Focus & Memory
Build Better Study Habits
Good study habits are the planning, methods, environment and rest that let what you study actually stay with you for an exam or a course. This page covers how to organise your study time, which methods the research supports, and how sleep, distractions and exam nerves fit in.
General information, not medical advice. Last updated October 31, 2026. Written by the AlternativeMed editorial team. Not medically reviewed.
Start here
- Swap some rereading for self-testing. Close the book and try to recall or write down what you can, then check. In a classic study, students who were tested remembered substantially more a week later than students who simply restudied, even though restudying made them feel more confident.
- Spread your study over several days instead of one long session. A large review of spacing studies (839 comparisons in 317 experiments) found that spaced learning beats cramming, and the best gap between sessions grows the longer you need to remember something.
- Protect your sleep, especially in the days before an exam. Across studies of children, teenagers and students, poor sleep, short sleep and daytime sleepiness are all linked, modestly, to poorer results.
Be careful with
- Study methods help most when they fit the material and your time. Most of the strong evidence comes from laboratory and classroom studies, often with short tests, so treat the advice as a good starting point and adjust it to your own course, rather than a guarantee of better marks.
- Do not use someone else's prescription stimulant medicine, energy-drink stacks or heavy caffeine to push through study. Surveys show some students do this to focus, but we found no good evidence it improves learning, and sleep loss and side effects work against you.
- If you are studying hard but things are not sticking, or study is bringing constant dread, hopelessness or loss of interest, that is a reason to talk to a doctor or a student support service, not to study harder. Nothing here replaces advice from your own doctor, and nobody should stop a prescribed medicine because of a website.
Get help when
- Talk to a doctor or your school or college support service if you have always struggled to read, organise, sit still or hold attention on tasks even with good habits. Learning differences, attention difficulties, vision or hearing problems, anxiety and low mood can all make studying much harder and are treatable or supportable. See ADHD in adults and our guide to medicines that affect memory and focus.
- Seek help if exam worry is so strong that you cannot sleep, avoid sitting exams, feel physically unwell, or have panic attacks. Effective support exists. See anxiety disorders, panic attacks and therapy for anxiety and stress.
- Low mood lasting two weeks or more, loss of interest in things you used to enjoy, or hopelessness needs a doctor, not more study. If you have any thoughts of harming yourself, contact emergency services or a crisis line in your country right away.
- Seek urgent medical care for sudden confusion, a sudden change in thinking, trouble speaking or a severe headache. Struggling to learn new things together with fast-worsening memory is also a reason to see a doctor; see memory changes: when to get help.
About Build Better Study Habits
What this goal means
Study habits are the repeatable things you do when you learn for a course or exam: when you study, how you plan it, what you actually do with the material, where you sit, what pulls your attention away, and how you rest. Building them means setting up a routine that is realistic for your life and uses methods that work, rather than relying on last-minute effort.
The research is clearer about methods than about willpower. A major review of ten popular learning techniques rated practice testing and spacing your study as high utility, and rereading and highlighting as low utility, even though students use them most.
1Common experiences
People often describe studying for hours but feeling that little has stayed in, rereading notes that feel familiar but vanish in the exam, putting things off until the pressure builds, being pulled away by a phone, and sitting down without a clear idea what to do first.
Rereading feels productive because the material looks familiar. In one classic experiment, repeated restudying made students more confident they would remember, but testing themselves produced better memory days later. Feeling fluent and actually knowing something are not the same thing.
2Contributing factors
Common contributors are leaving study until close to the exam, passive methods, interruptions, too little sleep, and worry about performance. A meta-analysis of 45 studies of university students found a small but consistent negative link between how much students use their phones and their academic performance (r about -0.12), with multitasking during class showing the largest negative effect.
Sleep matters too. A meta-analysis of studies in children and adolescents found sleepiness, poor sleep quality and short sleep were all modestly related to school performance, with sleepiness the strongest link (r about -0.13). These are associations, so poor sleep may be one part of a bigger picture rather than the only cause.
Time management and procrastination are closely tied. A meta-analysis of 67 studies of Chinese students (about 40,900 people) found a moderate relationship between better time management and less academic procrastination (r about -0.46). This is a correlation, not proof that training in time management would produce the same effect.
