Whether you are a student or a parent, at school or university, a child or an adult, you have probably already experienced this frustrating situation: hours of intense revision followed by an inexplicable blackout on the day of the exam. This (discouraging) experience is not inevitable. Your brain is not failing, it may just be that you did not have the right revision method.

How to make the most of your resources without spending more time with your nose in your notebooks? Based on research in psychology, old and more recent, here is a look at some effective learning strategies… and free ones  !

Create links between courses

Have you ever learned something by simply rereading it? A common mistake is to confuse simple rereading with active learning. If you reread a text, sometimes almost mechanically, hoping to force the information into memory, it is far from optimal. This approach, although tempting in its simplicity, turns out to be one of the least effective for lasting learning.

Our brain is not a simple receptacle of information, but a connected and dynamic organ that actively constructs its knowledge. To learn effectively, you have to get involved in reading. This is valid for most learning. For example, in football, even though I have seen Trent Alexander-Arnold’s magnificent passes hundreds of times , I am far from being at the same level as this player, in particular because I do not train actively as often as he does.

In short, to learn, active engagement with the material to be learned is fundamental. Concretely, this can consist of systematically reformulating concepts in one’s own words, explaining them to someone else for example, which can even help to solve problems more easily .

Another way to be active is to create connections with existing knowledge, because we learn better by connecting new information to concepts we already know  : this is the expertise effect. Finding applications of knowledge can also help: using concrete examples and real-life situations is a way to learn actively and effectively.

Self-test your knowledge

Active retrieval is one of the pillars of effective learning. This concept, validated by decades of research in cognitive psychology , consists of making the effort to actively remember information rather than passively rereading it. Memory works like a path: the more we take it, the easier it becomes to access.

Concretely, to put active retrieval into practice, we can use the blank page technique (i.e., do free recall) . After reading a section of your course (it is useful to read, as long as we don’t do only that), close your book and write down everything you remember, without censoring yourself. If this method may seem difficult at first, it is extraordinarily effective, because we take the path to retrieve the information.

You can also create your own exam questions and answer them later without your notes. Better yet, exchange your questions with others. In concrete terms, using flashcards is particularly effective , especially if you create the cards yourself. Instead of simply reading the answer, force yourself to formulate it before checking. This approach requires more active effort, and it is precisely this active effort that reinforces learning.

Space out learning

Spacing out your learning is a strategy that is as interesting as it is often overlooked. Instead of concentrating all your revisions in a short period by doing massed learning (the famous cramming), spread them out over time. With equal work time, all the research in the world for decades shows that this approach multiplies long-term memorization.

But why doesn’t everyone do it then? First, because not everyone knows this technique. And even when you do, you have to organize a schedule and stick to it. To make things easier, the optimal schedule for learning should follow a progressive pattern. For example, start with a first review a few hours after the initial learning, then review again the next day. A third session should take place a week later, followed by a fourth a month later.

Bonus: You can combine retrieval and spacing by doing spaced retrieval . By actively retrieving, spaced out over time, you can learn what you want over time. This method is so powerful that it has long been used to help people with Alzheimer’s disease memorize .

Vary the information channels

Our memory loves variety! The more different senses you engage in your learning, the more connections you create and the stronger your memory becomes. This is called multimodal learning . This approach involves using different sensory channels to process information.

In practice, use annotated diagrams, colored mind maps, or record your explanations and listen to them later. Using gestures and movements can also reinforce memorization: this is the action realization effect . To go further, you can even create stories or songs to gain multimodality.

By applying these learning principles, you will gradually transform the way you study. Remember that changing habits takes time, so the first lesson is patience. The important thing is to start integrating these strategies gradually into your routine.

Author Bio: Mathieu Hainselin is a Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at University of Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV)