Although the basic and already known-by-the-book study tips that have been around for years are still very effective, it never hurts to adopt new and psychologically advanced study habits to improve your focus and memory, especially as we reach finals week. Here is one very helpful and heavily recommended researched and verified study tip by the American Psychological Association.

It’s simple, but it is very recommended that students remember their material more than once. Jeffrey Karpicke, PHD, a psychology researcher at Purdue University says that “Study methods that involve remembering information more than once—known as repeated “retrieval practice”—are ideal because each time a memory is recovered, it becomes more accessible in the future.” Of course just cramming your brain with notes isn’t what is recommended, but instead implementing this repeated hack when going over notes. 

Karpicke started a study experiment where students studied vocabulary in a different language in 4 different ways: 1) Studying a list once, 2) Studying until they had successfully recalled each word once, 3) Studying until they had successfully recalled each word three times consecutively, and 4) Studying until they had recalled each word three times spaced throughout the 30-minute learning session.

A week later when the four groups were tested, it was discovered that the students that studied until they had recalled each word three times spaced throughout the 30-minute learning session remembered 80% of the words compared to the 30% of words memorized by the group that studied until they had successfully recalled each word three times consecutively. Even more interesting, the first group that studied the list only once memorized around or less than 1% of the words.

Although memory is different for every person and every student, the facts have proven themselves psychologically effective, and very helpful. Make sure to implement this into your finals studying, Saint Joe!