Effective test preparation

Putnam et al. (2016) cite that overconfident students may know less than they think they do. This is something that leads to poor assessment performance.

To prepare for tests students should start by answering questions they wrote while actively studying - reading the text or reviewing notes from class. This form of engagement enhances memory. By using questions created while studying as a study guide students review what they cannot retrieve but they should be sure that when they do retrieve something the answer is definitely correct.

Retrieving quiz or test answers from memory makes it easier to do so in the future and applying other memory techniques like mnemonic acronyms and method of loci improve retention further.