The Revision Techniques That Actually Work (According to Research)

Most revision advice tells you what to do without telling you how to do it. Retrieval practice. Spaced repetition. Active recall. These terms get mentioned in articles and study guides, but the instructions often stop at the label.

This piece is different. For each technique, you get a step-by-step method you can use today, not just a description of what it is. The techniques are ordered by how strong the evidence is behind them, based on a comprehensive review of learning research published in 2013 by a team of cognitive psychologists led by John Dunlosky. [1]

If you want to understand why some revision methods build memory and others just feel like they do, that is covered in a separate post. This one is about the practical toolkit.

Technique 1: Retrieval practice

Retrieval practice means closing your notes and trying to recall information from memory before looking at anything. It is consistently the highest-rated revision technique in the research. [1] The reason it works is that the act of retrieving information, especially when it is hard, strengthens the memory in a way that re-reading does not. The struggle is not a sign it is going wrong. It is the mechanism.

Here are four specific ways to do it.

Method A: The brain dump

1. Take a blank piece of paper and write the topic at the top.

2. Close your notes, textbook, and any other materials.

3. Write down everything you can remember about the topic. Not bullet points — full explanations, as if writing it for someone who knows nothing about the subject.

4. When you run out, check your notes and see what you missed.

5. Circle the gaps. Those are your next revision targets.

This works for any subject. For history, write everything you know about a period or event. For biology, explain a process from memory. For maths, work through a method without looking at your notes. The blanker the page when you start, the more useful it is.

Method B: Flashcards done properly

1. Write the question or prompt on one side, the answer on the other.

2. When testing yourself, say the answer aloud before flipping the card. Not in your head — out loud.

3. If you get it right, set the card aside. If you get it wrong, return it to the pile to test again.

4. Test the full pile before repeating. Do not shuffle out the cards you find easy.

5. Cards you get wrong more often need more repetition. Cards you consistently get right can be tested less frequently.

The mistake most students make with flashcards is making them and then reading them rather than testing themselves. The making is useful. The reading is not. The testing is what counts.

Method C: Past paper questions

1. Go to your exam board’s website (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, or whichever applies to each subject) and download a past paper.

2. Attempt the questions without looking at your notes first. It does not matter if you are not ready. The attempt is the point.

3. When you finish, mark your answers against the mark scheme, also available on the exam board website.

4. For every question you got wrong or lost marks on, note what the mark scheme says was required and compare it to what you wrote.

5. Return to those topics in your next revision session.

Past papers are the closest thing to an exam you can practise with, and they are free. The mark scheme is equally important — it shows exactly how examiners allocate marks, which is often different from how you might assume.

Method D: Self-quizzing from your notes

1. Read a section of your notes or a topic in your textbook.

2. Close the book. Open a blank document or take a fresh piece of paper.

3. Write ten questions based on what you just read. Not copy-out questions — questions that test understanding. ‘What happens when…’, ‘Why does…’, ‘What is the difference between…’

4. Answer your own questions from memory.

5. Check your answers against the notes.

This method works particularly well for subjects with a lot of factual content, such as GCSE sciences, geography, or history. Writing the questions forces you to think about what the important information actually is, and answering them tests whether you have retained it.

Technique 2: Spaced practice

Spaced practice means returning to the same material across multiple sessions rather than covering it all in one go. Three 30-minute sessions on a topic spread across a week builds stronger memory than a single 90-minute session, even when the total time is the same. [2] Memory fades quickly after a revision session; returning to material just as it starts to fade, rather than immediately, is what builds retention that lasts to the exam.

How to build spacing into your revision

1. When you revise a topic, note the date in your planner or on your revision schedule.

2. Plan to return to the same topic two to three days later. Not immediately — the gap is important.

3. At that second session, start with a brain dump before looking at your notes. This tests what has been retained since the first session.

4. After the second session, schedule a third return in around a week.

5. Each time you return to a topic and successfully recall it, the memory becomes more durable.

For GCSE students, this means your revision timetable should not be a list of topics covered once and ticked off. Every topic should appear at least twice, and ideally three times, across the revision period. The first pass builds initial familiarity. The returns build lasting memory.

