We all know by now at the most important thing about studying, is going back to the information you’ve learnt and checking you still know it.
Many of us also know about the Learning Cycle and so, if we’ve set ourselves up with sufficient time to revise before an exam, we know exactly when to go back and test our knowledge.
But what if your exam is in a day or two?
According to Hal Pashler at the University of California, San Diego, you can work out the best time to revisit what you’ve learnt, by applying some simple maths.
So what is that magical number?
He says you should revisit your subject roughly 10 to 20% of the interval between learning it in the first place and taking the exam afterwards.
In other words, if your exam is 48 hours away, the best time to revisit that information is between 5 and 9 hours later.
By doing this you will gain a 10% higher grade, even if you do nothing else differently.
Will that knowledge change the way you revise?