3,4,5Relevant conditions
Difficulty studying can be a sign of something other than habits: attention difficulties, a learning difference such as dyslexia, anxiety, low mood, poor sleep, or sleep disorders. If good habits do not help, those are worth discussing with a doctor or your school support service rather than blaming yourself. See ADHD in adults, anxiety disorders and the guide to medicines, sleep, mood and memory.
Test anxiety is common and treatable. A meta-analysis of 44 randomised trials in university students (2,209 people) found that interventions reduced test anxiety (g = -0.76) and improved academic performance (g = 0.37), although the authors flagged publication bias and weak reporting, so confidence is moderate.
6Realistic expectations
Better methods change how much you retain from the same hours, but they take a few weeks to feel natural. Self-testing feels harder than rereading, and that effortful feeling is part of why it works. Expect small, steady gains rather than a sudden jump.
Habits cannot make up for missing teaching, an unmanageable workload or an undiagnosed difficulty. If you do everything sensible for four to six weeks and still struggle, it is time to ask for help.
1,7Who this applies to
This page is written for school pupils (with a parent or teacher), college and university students, adult learners taking courses, and people preparing for professional exams. Most of the research was done in students, so it may transfer less neatly to learning practical skills or very different tasks.
Other goals cover neighbouring ground. For sustaining attention over a task see Stay Focused for Longer; for phones and noise see Manage Distractions; for remembering what you read or hear in general see Learn & Retain New Information; for deadlines and exam nerves see Handle Pressure More Comfortably.
Related conditions and symptoms
ADHD in adults → Anxiety disorders → Panic attacks → Mild cognitive impairment and dementia →
A manageable starting plan
An educational starting point, not a personal prescription. Adjust it to your own situation and any advice from your clinician.
Your first actions
- Write down your deadlines and exam dates, then work backwards to put short study sessions on several days each week.
- In each session, spend most of the time recalling from memory: flashcards, past questions or a blank page, then check.
- Protect a regular sleep window, and keep the night before an exam for sleep.
- Study in a quiet place with your phone out of reach, and take a short real break between blocks.
Optional additions
- Mix problem types in practice sets where the course is problem-based.
- Sit quietly for a few minutes after a study block before starting something else.
- Practise past papers under timed, exam-like conditions to build confidence.
- Ask your student support service about study-skills help.
What to track
- How many spaced sessions you completed each week and how much of each was self-testing.
- Hours slept and how alert you feel in the morning.
- Phone minutes during study blocks.
- Your score on practice questions each week, and how nervous you feel before them (1 to 10).
When to reassess
Give a new routine three to four weeks. If you are doing the sensible things but still cannot concentrate, are not retaining anything, feel constant dread, or your mood is low, stop adjusting your habits and talk to a doctor or your student support service.
When to seek professional support
- Teachers, tutors and learning-support or study-skills services at your school, college or university.
- Student health, wellbeing or counselling services, especially for exam anxiety.
- Your doctor, for sleep, mood, attention, vision or hearing concerns.
- A study partner who will quiz you rather than just sit together.
What helps
Ordered by how well the research supports each step. Evidence strength is shown on every card; precautions sit next to the advice.
Start here
Test yourself instead of rereading
High certaintyAddresses: Better long-term memory of what you studied
Why it may help: In a classic experiment, students who took repeated recall tests remembered substantially more than students who only restudied when the final test came two days or a week later. Restudying won only on a test five minutes later, and it made students feel more sure than they should have been. A meta-analysis of the testing effect found that effortful recall tests gave larger benefits than recognition tests, and the big review of study techniques rated practice testing as high utility.
How to apply it: After reading a section, close the book and write down or say everything you can remember, then check and fill the gaps. Use flashcards, past questions or a blank page. Return to the hard items later instead of re-reading everything.
Who it may suit: Almost any student studying facts, concepts or problem types.
Precautions: Self-testing feels harder and slower than rereading. If your first attempts go badly, that is normal and still helps learning, but do check your answers afterwards so you do not memorise mistakes.
