What Is the Best Way to Study?

Active Recall Beats Passive Re-Reading

Research on learning consistently shows that testing yourself on material — actively trying to recall it from memory — leads to much stronger long-term retention than simply re-reading notes or highlighting a textbook. Re-reading feels productive because the material becomes familiar, but familiarity isn't the same as being able to retrieve the information later. Practical active recall methods include closing your notes and writing down everything you remember, using flashcards, and explaining a concept out loud as if teaching someone else.

Spaced Repetition and the Pomodoro Technique

Spaced repetition involves reviewing material at increasing intervals over time rather than cramming it all at once — reviewing today, then again in two days, then a week later, and so on. This matches how memory naturally works, reinforcing information right before you'd otherwise forget it. The Pomodoro technique complements this by breaking study sessions into focused 25-minute blocks separated by short breaks, which helps maintain concentration and avoid the mental fatigue that comes from long, unbroken study sessions.

Habits to Avoid

Cramming the night before an exam produces short-term familiarity but poor long-term retention, and it increases stress, which itself impairs memory recall. Multitasking while studying — switching between social media, messages and study material — fragments attention and significantly slows down learning compared to focused, single-task study sessions. Studying in the same passive way every time (like only re-reading) without mixing in active recall or practice testing also tends to create a false sense of mastery that falls apart under exam conditions.