Do not treat highlighting, rereading, and writing summaries as your main study methods

What students use most is highlighting and rereading, yet among ten common study methods both sit in the lowest band. Writing summaries, the keyword method, and imagining pictures for a text also sit in the lowest band. They are not useless, only useful under narrow conditions; the same time spent on self-testing pays better.

Cost

No money; it saves time instead. The hard part is that these feel the easiest and most like "I am studying."

Benefit

A review that rated ten common learning methods by "whether the effect generalizes across learning conditions, student traits, materials, and assessment formats." Rated highest: practice testing and spaced practice. Rated moderate: elaborative interrogation, self-explanation, interleaved practice. Rated lowest, five methods: writing summaries, highlighting (or underlining), the keyword method, imagining pictures for a text, and rereading. The review states that most students say they use rereading and highlighting, but neither steadily raises scores. The review says they should be replaced with other methods, for example practice testing instead of rereading.

Notes

This is not a ban on underlining. Underlining can mark "which spots to self-test in a moment"; the problem is treating underlining itself as studying. The review also says the lowest band is not zero; the conditions where these methods work are narrow and need more research. For replacements see item 14 (close the book and self-test) and item 15 (spread the same time over several days).

Sources · 1

1. Dunlosky J, Rawson KA, Marsh EJ, Nathan MJ, Willingham DT (2013). Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266