2,7,1Space your study over days and weeks
High certaintyAddresses: Information that lasts longer, with less last-minute cramming
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of 839 comparisons from 317 experiments found that spacing learning sessions gives better final-test retention than packing them together, and that the best gap between sessions grows as the time you need to remember grows. The review of study techniques also rated distributed practice as high utility.
How to apply it: Work backwards from your exam date and put short sessions on several days rather than one long one. Revisit each topic after a day or two, then after a week. If you will be tested in several weeks, longer gaps tend to help more than very short ones.
Who it may suit: Anyone with a few days or more before a test.
Precautions: If you have started late, spacing is still better than a single block of the same total time, but do not skip sleep to fit more sessions in.
8,1Protect your sleep, especially around exams
Moderate certaintyAddresses: Better alertness and, in studies, modestly better school and university results
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of studies in children and adolescents found sleepiness (r about -0.13), poor sleep quality (r about 0.10) and short sleep (r about 0.07) were each significantly but modestly related to school performance. A meta-analysis in medical students found grades correlated with sleep quality (r about 0.15) and daytime sleepiness (r about -0.12) but not with sleep duration. A systematic review of 30 studies concluded that inadequate sleep has a negative effect on the academic performance of university students.
How to apply it: Aim for a regular bedtime and wake time that leaves enough hours in bed, stop studying a little while before sleep, and treat a decent night before an exam as part of your preparation. Our sleep pages cover this in detail.
Who it may suit: All students. Teenagers, shift workers and people with long commutes may need to plan more carefully.
Precautions: Most of this evidence is observational, so the size of the effect of changing sleep is not certain. If you snore loudly, stop breathing in sleep, or are sleepy every day despite enough time in bed, see a doctor.
4,9,10Build a Healthy Sleep Schedule → Improve Your Sleep Quality →
Additional options
Mix up related topics or problem types (interleaving)
Moderate certaintyAddresses: Better ability to tell problems and categories apart
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of 59 studies found a moderate overall benefit of interleaving (g = 0.42), larger for visual material such as paintings and smaller for maths tasks (g = 0.34). Results for text passages were ambiguous, and for learning word lists blocking was better (g = -0.39). The big review rated interleaving moderate utility.
How to apply it: In maths, science problem sets or identifying types of cases, shuffle different kinds of problems within a session rather than doing 20 of one kind. For vocabulary lists and reading text, blocking by topic is fine.
Who it may suit: Students practising problems, categories or diagnoses, such as in maths, sciences, languages' grammar rules or visual identification.
Precautions: Interleaving can feel messier and slow you at first. Use it for practice, not for a first introduction to new material.
11,1Take short, real breaks
Low certaintyAddresses: Less tiredness and more energy during long sessions
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of micro-break studies (22 samples, 2,335 people) found small increases in vigour (d = 0.36) and small decreases in fatigue (d = 0.35). The effect on overall performance was not statistically significant (d = 0.16), and gains on demanding tasks may need breaks longer than 10 minutes.
How to apply it: Study in blocks that suit you, then step away for a few minutes: stand, stretch, look out of a window, drink water. Take a longer break after very demanding work. Keep the break away from your phone.
Who it may suit: Anyone studying for more than about an hour at a time.
Precautions: Breaks help how you feel more clearly than how much you learn. Do not use them as an excuse to get lost in a screen.
12Rest quietly for a few minutes after learning something
Low certaintyAddresses: Possibly slightly better memory of what you just studied
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of 37 studies (63 experiments) found that quiet wakeful rest after learning improved memory consolidation (Hedges' g about 0.45), and the effect was still present after 7 days (g about 0.27). Whether the eyes were open or closed, and how long the rest lasted, did not seem to matter.
How to apply it: After a study block, spend a few minutes sitting quietly or looking out of a window before starting something demanding. Treat it as a pause, not as a replacement for sleep.
Who it may suit: Anyone, as a small add-on to good methods.
Precautions: The research comes mostly from experimental tasks, and we did not read evidence about real course exams. Treat it as a small bonus.
13Make a simple plan and start small
Low certaintyAddresses: Less putting off and a clearer sense of what to do next
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of 67 studies found that better time management was moderately associated with less academic procrastination (r about -0.46). This is correlational, and we did not read trials that tested time-management training directly, so the plan is a sensible habit rather than a proven treatment.
