Best Study Techniques for Exams: Evidence-Based Methods That Actually Work

Every student has limited time before an exam. The difference between those who ace it and those who struggle is rarely about intelligence or hours logged. It is about which study techniques they use.

In 2013, a landmark review by Dunlosky and colleagues evaluated ten common study techniques and rated their effectiveness based on decades of research. The results were surprising: many popular methods like highlighting, re-reading, and summarizing received low utility ratings, while lesser-known techniques like practice testing and distributed practice were rated as having high utility.

This article breaks down the study techniques that actually work, explains the science behind them, and shows you how to combine them into an effective exam preparation strategy.

The Top-Tier Techniques

1. Practice Testing (Active Recall)

Effectiveness: High

Practice testing, also known as active recall or retrieval practice, means testing yourself on the material rather than passively reviewing it. This can take many forms: flashcards, practice exams, self-quizzing, or simply closing your notes and trying to write down everything you remember.

The research support for practice testing is overwhelming. A 2011 study by Roediger and Butler found that students who practiced retrieval retained 80 percent of material after one week, compared to 36 percent for students who only re-read. Critically, retrieval practice does not just help with rote memorization; it improves the ability to transfer knowledge to new contexts and solve novel problems.

How to apply it:

• Use flashcards to quiz yourself on key concepts. Flashcards World offers multiple study modes, including classic recall, multiple choice, and writing modes, each of which engages retrieval practice differently.
• After reading a chapter, close the book and write down everything you can remember. Then check what you missed.
• Use past exam papers or practice questions. If your professor provides them, they are the single best predictor of what the actual exam will look like.
• Study with a partner and quiz each other. Explaining concepts to someone else is a powerful form of retrieval.

2. Distributed Practice (Spaced Repetition)

Effectiveness: High

Distributed practice means spreading your study sessions over time rather than concentrating them into one or two marathon sessions. The science behind spaced repetition shows that this approach produces dramatically better long-term retention, even when total study time is the same.

How to apply it:

• Start studying weeks before the exam, not days. Even 20-minute sessions spread over two weeks will beat a 10-hour cram session the night before.
• Use a spaced repetition app like Flashcards World to automatically schedule your reviews at optimal intervals. The built-in spaced repetition algorithm handles the timing so you can focus on learning.
• Create a study calendar that allocates specific subjects to specific days, cycling through all your material multiple times before the exam.

3. Interleaving

Effectiveness: High (for certain tasks)

Interleaving means mixing different topics, problem types, or subjects within a single study session, rather than studying one topic exhaustively before moving to the next (which is called blocking).

A 2014 study by Rohrer, Dedrick, and Stencil found that students who interleaved math problem types scored 43 percent higher on a delayed test compared to students who practiced each type in blocks. Interleaving forces your brain to constantly identify which strategy or concept applies, which builds the discrimination skills you need during an actual exam.

How to apply it:

• When studying flashcards, mix cards from different chapters or topics rather than studying one chapter at a time.
• When doing practice problems, shuffle the problem types so you have to figure out which method to apply, not just execute a method you already know is correct.
• Alternate between subjects during a study session. Spend 25 minutes on biology, then 25 on chemistry, then return to biology.

Important caveat: Interleaving feels harder and slower than blocking. Students often perceive it as less effective, even when the objective results show the opposite. Trust the process.

4. Elaborative Interrogation

Effectiveness: Moderate to High

Elaborative interrogation means asking "why?" and "how?" about the facts you are learning. Instead of passively accepting that "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell," you ask: "Why is the mitochondria described as the powerhouse? How does it produce energy? Why is this function located in a separate organelle rather than the cytoplasm?"

This technique works by connecting new information to your existing knowledge, creating a richer network of associations that makes the information easier to retrieve later.

How to apply it:

• For every key fact in your notes, write a "why" or "how" question and answer it.
• When creating flashcards, include the explanation on the answer side, not just the bare fact. For tips on crafting effective cards, see our guide to studying with flashcards.
• Form study groups where members take turns explaining the reasoning behind concepts to each other.

5. Concrete Examples

Effectiveness: Moderate to High

Abstract concepts become much easier to understand and remember when you connect them to concrete, specific examples. This is one of the reasons case studies are so effective in fields like medicine, law, and business.

