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How learning works · Lesson 1 of 11

Why Rereading and Highlighting Fade, and What Lasts

See why rereading and highlighting feel productive but fade, which two study habits last longer, and what the rest of this course covers.

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THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

Some study habits feel productive but fade quickly. Others feel slower and harder, but last. In this lesson you will see the difference, because the same hours of study can leave you with much more, or much less.

Familiar is not the same as learned

Think about rereading your notes, or highlighting a page. After a few passes, the words start to look familiar. And familiar feels like known: you nod along and think, “I’ve got this.”

But looking familiar is not the same as being able to remember it later. Try a quick test: close the book and ask yourself what the page actually said. If the answer is hard to bring back, the page was familiar, not learned.

Under the heading What rereading does, a faded page sits on the left. On the right, a small check marked Feels known sits above a card with a question mark and the question What did it say? A violet label below reads Familiar is not learned.(opens the full-size picture)
A page can feel known and still be hard to recall.

What one experiment found a week later

In one experiment, college students read a science passage. Some read it several times. Others read it once, then practiced writing down what they remembered. A week later, the recallers remembered about six in ten of the passage’s ideas. The rereaders remembered about four in ten.

A bar chart headed One experiment. Under a calendar card that says A week later, the Rereaders bar reads About 4 in 10 and the taller Recallers bar reads About 6 in 10. The axis label is Ideas remembered.(opens the full-size picture)
Practicing recall beat rereading when the test came a week later.

Here is the surprising part. The rereaders had read the passage far more often: about 14 times, against about 3 for the recallers. They also felt more confident that they would remember it. Their feeling of knowing was wrong.

Under the heading Confidence misleads, a card labeled Rereaders shows an open Example book and a stack of books, with the words Read again and again. Beside it, a tall Felt sure bar is marked Wrong in coral next to a shorter Remembered bar. A label says Feeling sure is not proof.(opens the full-size picture)
Feeling sure about something is not proof that you will remember it.

Two habits stood out

A large review from 2013 graded ten popular study techniques. It rated only two as highly useful: testing yourself, and spreading your study out over time. Rereading and highlighting, two of the most common habits, were rated low, because neither helped people do better in a steady way.

Ten cards under the heading Ten techniques, two stand out. Test yourself and Space it out are ticked and tagged Highly useful. Rereading and Highlighting are tagged Low in coral. The other six cards are blank. The caption reads A large review of study methods.(opens the full-size picture)
Out of ten techniques, two were rated highly useful.

You will learn both of the strong habits in this course: testing yourself, also called retrieval practiceretrieval practice: Learning by recalling material from memory, for example by quizzing yourself, instead of rereading it. Pulling information out makes it easier to recall later, a result also known as the testing effect.Full entry in the glossary, and spacing your study.

Why harder can be better

Why do the weak habits feel so good? Easy study gives quick gains that do not last. Methods that feel harder, like testing yourself, slow you down while you study, but they build memory that does last. Researchers call these desirable difficulties, meaning helpful kinds of effort.

Two paths under the heading Harder can be better. The Feels easy path is a dashed line that breaks into fading coral dots. The Feels harder path is a bumpy band that ends at a card with a check, labeled Lasts. A label reads Desirable difficulties, helpful effort.(opens the full-size picture)
The easy path fades; the bumpy one lasts.

Helpful effort, not any effort

A difficulty only helps if you have enough background to meet it. If a question is so hard that you cannot get anywhere with it, go back and study the basics first.

A fair warning

Most of this research involves students learning facts, often tested soon afterwards. So treat these methods as good bets, not promises. The good news is that they are simple to try, whether you are learning for work, a language or a hobby.

Under the heading A fair warning, an amber warning sign sits beside the words Most studies: students learning facts, with a tag that says Tested soon after. A violet label reads Good bets, not promises. Three cards below say Work, A language and A hobby.(opens the full-size picture)
Good bets, not promises, for whatever you are learning.

What is in this course

This course has ten more short lessons:

The course map, headed Ten short lessons: ten numbered cards from 2 to 11, each with an icon: How memory works, Test yourself, Space it out, Mix it up, Explain it simply, Know what you know, Notes that stick, Memory tricks, Focus, and Myths and your plan.(opens the full-size picture)
Each lesson adds one habit, and the last one puts them into a weekly plan.

YOUR TURN

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Read the full lesson script

Welcome to Learn Anything Faster. In this lesson, you will see why some study habits feel productive but fade, and what lasts instead. It matters, because the same hours of study can leave you with much more, or much less.

Think about rereading your notes, or highlighting a page. The words start to look familiar. And familiar feels like known. But looking familiar is not the same as being able to remember it later.

In one experiment, college students read a science passage several times. Others read it once, then practiced writing down what they remembered. A week later, the recallers remembered about six in ten of its ideas. The rereaders remembered about four in ten.

Here is the surprising part. The rereaders had read the passage far more often. They also felt more confident they would remember it. Their feeling of knowing was wrong.

A large review graded ten popular study techniques. It rated only two as highly useful: testing yourself, and spreading your study out over time. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.

Why do the weak habits feel so good? Easy study gives quick gains that do not last. Methods that feel harder, like testing yourself, build memory that does. Researchers call these desirable difficulties, meaning helpful kinds of effort.

Most of this research involves students learning facts, tested soon afterwards. So treat these methods as good bets, not promises. They are simple to try, whatever you are learning.

In this course, you will see how memory works and test yourself. You will space your study and mix your practice. You will explain ideas in plain words and check what you really know. Then come notes, memory tricks, focus, popular myths and your learning plan.

So, rereading and highlighting feel productive, but testing yourself and spacing your study last longer. Today, pick one thing you want to learn this month and write it down. Next, you will see how memory works, in plain words.