Technique 3: Interleaving

Interleaving means mixing topics within a revision session rather than completing one topic fully before moving to the next. Research has found that interleaved practice produces better long-term retention than blocked practice, even though blocked practice feels more satisfying in the moment. [3]

The reason it works: switching between topics forces your brain to retrieve and reload different information repeatedly, which strengthens each memory more than staying in one topic continuously. It feels harder. Progress feels slower. Both of those feelings are signs it is working.

How to interleave your revision

1. Choose three or four topics from the same subject that you need to work on.

2. Instead of spending 60 minutes on one topic, spend 20 minutes on each.

3. At the start of each 20-minute block, do a short brain dump or answer two to three questions from memory before looking at your notes.

4. In the next session, do the same topics again in a different order.

For GCSE maths, this is particularly useful: rather than practising one type of problem until you feel confident, mix different types of questions within the same session. The exam will present them in mixed order, so practising that way prepares you for the format.

Technique 4: The teach-it-back method

This technique draws on two of the moderate-utility approaches in the Dunlosky review: self-explanation and elaborative interrogation. [1] Research by Pressley and colleagues found that students who explained why facts were true recalled substantially more than those who simply read them. [4] The practical version of this is explaining a topic out loud, in your own words, as if teaching it to someone who knows nothing about it.

How to do it

1. Choose a topic you have recently revised.

2. Find a wall, a mirror, or someone willing to listen. It does not need to be someone who knows the subject.

3. Explain the topic from scratch, in plain language. No notes.

4. When you get stuck or find you cannot explain something clearly, that is a gap. Make a note of it and go back to your notes.

5. Return to the topic and try the explanation again.

The parent, sibling, or friend who listens does not need to understand the subject. Their job is to be in the room. Your job is to find out whether you can actually explain what you think you know. The moment you cannot put something into plain words is the moment you find out where the gap is.

This works because being able to explain something is a higher-order test of understanding than being able to recognise it when you see it. If you can genuinely explain photosynthesis to someone who has never studied biology, you understand it. If you can only recognise the right answer in a multiple-choice question, you do not.

What to use less of

Re-reading, highlighting, and making notes look neat were all rated low utility in the Dunlosky review. [1] This does not mean they are useless. Reading through a topic once before doing retrieval practice is a reasonable first step. The problem is when these passive techniques become the main activity.

If you spend most of a revision session reading, highlighting, or rewriting notes, you are doing the easier thing. The version that feels more uncomfortable — closing the notes and trying to recall is the one that builds the memory you need in the exam.

Which technique to start with

If you are new to any of these, start with the brain dump. It requires nothing except a blank piece of paper, and it works for any subject. Pick the topic you last revised, close your notes, and write everything you can remember. The result will tell you more about what you actually know than any amount of re-reading.

Once the brain dump is a habit, add spaced practice by scheduling return sessions for every topic you cover. Add interleaving by mixing topics within sessions. Add the teach-it-back method for concepts you want to understand deeply rather than just recall.

None of these techniques are particularly comfortable. They are all, in different ways, more demanding than reading through notes. That is precisely why they work.

BrainStrata builds retrieval practice and spaced learning into how students work through the curriculum, adapting to where each student actually is. Find out more at brainstrata.com.

Sources and further reading

[1] Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. DOI: 10.1177/1529100612453266. Source for all high/moderate/low utility ratings in this post. Practice testing and distributed practice rated high utility. Self-explanation, elaborative interrogation, and interleaved practice rated moderate utility. Re-reading, highlighting, and summarisation rated low utility.

[2] Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354-380. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354. Meta-analysis of 184 studies confirming that spaced practice consistently outperforms massed practice for long-term retention.

[3] Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning. Instructional Science, 35(6), 481-498. DOI: 10.1007/s11251-007-9015-8. Interleaved practice produced better long-term retention than blocked practice in mathematics, even though blocked practice felt more productive during the session.

[4] Pressley, M., McDaniel, M. A., Turnure, J. E., Wood, E., & Ahmad, M. (1987). Generation and precision of elaboration: Effects on intentional and incidental learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(2), 291-300. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.13.2.291. Students who explained why facts were true recalled substantially more than those who simply read the same facts.