If you really want to learn something, stop cracking those books as much and take more tests. That’s the upshot of new research published in the journal Science. In it they had students read a chunk of text and then take a test which required them to recall what they read. A week later, they showed a 50% higher retention rate on the information from the passage than students using other techniques. So if you’re paying for your kids to get tutored, make sure they’re having your child do a healthy mix of practice tests and not just studying.

To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test [NYT]
Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping [Science]

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