How to apply it:

• For every abstract principle you study, generate two or three specific real-world examples.
• Add examples to your flashcards. A card about "confirmation bias" becomes much more memorable with an example like "only seeking news sources that agree with your existing beliefs."
• When studying with a group, challenge each other to come up with novel examples for each concept.

The Middle-Tier Techniques

6. Self-Explanation

When you encounter a worked example or a solution, pause and explain to yourself why each step follows from the previous one. This is different from elaborative interrogation in that it focuses on procedures and processes rather than isolated facts. It is particularly effective for math, physics, and other problem-solving subjects.

7. Dual Coding

Combine verbal information with visual representations. Draw diagrams, create mind maps, or sketch out processes alongside your written notes. The dual coding theory suggests that information encoded in both verbal and visual formats creates two independent memory traces, doubling your chances of successful retrieval.

The Low-Tier Techniques (Popular but Ineffective)

Understanding which techniques do not work well is just as important as knowing which ones do.

Highlighting and Underlining

Despite being the most common study activity, highlighting has been consistently rated as low effectiveness. The problem is that it is entirely passive. Running a marker over text does not require any processing or understanding. Worse, it can create an illusion of familiarity: you see all the highlighted text and feel like you know it, but you have not actually tested your ability to recall it.

Re-Reading

Reading your notes or textbook a second or third time feels productive, but it produces minimal additional learning compared to other techniques. Like highlighting, it is passive and primarily builds familiarity rather than retrievable knowledge.

Summarizing

While more active than highlighting, summarizing is generally less effective than practice testing or elaborative interrogation. The exception is when summarizing is done from memory (which is really a form of retrieval practice) rather than while looking at the source material.

Building Your Exam Study Plan

Now that you know which techniques work, here is how to combine them into a practical study plan.

Four Weeks Before the Exam

• Organize your material. Identify every topic that could appear on the exam. Break each topic into its key concepts.
• Create flashcards for the most important facts, definitions, processes, and relationships. Use Flashcards World to create digital sets that you can study across all your devices.
• Begin spaced review. Starting early means each review session is short and manageable, and you get the full benefit of distributed practice.

Two to Three Weeks Before

• Shift to practice testing. Begin doing practice problems, past exams, or self-quizzing in addition to flashcard review.
• Use interleaving. Mix topics within your study sessions rather than grinding through one chapter at a time.
• Apply elaborative interrogation. For any concept that feels shaky, ask "why" and "how" until you can explain it in your own words.

One Week Before

• Focus on weak spots. Your spaced repetition data will show you exactly which cards and topics you struggle with. Prioritize those.
• Do full practice exams under timed conditions. This builds test-taking stamina and reveals any remaining gaps.
• Continue daily flashcard reviews. Even 15 minutes a day maintains everything you have built over the previous weeks.

The Night Before

• Do a light review of your flashcards. Focus on your most difficult cards, but do not try to learn new material.
• Get adequate sleep. Sleep is when your brain consolidates memories. A well-rested brain will outperform a sleep-deprived one that crammed an extra two hours.

How Flashcards Fit Into the Bigger Picture

Flashcards are not the only study tool you need, but they are uniquely powerful because they naturally combine active recall with spaced repetition, the two highest-rated study techniques in the research literature.

The key is to use flashcards as part of a broader strategy. Use your textbook and lectures for initial comprehension. Use elaborative interrogation and concrete examples to deepen your understanding. Then use flashcards to ensure you can reliably retrieve that knowledge when it counts.

Flashcards World makes this process seamless by providing multiple study modes, automatic spaced repetition scheduling, and cross-device sync so you can study wherever you are. Combined with the evidence-based techniques in this guide, it gives you a genuine advantage over students who rely on highlighting and re-reading.

Conclusion

The research is clear: the most effective study techniques are not the ones most students use. Active recall, distributed practice, interleaving, and elaborative interrogation consistently outperform passive methods like re-reading and highlighting.

The good news is that switching to evidence-based techniques does not require more time. It requires different habits. Start early, test yourself often, space out your reviews, mix your topics, and always ask "why." These small changes compound into dramatically better exam results and, more importantly, knowledge that lasts well beyond test day.

For more on specific applications of these techniques, explore our guides on how to memorize anything and learning languages with flashcards.