Passing Exams and Retaining What You Learn

7 sessions · free of charge

What helps less than it feels like. Self-testing, spaced practice, self-explanation, structuring large amounts of material, planning your exam period, and learning from grades and mistakes.

Start the course with an accountand your progress is saved Start the course without an accountprogress kept only in this browser, for a limited time

✅ Checklist: the key points of this course

Seven sessions, one resolution per lesson, to check off. This is the ideal approach; you will find the reasons and evidence in each session.

Session 1 · What Helps Less Than It Feels Like

☐ I highlight at most two passages per page and turn each one into a question.
☐ I put the text away before I summarize. Whatever is missing goes on my list of open points.
☐ I do not organize my studying around a learning style.
☐ After a disappointing grade, I look for an explanation that leads to an action.
☐ I ask: What does this material call for? Then I choose the format.

Session 2 · Self-Testing: The Most Effective Technique

☐ I test myself instead of just rereading the material.
☐ I record where I stand as a number: this many out of this many questions answered without notes.
☐ I test myself before I look at the solution.
☐ I write flashcards that each test exactly one thing, and I keep the cards I already know in the deck.
☐ I use the ten minutes right after class to test myself.

Session 3 · Spaced Practice Instead of All at Once

☐ I spread my studying over several days instead of cramming.
☐ I set the gap between two reviews at about one fifth of the time until the exam.
☐ I deliberately let time pass between two rounds.
☐ I sort my flashcards in a Leitner box by how well I know them, and I never take a card out for good.
☐ I stick to a fixed review rule, for example every other Friday, plus one or two questions from an older section.

Session 4 · Self-Explanation and the Explain-It Test

☐ I explain every step of a worked example to myself instead of just following it.
☐ At every step, I ask: What is happening here, why is it allowed, what would the alternative be, where are we in the process?
☐ I do the explain-it test: sheet closed, explain, mark the sticking points, reread only those, explain again right away without notes.
☐ I explain without notes and close the gaps. I take “so that a child can understand it” only as a rule of thumb.
☐ I explain the material to someone who does not know the subject and explicitly ask for follow-up questions.

Session 5 · Structuring Large Amounts of Material

☐ I look for the places where many things are assumed at once and combine parts into named units.
☐ I sort the material by principles. My headings contain principles, not objects.
☐ I use a concept map to organize the material and test myself to retain it.
☐ I proceed in this order: a framework with at most ten principles, the map, depth, a weekly check from memory.
☐ I build the framework and the map in the first two weeks, check myself from memory for twenty minutes every week, and from week 13 on I only test myself.

Session 6 · Your First Exam Period

☐ I plan backward from the exam date: review the material four weeks before, test myself three weeks before, practice under exam conditions one week before.
☐ When time is short, I first learn what carries a lot of weight and is close to what I can already do. Peripheral topics I learn only in a minimal version.
☐ When I have two exams in one week, I alternate between both subjects. Only the last two days belong entirely to one subject.
☐ I take practice exams without notes, with a clock, and in one sitting, and I spend longer reviewing them than I spent writing them.
☐ In the exam, I first flip through and divide up my time. Afterward, I write down the one thing I will change next time.

Session 7 · Learning from Grades and Mistakes

☐ After a grade, I look for an explanation that leads to a next step.
☐ I try an answer myself first and only then look at the correct one.
☐ In the exam review, I note the type, the correct solution, and the reason for each error. The type of error that cost the most points determines my one change.
☐ When I get feedback, I ask about the task, not about me as a person.
☐ After every exam, I set one concrete next step in my approach.