Brainhub guide
Mock season: revision that actually works
Of 10 popular study techniques, researchers rated only two as highly useful. Here is how to use them at home before the mocks.
Key takeaways
- A major 2013 review rated 10 study techniques. Only two, practice testing and spacing revision out, were rated highly useful.
- Highlighting and re-reading were rated as having low usefulness, yet they are what most students do.
- In one experiment, students who tested themselves recalled 61% a week later, against 40% for students who re-read.
- You don’t need to know the subject to help. Ask the questions, and let your child do the remembering.
1. Why this matters now
Many schools hold Year 11 and Year 13 mocks between November and January. Mocks are a dress rehearsal: they show what has stuck, and what needs work before the summer. How your child revises for them matters as much as how long they spend.
2. What the research says
In 2013, five psychologists reviewed the evidence on 10 study techniques that students commonly use. Only two were rated highly useful (“high utility”): practice testing (testing yourself) and distributed practice (spreading revision out over time). Both helped learners of different ages and abilities, on many kinds of test, including in real schools.[1]
Three were rated moderately useful: interleaved practice (mixing topics), elaborative interrogation (asking “why is this true?”) and self-explanation. Five were rated low: summarising, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic (memory tricks that link a word to a picture), picturing the text and re-reading.[1]
A later review of practice-testing studies, published in 2017, reached the same conclusion: practice tests helped learning more than restudying and every other method they were compared with.[4]
3. Why re-reading feels like it’s working
In one experiment, one group of students read a passage an average of 14.2 times. Another read it only 3.4 times on average but took repeated recall tests instead. A week later, the testing group recalled 61% of the passage and the re-reading group 40%, even though re-reading made students feel more confident.[2]
Most students still choose re-reading. In a survey of 177 university students, 84% said they re-read their notes or textbook, and 55% called it their main strategy. Only 11% tested themselves, and 1% put it first.[3]
Our lessons Stop re-reading. Test yourself instead and Why highlighting feels useful explain the science for students. Below is the parent’s version.
If revision feels easy, check it. A bit of struggle to remember is the sign it’s working.
4. Practice testing at the kitchen table
You don’t need to know any chemistry to help with chemistry. The answers are in your child’s notes. Your job is to ask, wait, and let them do the remembering.
Ask before they open the book
“What can you remember about this topic?” Two minutes of recall before revising shows what is missing.
You read, they answer
Hold the flashcards and read the questions aloud. Wrong answers go back in the pile for tomorrow.
The fridge brain dump
Five minutes, a blank sheet, everything they know about one topic. Then they check their notes and add the gaps in a different colour.
One question, notes closed
A single past-paper question, marked with the real mark scheme. Twenty minutes is plenty.
Swap one question: Instead of “Have you revised?”, try “Tell me three things you remember from today.”
5. A sample spaced-revision week
Spacing means coming back to a topic after a gap, rather than doing it all in one evening. In this week, every topic is learned once, quizzed a day or two later, and comes back again at the weekend. Our lessons Spread it out and A revision timetable you’ll actually keep show how to build the full plan.[1]
6. Keep it simple
The Education Endowment Foundation says approaches like these can make a meaningful difference to pupils’ learning, but that evidence on how best to use them in classrooms is still limited. So there’s no need for a perfect system. Follow your child’s school’s advice on topics, and help with the two habits that matter: recalling, and coming back.[5]
Want a plan for your child’s mocks?: Our teachers can help build a spaced, test-yourself revision plan in a free call.
Try it now
Test yourself on this page
Answer in your head first, then check.
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1. Which two techniques did the 2013 review rate as high utility?
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2. How were highlighting and re-reading rated?
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3. Do you need to know the subject to quiz your child?
Your next steps
- Ask your child which mocks are coming up, and when.
- Try one five-minute brain dump together this week.
- Sketch a spaced week with them on Sunday.
Sources
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
- Roediger, H. L. and Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
- Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A. C. and Roediger, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17(4), 471–479. Survey of 177 university students. doi:10.1080/09658210802647009
- Adesope, O. O., Trevisan, D. A. and Sundararajan, N. (2017). Rethinking the use of tests: a meta-analysis of practice testing. Review of Educational Research, 87(3), 659–701. doi:10.3102/0034654316689306
- Education Endowment Foundation (16 July 2021). What do we really know about cognitive science in the classroom? EEF publishes new review of the evidence. educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/new-what-do-we-really-know-about-cognitive-science-in-the-classroom-eef-publishes-new-review-of-the-evidence
This guide is general study advice. Every student is different. A teacher can help you work out what fits.