Learning and remembering are skills we rely on for life. Getting ahead at work and in school depends on mastering new knowledge and applying effective learning strategies and evidence‑based study techniques. When learning feels hard, that effort is actually helping: the more your brain has to work, the more deeply it encodes information and the more likely you are to recall it later. On this page, you’ll find science‑backed learning strategies from Make It Stick—including ideas like retrieval practice, spacing, and other proven ways to study smarter and make learning last.
Tips for Learners
1
True learning requires effort.
When learning is easy, it is often superficial and soon forgotten. When learning is more difficult and demands more brainpower, it'll be more effective and you'll have a better memory of that topic.
2
Don’t reread and cram.
Rereading, highlighting, and massed practice of a skill or new knowledge are the go-to study strategies for most learners, but they’re also among the least productive.
3
Get it out to get it in.
Embedding new learning in long-term memory requires practice at recalling and explaining it. Quiz yourself with flashcards and summarize topics in your own words. Connect new ideas to things you already know.
4
Mix it up and space out your practice.
Spacing retrieval practice builds durable learning. Mixing the types of problems during practice makes you better at distinguishing between them and picking the right solutions.
Tips for Teachers
1
Frequent, low-stakes quizzes are effective.
Activities that require active, effortful recall help students retain what they learn. Ask them to summarize in their own words the main idea from a reading.
2
Switch up topics and activities.
Spacing and varying topics and practice is significantly more effective than a 75-minute lecture on one subject. It engages long-term memory and consolidates knowledge.
3
Encourage students to figure it out.
Showing students the correct solution to a problem rather than letting them make mistakes means they avoid the sorts of difficulties that promote learning.
4
Learning styles are a myth.
There is no evidence to support the theory that people do better when instruction fits a preferred style of learning.
Tips for Parents
1
Discourage rereading & highlighting.
Rereading or highlighting texts are practices that produce only the illusion of knowing. Encourage them to test themselves, or, even better, explain to you the things they’re learning.
2
Mix problem types during practice.
Advise them to take a break from an algebra problem and conjugate some French verbs—then return to algebra. Or do a few of today’s math problems and then read a chapter from English class.
3
Don’t wait until the last minute.
Have them space out their review and do half an hour each night for several nights in a row. Spacing out the work, and allowing for some forgetting each day, creates the foundation for deeper learning.
4
Practice retrieving what they learned.
Repeated retrieval not only makes memories more durable but produces knowledge that can be retrieved more readily, in more varied settings, and applied to a wider variety of problems.
“Learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in the sand: here today and gone tomorrow.”
from Make It Stick