How to apply it: Each week, list your deadlines and split each into small tasks with a day attached. Begin each session with the first small task and a rough time limit. Put the plan where you can see it.
Who it may suit: People who delay starting, or who feel buried by deadlines.
Precautions: If putting things off comes with low mood, exhaustion, or feeling unable to start anything, see a doctor or counsellor. See Rebuild Motivation.
5Explain ideas in your own words and ask why they are true
Moderate certaintyAddresses: Deeper understanding of concepts, not only memorising
Why it may help: The review of ten study techniques rated self-explanation and elaborative interrogation (asking yourself why a fact is true) as moderate utility, helpful across several variables but with limited testing in real classrooms.
How to apply it: After reading, explain the idea aloud as if teaching a friend. Ask why and how, link new ideas to what you already know, and note where your explanation breaks down.
Who it may suit: Students learning concepts, processes or reasoning rather than isolated facts.
Precautions: Explanations can sound convincing and still be wrong. Check them against your notes or textbook.
1Still being studied
Psychological help for exam anxiety
Moderate certaintyAddresses: Lower test anxiety and, in trials, somewhat better exam results
Why it may help: A meta-analysis of 44 randomised trials in university students (2,209 people) found that interventions were better than control conditions for reducing test anxiety (g = -0.76) and improving academic performance (g = 0.37), with the most support for behaviour therapy. Cognitive-behavioural therapy and study-skills training looked promising but had less long-term evidence. The authors found signs of publication bias and poor reporting, so confidence should be moderated.
How to apply it: Ask your doctor, student health service or counselling service about help for test anxiety. Practising under exam-like conditions (self-testing with timed questions) is an everyday way to build confidence.
Who it may suit: People whose nerves before or during exams are strong enough to affect sleep, attendance or performance.
Precautions: Heavy anxiety, panic attacks or low mood need a proper assessment rather than self-help alone. Never stop a prescribed medicine without talking to your prescriber.
6Therapy for anxiety and stress → Handle Pressure More Comfortably →
Food & nutrition
Eating and drinking while you study
We did not find trials of specific foods that improve study results, so none are recommended here. The sensible basics are regular meals so you are not studying hungry, water within reach, and being careful with caffeine and alcohol, both of which can affect sleep.
Our brain-health food guide explains the dietary patterns that are linked with long-term brain health, and our hydration page covers fluids.
- Eat regular meals and keep a snack that suits you for long sessions.
- Keep a glass of water on the desk and refill it on breaks.
- Keep caffeine to earlier in the day and in moderation.
- Avoid heavy meals and alcohol right before you sleep.
Remedies & supplements
Traditional use, laboratory findings and human trials are kept apart. "Natural" does not mean safe.
Memory and focus supplements sold to students (such as ginkgo, bacopa, lion's mane, omega-3 and creatine)
Not enough evidenceStudied form and route: Capsules, powders and drinks
Intended outcome: No reliable evidence of better exam results from the sources we read
Human evidence: We did not review human trials for this page. Our separate nootropics comparison rates each ingredient by the human evidence we found.
Traditional use: Several of these ingredients have traditional uses in different cultures; we did not read a source for specific traditional uses for this page.
Laboratory findings: We read no laboratory work for this page.
Limits: Products sold for studying are not a substitute for sleep, spaced practice and self-testing, and benefits for healthy students are unproven.
Interactions and precautions: Supplements can interact with medicines, including blood thinners, and are not well studied in pregnancy or breastfeeding. Ask a pharmacist or doctor before taking any, and do not stop a prescribed medicine for a supplement.
Caffeine from coffee or tea
Not enough evidenceStudied form and route: Drinks
Intended outcome: May help alertness for a while, but can cost sleep
Human evidence: We did not review caffeine trials for this page; our caffeine guide covers the evidence and risks.
Traditional use: Coffee and tea are widely used daily drinks; we do not make a traditional-use claim for study here.
Laboratory findings: We read no laboratory work for this page.
Limits: Alertness is not the same as learning. Late-day caffeine can make sleep worse, and sleepiness is linked with poorer academic performance.
