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Become a better student · Module 1: Memory

Stop re-reading. Test yourself instead.

Re-reading your notes feels like revision. Pulling the answer out of your own head is what makes it stick.

Written by the Brainhub Editorial Team Cites published research Updated 13 Oct 2026 6 min read

Key takeaways

1. Why re-reading feels good

You read a page of notes. The second time through, it all looks familiar and the words flow. It feels like learning. But recognising something on a page is a much easier task than producing it from memory in an exam hall, with the page gone.

In 2013 a team of psychologists reviewed the research on ten popular study techniques. Re-reading and highlighting, two of the most common habits, were rated as having low usefulness. Testing yourself and spreading study out over time were the only two rated highly.[1]

2. What retrieval practice is

Retrieval practice means closing the book and pulling the information out of your head: writing it down, saying it out loud or answering a question. Every time you do this, the memory gets easier to reach next time.

In a well-known experiment, students read short factual passages. Some read them again. Others put the passage away and wrote down everything they could remember. Tested a few minutes later, the re-readers did slightly better. Tested a week later, the students who had practised recall remembered more, even though the re-readers felt more confident.[2]

If revision feels easy, it’s probably not doing much. A bit of struggle to remember is the sign it’s working.

3. Space it out

Testing works best when you come back to a topic after a gap, once you’ve started to forget it. A large review of spacing studies found that spreading the same amount of study across several sessions beats cramming it into one.[3]

For a GCSE topic you want to keep until May, a simple pattern is: test yourself the day after the lesson, again a week later, then again a month later.

When
What you do
Time
Day 1
Blank page: write down everything from today’s lesson
10 min
Day 7
Five flashcards or quiz questions, no notes
10 min
Day 30
One exam question on the topic, marked with the mark scheme
20 min

4. Three ways to start tonight

The blank page

Write the topic at the top. Set a 10-minute timer and write everything you know. Then open your notes and fill the gaps in a different colour. The gaps are your revision list.

Flashcards in boxes

Question on the front, answer on the back. Get one right and it moves to the next box, which you check less often. Get it wrong and it goes back to box one.

Questions, no notes

Do one past-paper question with your notes closed. Mark it yourself with the real mark scheme. Only then look up what you missed.

For parents: Swap “Have you revised?” for “Tell me three things you remember from today’s lesson.” It’s a retrieval test that takes a minute in the car.

Try it now

Test yourself on this page

Answer in your head first, then check.

  1. 1. Which two techniques did the 2013 review rate most useful?

  2. 2. In the experiment, which group remembered more after a week?

  3. 3. What is a good gap pattern for a topic you need in May?

Your next steps

  • Pick one topic from this week and do a 10-minute blank page tonight.
  • Put a reminder in your phone to test the same topic in 7 days.
  • Next time you sit down to revise, start with questions, not notes.

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Sources

  1. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
  2. Roediger, H. L. and Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
  3. Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T. and Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: a review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

This guide is general study advice. Every student is different. A teacher can help you work out what fits.