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Boing Boing

Memory hack: self-testing beats re-reading by 50%, research shows

Ellsworth Toohey
Mar 16, 2026
∙ Paid

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Students who test themselves on new material remember about 50% more than students who just re-read their notes. That’s the core finding from decades of retrieval practice research — and it runs counter to how most people actually study.

The typical study session involves reading, highlighting, and reading again. But the cogni…

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