Interactions and precautions: Caffeine can worsen anxiety, palpitations and reflux, and is best limited in pregnancy. Ask a pharmacist or doctor if you take medicines or have a heart condition.
4Therapies & care
Established professional care here usually means a conversation with a doctor, a school, college or university support service, or a counsellor. They can look for medical or learning causes, offer help with exam anxiety, and arrange study support or adjustments. We describe it in general terms and do not recommend particular medicines.
Psychological help for test anxiety
Moderate certaintyProfessional care Talking therapies, especially behaviour therapy and cognitive-behavioural approaches, are delivered by counsellors or psychologists. A meta-analysis of 44 randomised trials in university students found they reduced test anxiety and improved exam performance, although the evidence has weaknesses.
Who it may suit: Students whose exam anxiety is affecting sleep, attendance or results.
Precautions: Seek help early. If anxiety includes panic attacks or low mood, ask for a full assessment.
6Study-skills and learning support
Low certaintyEducation support Many schools, colleges and universities offer study-skills workshops, tutoring or learning-support teams who can help with planning, note-taking and exam technique, and can assess for learning differences. In the test-anxiety meta-analysis, study-skills training and combined psychological and study-skills programmes looked promising, but long-term evidence was limited.
Who it may suit: Anyone who wants structured help with planning and methods, or who suspects a learning difference.
Precautions: Choose programmes that teach spaced practice and self-testing, not just rereading and highlighting.
6,1Assessment by a doctor
Not enough evidenceProfessional care A doctor can ask about sleep, mood, anxiety, vision and hearing, medicines and attention, and decide whether further tests or a specialist assessment are needed.
Who it may suit: Anyone whose difficulty studying is long-standing, getting worse, or comes with other symptoms.
Precautions: Seek urgent care for sudden confusion, a sudden change in thinking, or a severe headache.
What to avoid
Habits, products and claims that can get in the way. Never stop a prescribed medicine without talking to the professional who prescribed it.
Risks that apply to most people
Relying mainly on rereading and highlighting
Low certaintyWhy: The review of ten study techniques gave rereading and highlighting low utility ratings, noting that students use them most but they do not consistently improve performance. It suggested practice testing instead of rereading. In the classic recall experiment, restudying raised students' confidence while testing led to better memory.
Who it applies to: Students who spend most of their time reading and marking notes.
Try instead: Read once, then close the book and recall. Use highlighting sparingly as a way to mark what to test yourself on.
1,2Cramming everything into one late session
High certaintyWhy: The meta-analysis of spacing found that spreading learning episodes improves final retention compared with massed study, and the best spacing depends on how long you need to remember. A late-night session also costs sleep, which is linked to poorer academic performance.
Who it applies to: Anyone leaving revision to the last day or two.
Try instead: Start earlier with short, spaced sessions, and keep the night before an exam for light review and sleep.
8,4Personal triggers to check
Keeping your phone nearby and in use while you study
Low certaintyWhy: A meta-analysis of 45 studies found a small but significant negative link between university students' smartphone use and academic performance (r about -0.12), with problematic use and multitasking in class showing larger negative effects. This is an association, not proof that phones cause lower grades.
Who it applies to: Students who check messages or social media during study blocks.
Try instead: Put your phone out of reach or on do-not-disturb during study blocks, and check it at planned breaks. See Manage Distractions.
3Background speech, lyrics and noise while reading
Moderate certaintyWhy: A Bayesian meta-analysis of 65 studies found that background noise, speech and music each had a small but reliable harmful effect on reading comprehension. Intelligible speech and lyrical music caused the most disruption.
Who it applies to: People who read or learn new material with the TV, chat or songs with words in the background.
Try instead: Choose a quiet place for reading and new material. If you like background sound, try steady sound without words, and notice whether it helps or distracts you.
14Products that need caution
Using someone else's prescription stimulant medicine to study
Not enough evidenceWhy: A survey of 3,113 community college students found that 9% reported non-medical use of prescription stimulants, mostly to focus on studies or improve academic performance. We did not find evidence that this improves learning in healthy students. Medicines can have serious side effects, interact with other medicines and conditions, and taking someone else's prescription is risky and may be illegal.
