’s a good
idea to interleave your studying – to alternate between the topics during your
study sessions. This can help you identify the differences between the topics
and reduce the chances of them being conflated.

 You should view self-testing as an integral part of your studying. One way to do
this is the read, recite and review (3R) method: read a section of text, set it
aside as you try to recall its content in your own words, and then check your
recall, repeating as necessary.

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Learn more
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
– from the novella ‘Worstward Ho’ (1983) by Samuel Beckett

When exams are on the horizon, it’s understandable that you want quick and
easy results from your efforts to study. We’ve noted that one reason that
relatively ineffective approaches to studying remain popular is because they
are often straightforward to implement and give a favourable (if often illusory)
impression of learning.

In contrast, the approaches I’m advocating in this Guide do take a little more
effort and thought to implement. Initially, they will also seem to provide less
reassuring signs about your progress. Your initial efforts at retrieval practice
are very likely to indicate that your grasp of your source materials isn’t as firm
as you had thought. You will probably find this rather disconcerting and might
even take it as evidence that your efforts aren’t working. But, in fact, the
exact opposite is true: you are studying more effectively and are more likely to
retain what you study in the long term.

You might be tempted to use technology, such as mobile phone applications,

to ease your burden when studying. I would suggest caution in this respect.
The very device you’re using to access that application is also a portal to a
world of online friends, shopping, funny cat videos and an array of other
instantly gratifying ways to procrastinate. You probably won’t be massively
surprised to learn that multimedia multitasking is really not helpful to your
efforts to study. Don’t worry, I’m not about to advocate that you ditch your
trusty PC and study using a stone tablet and chisel. However, I would suggest
that you disable any of the alerts you might normally get from social media,
email or any of your installed applications when you’re studying. These will
serve only to distract you and take you away from the task at hand.

The lesson from the past few decades of research in cognitive psychology is
that studying (and learning generally) is a bit like visiting the gym: if you want
the best results, you have to sweat a bit. The methods advocated
above create ‘desirable difficulties’; they trade a bit of short-term pain for
long-term gain. It is the expectation that learning should be easy and error-
free, and the conflation of good short-term performance with longer-term
learning, that is harmful.

The fruits of effective studying might be a little harder-won than you would
have liked, but don’t think this means that they invariably take much longer to
obtain. Research into the study habits of high- and low-achieving
students suggests that the former don’t spend much more time studying per
se. Rather, they spend more time doing things such as organising and thinking
about their source material, in addition to articulating it in their own words.
Effective studying is more a question of how you study than how much of your
life you devote to it.
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