What study techniques are truly effective? While science has provided insights for decades, education systems, especially in countries like Spain, often fail to impart this knowledge to students.
A comprehensive study, the largest conducted in Spain and globally focused on secondary school students, involving 3,414 participants, reveals that elaborative methods—finding personal meaning in the material—and retrieval practice—recalling information from memory, similar to taking a practice test—are strongly correlated with good academic performance. In contrast, common techniques such as rereading notes, highlighting, copying content, or rote memorization show little effectiveness.
This research was carried out by Héctor Ruiz Martín, director of the International Science Teaching Foundation and author on learning and memory; Marta Ferrero, vice dean of Research at the Faculty of Education, Autonomous University of Madrid; and Fernando Blanco, professor of Social Psychology at the University of Granada. Their findings were recently published in the American journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.
Fieldwork was conducted in 2023 across 27 diverse educational centers in Catalonia, ranging from Barcelona districts to small towns. These semi-private institutions were selected due to the difficulties in obtaining permits for public schools, yet the sample was socioeconomically diverse.
Most participants were ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) students, with a small number in Bachillerato (High School). Researchers administered two surveys during tutorial hours: one on study strategies and another on attitudes and beliefs about learning, spaced out to avoid fatigue-related distortions. At the end of the school year, the researchers received anonymized grade reports from the schools and analyzed the impact of different study techniques.
A staggering 80% of students reported never receiving formal training in study methods, despite it being their primary occupation for at least 10 years—the duration of compulsory education in Spain.
Key Findings
The study concluded that cognitively undemanding strategies like rereading, highlighting, or copying text do not correlate with better academic performance. Similarly, rote memorization was found ineffective.
Conversely, techniques involving elaboration and retrieval practice, which are supported by scientific evidence, showed positive correlations with performance. Elaboration involves understanding new information by connecting it with known concepts, thinking of examples, or explaining it in one’s own words.
Retrieval practice includes recalling learned material through various methods: self-quizzing, explaining the topic to a peer, using flashcards, or summarizing without looking at the source and then verifying accuracy.
An Unexpected Outcome
Another effective learning strategy, spaced practice—studying material multiple times with intervals in between—did not correlate with performance in this study, challenging the researchers' initial hypothesis, though similar findings have been reported in other studies.
“In our opinion, the traditional evaluation methods, which determine grades, do not reflect the quality of learning: Is it lasting and transferable? We know that cramming—intensive study just before an exam—is effective short-term but results in fleeting and rigid knowledge. On the other hand, spaced practice fosters more durable and flexible learning. However, current evaluation methods favor cramming, masking the benefits of spaced practice. Grades and learning are distinct,” explains Ruiz.
Spaced practice did not correlate with grades, nor did cramming. “This suggests that either method yields similar results in exams, at least in secondary education,” notes Ruiz, adding that results might differ in more demanding contexts like university or competitive exams. “Ultimately, it depends on the evaluation method.”
Despite not correlating with grades, spaced practice was linked to a genuine interest in learning. “Students motivated to learn are more likely to space their study sessions, unlike those focused solely on grades. Anxiety also negatively correlated with spaced practice, suggesting it could reduce stress,” adds Ruiz.
Confidence and Control
The study found a significant link between retrieval practice, elaboration, and self-efficacy, which Ruiz defines as “students' confidence in their ability to learn and overcome academic challenges.” These techniques also correlated with “control beliefs,” the confidence that learning success depends on the student’s efforts rather than external factors like teacher bias.
The research also confirmed that studying with music, a habit reported by one in four students, is not advisable, as it negatively correlated with academic performance. Conversely, studying in distraction-free environments was linked to better performance and reduced exam anxiety. However, music, especially if relaxing and without lyrics, might help students who lack a quiet study space by masking more disruptive noises.e in four students reported doing, is not advisable. It correlated negatively with academic performance. Studying in “distraction-free environments,” on the other hand, was associated with performance and reduced exam anxiety. Music, especially if relaxing and without lyrics, the authors of the article admit, might be useful for those students who do not have a quiet place to study, as a way to mask more disturbing noises.