Who it applies to: Students under exam pressure who are tempted to try a classmate's medicine.
Try instead: Fix sleep, methods and workload first. If you suspect a real attention difficulty, ask a doctor for an assessment. Never take medicine that was not prescribed for you.
15Heavy caffeine or energy drinks to stay up
Not enough evidenceWhy: Late caffeine can disturb sleep, which is linked to poorer academic performance, and large amounts can cause jitteriness, palpitations and anxiety. We did not read trials of caffeine for real study outcomes, so it is not a substitute for sleep.
Who it applies to: Students relying on extra coffee or energy drinks during exam periods.
Try instead: Use caffeine, if at all, earlier in the day and in moderation. See our caffeine guide.
4Unsupported claims
"Match your study to your learning style"
Evidence againstWhy: A paper analysing the research literature describes learning styles as a common neuromyth that has been repeatedly discredited, yet still widely endorsed in higher-education papers. A later survey of 114 UK academics found 58% believed in learning styles and 33% used them, and stated that the idea of teaching to a style has no supporting evidence.
Who it applies to: Students told they are visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners.
Try instead: Choose methods by the material (diagrams for maps, practice for skills, self-testing for facts), not by a label. Everyone can benefit from retrieval practice and spacing.
16,17"Brain-training apps and games will make you a better student"
Not enough evidenceWhy: We did not read trials showing that brain games improve real study results. Our separate claim check explains what is known about transfer from training games to everyday learning.
Who it applies to: Anyone considering paying for a brain-training programme before exams.
Try instead: Spend the time on spaced self-testing of your actual course material and on sleep.
Common mistakes
Treating a feeling of familiarity as proof you know the material
High certaintyWhy: In the classic study, repeated studying increased students' confidence in their ability to remember, but prior testing gave much better retention on delayed tests. Fluent rereading can fool you into thinking you have learned.
Who it applies to: Students who judge readiness by how easy the notes feel to read.
Try instead: Judge readiness by what you can recall and explain without looking, using practice questions or a blank page.
2Sacrificing sleep to study more
Moderate certaintyWhy: Sleepiness, poor sleep quality and short sleep were all linked with poorer school performance in a meta-analysis of children and adolescents, and a systematic review of 30 studies concluded that inadequate sleep negatively affects university students' academic performance. These are associations, but they point the same way.
Who it applies to: Students pulling late nights before exams or deadlines.
Try instead: Cut your plan, not your sleep: pick the highest-value topics, test yourself on them, and go to bed at a normal time.
4,10Evidence & safety
What the research shows
The best-supported study habits are the least glamorous: test yourself instead of rereading, spread study over time, and sleep enough. A large review of ten techniques rated practice testing and distributed practice high utility, and meta-analyses back both. Interleaving has moderate support that depends on the material. Breaks help how you feel more than how much you learn, phones and background speech are linked with small losses, and psychological help for test anxiety has moderate support in university students. Learning styles are not supported. Much of the research is in laboratory or classroom settings with short retention periods, and sleep and phone findings are mostly associations.
Limits of the evidence
- Many testing and spacing studies use short tasks, such as word lists or passages, and tests days or weeks later, not a full semester of exams.
- Sleep, phone and time-management findings are correlations. They show a link, not that changing the habit will cause better grades.
- Effects in these meta-analyses are often small, and individual results vary.
- The test-anxiety meta-analysis found signs of publication bias and poor reporting, so its effects may be overstated.
- The time-management meta-analysis only included Chinese students, and results may differ elsewhere.
- The Dunlosky review, although influential, is from 2013 and its authors noted that several techniques had not been tested enough in real classrooms.
- We did not review trials of food, supplements, caffeine or brain-training for study outcomes.
Precautions and interactions
- Do not use medicines that were not prescribed for you to study.
- Check supplements with a pharmacist or doctor, especially if you take medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a long-term condition.
- Do not trade sleep for extra study hours.
- Never stop a prescribed medicine because of something you read here.
Life-stage considerations
- Children and teenagers: sleep need is higher and the link between sleepiness and school performance was larger in younger participants. Parents and teachers can help by protecting sleep and a quiet study space.
