Study Habits the Research Doesn't Support (And What to Do Instead)

Highlighting feels purposeful because it involves interaction with the material. But research published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest by Dunlosky and colleagues rated highlighting and underlining as having low utility compared to techniques like retrieval practice and distributed practice. The act of marking text requires minimal cognitive effort — you are simply recognizing information, not encoding it. A more productive alternative: after reading a section, close the book and write down everything you can recall. This is known as a retrieval practice or brain dump, and it forces deeper processing. See how active recall compares to re-reading for a closer look at why this matters.

When material feels familiar after re-reading, it is easy to confuse that recognition with genuine mastery. Studies have repeatedly shown that students who re-read overestimate their own knowledge compared to those who practice retrieval. The fix is straightforward: use flash cards, practice questions, or free recall exercises instead of passive re-reading. Verbatim transcription and passive re-reading are among the most common — and most correctable — study errors learners make.

The learning-styles hypothesis — often called the meshing hypothesis — predicts that students perform better when instruction matches their self-identified style. Reviews of the evidence, including a widely cited 2008 analysis by Pashler and colleagues in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, found that this prediction is not reliably supported by controlled studies. Most learners benefit from the same evidence-backed techniques regardless of self-reported preference. What matters far more than style is the cognitive effort a technique demands — and strategies like retrieval practice and spaced repetition benefit nearly everyone.

Massed practice — studying large amounts of material in a single concentrated session — can boost performance on a test taken immediately after. But retention drops sharply once that session ends. The brain consolidates memories during rest and sleep, and distributed practice (spreading study sessions over days or weeks) takes advantage of this process. Even modest spacing — reviewing material two or three times over a week rather than once for three hours — produces meaningfully stronger long-term retention. Why spreading out your study sessions leads to stronger retention explains the underlying cognitive mechanism in detail.

Blocked practice (completing all problems of one type before moving to another) feels smoother and more controlled, which is why most students prefer it. But research shows that interleaved practice, while more challenging in the moment, leads to better performance on later tests — particularly when problems require selecting the right strategy rather than just executing a known one. The difficulty itself is part of the benefit; learning scientists call this a desirable difficulty. For practical guidance on building this into your routine, see putting interleaved practice to work in your study routine.