How to ace your next exam

It generally assumed that the way to improve your performance on a test of memory is to study as much as possible. But research has shown that there's something even better than studying: testing. The testing effect is the idea that being tested on material actually improves retention of that material. The testing effect is well-known in the cognitive psychology literature, but often seems under-appreciated in the field of education. Perhaps this is because although a short-term testing effect is well established, longer-term results are more dubious.

Larsen, Butler and Roediger (2009) wrote an article entitled "Repeated testing improves long-term retention relative to repeated study: a randomised controlled trial" in which they assess whether the testing effect holds over an extended period of time. They use a more realistic setup than some of the previous studies have utilized by training and testing medical residents on knowledge of two neurological situations.

In this study, the authors had 40 participants learn about the treatment of status epilepticus, and the diagnosis and treatment of myasthenia gravis. All of the participants took part in a highly-interactive one-hour teaching session that covered both topics. The residents were then assigned to two different groups.

In the first group, residents were repeatedly tested on status epilepticus and they repeatedly studied myasthenia gravis (testing SE, studying MG group). After the teaching session, this group took a test on the treatment of status epilepticus and studied a review sheet on myasthenia gravis. The tests were composed of short-answer questions and the review sheets consisted of identical information to that on the test answer sheets.

The second group was repeatedly tested over myasthenia gravis and they repeatedly studied status epilepticus (testing MG, studying SE group). After the teaching session, this group took a test on the treatment and diagnosis of myasthenia gravis and studied a review sheet on status epilepticus. After each test, the participants were allowed to check their answers.

Two weeks after the teaching session and the initial testing/studying, the participants repeated these tasks. The testing SE, studying MG group took a test on the treatment of status epilepticus and studied a review sheet on myasthenia gravis. The testing MG, studying SE group took a test on the treatment and diagnosis of myasthenia gravis and studied a review sheet on status epilepticus. This process was repeated again after another two weeks.

Finally, approximately six months after the testing session, all of the participants in both groups took a final test on both topics. The results are displayed below.






As you can see, for myasthenia gravis, the group that was repeatedly tested on MG outperformed the group that repeatedly studied MG on the final test by 17%. For status epilepticus, the group that was repeatedly tested on SE outperformed the group that repeatedly studied SE by 11%.

The results of this study show that testing not only serves as a tool for assessment, but additionally promotes learning.

Larsen, D.P., Butler, A.C., & Roediger, H.L. (2009). Repeated testing improves long-term retention relative to repeated study: a randomised controlled trial. Medical Education, 43, 1174-1181.

Additional studies on this topic:

Butler, A.C., & Roediger, H.L. (2007). Testing improves long-term retention in a simulated classroom setting. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19(4/5), 514-527.

Karpicke, J.D., & Roediger, H.L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319, 966-968.

Roediger, H.L., & Karpicke, J.D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(3), 181-210.