- University students: sleep problems, phone use and procrastination are common. Use your student support service early.
- Adult and returning learners: the same methods apply; plan sessions around work and family, and expect slower starts.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: tiredness is common; limit caffeine and ask your midwife or doctor before any supplement.
- Older adults: the same methods work; new or worsening memory problems, or sudden confusion, need a doctor rather than more study. Check medicines for drowsiness.
Warning signs
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, weakness on one side, a severe headache, or a sudden change in thinking: seek urgent medical care.
- Low mood for two weeks or more, loss of interest, hopelessness, or any thoughts of harming yourself: see a doctor or contact a crisis line or emergency services now.
- Panic attacks, avoiding exams, or being unable to sleep because of worry: ask for professional help.
- A lifelong struggle to read, focus or organise despite good habits: ask about an assessment for a learning or attention difficulty.
Claim checks
Rereading your notes is the best way to prepare for an exam.
Not supported
1,2Taking a test helps you learn, not just measure learning.
Supported
7,2Spacing your study works better than cramming.
Supported
8Everyone has a learning style, and studying to match it improves results.
Not supported
16,17Interleaving different topics always beats studying one at a time.
Partly supported
11Using your phone while studying has no effect on your grades.
Probably not true
3Music or background talk helps you read and learn.
Mostly not supported
14Questions people ask
What is the single best change I can make to my study habits?
For most people it is replacing some rereading with self-testing. After a section, close the book and write or say what you remember, then check. Research on the testing effect shows this beats restudying for memory days later, and the major review of study techniques rated practice testing as high utility.
How far ahead should I start revising?
As early as you reasonably can. A meta-analysis of spacing studies found the best gap between sessions grows with the time you need to remember, so revisiting topics over days and weeks beats a single block. Even if you start late, several shorter sessions are better than one marathon of the same length.
Does highlighting help?
Not much by itself. The review of ten techniques rated highlighting low utility. It can help you mark what to test yourself on later, but it should not replace recalling the material.
How long should I study before taking a break?
There is no proven ideal length. A meta-analysis of micro-breaks found short breaks give small gains in vigour and reduce fatigue but did not clearly raise performance, and longer breaks may be needed after very draining work. Take a break when your attention drops, away from your phone.
Is it fine to pull an all-nighter before an exam?
Studies link sleepiness and poor sleep with poorer academic performance, so losing a night's sleep tends to work against you. It is usually better to do a lighter review and sleep. If you have no choice, plan to recover your sleep soon after.
Do I have a visual or auditory learning style?
The idea that teaching to a style improves learning is not supported by evidence, and papers in the research literature describe it as a neuromyth. Choose methods that suit the material and use self-testing and spacing whatever your preferences.
Should I study with music on?
For reading and new material, quiet is safer. A meta-analysis of 65 studies found that noise, speech and music each slightly reduced reading comprehension, and speech and lyrics did the most harm. If you like background sound, steady sound without words is a gentler choice.
My phone keeps distracting me. What helps?
Keep it out of reach or on do-not-disturb during study blocks and check it on planned breaks. Research links smartphone use, particularly multitasking, with small drops in academic performance. For more practical ideas see Manage Distractions.
I freeze in exams. Can anything help?
Yes. A meta-analysis of 44 randomised trials in university students found that interventions reduced test anxiety and improved performance, with most support for behaviour therapy. Ask your doctor or student counselling service. See Handle Pressure More Comfortably and Therapy for anxiety and stress.
Will supplements or smart drugs help me study?
We found no reliable evidence that supplements improve exam results in healthy students, and our nootropics page rates each ingredient honestly. Taking someone else's prescription stimulant medicine is risky and can be illegal. Ask a doctor if you think you have an attention problem.
When should I see a doctor about studying difficulties?
See one if you have always struggled to read, focus or organise despite good habits, if low mood or worry is taking over, if you cannot sleep, or if memory is getting worse. Sudden confusion or a sudden change in thinking needs urgent care.
References
- Dunlosky J, Rawson KA, Marsh EJ, et al. Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2013. PMID 26173288. source
- Roediger HL, Karpicke JD. Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychol Sci. 2006. PMID 16507066. source
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