The method: techniques and sources
UniTest Pro's training uses three techniques documented in 9 scientific publications on learning and memory. Here is what the app does, what the studies say and where to read them.
Actively retrieving answers
In the app
You train by answering questions and simulations, rather than rereading.
The studies
- Roediger & Karpicke (2006): After reading prose passages, students who test themselves retain more, days later, than those who reread the same texts.Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science, 17, 249-255.
- Karpicke & Roediger (2008): Once foreign-language words are learned, continuing to retrieve them has a large effect on delayed recall; continuing to restudy them has none.The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning. Science, 319, 966-968.
- Rowland (2014): Meta-analysis of testing versus restudy: the testing benefit is larger with recall tests than with recognition tests.The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1432-1463.
- Adesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan (2017): Meta-analysis: practice tests benefit learning more than restudying and the other conditions compared.Rethinking the Use of Tests: A Meta-Analysis of Practice Testing. Review of Educational Research, 87, 659-701.
Reviewing at spaced intervals
In the app
Questions you have seen come back when they are due and join normal practice, up to half a session. If you set your exam date, intervals are shortened to stay before the exam. A mistake closes by itself after correct answers in 2 sessions, on 2 different days. The studies support the principle: the schedule (the SM-2 algorithm) and the 2-session threshold are our choices.
The studies
- Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted & Rohrer (2006): Meta-analysis of 317 experiments: the gap between sessions and the time to the test act jointly; the further away the test, the longer the best gap.Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 354-380.
- Cepeda, Vul, Rohrer, Wixted & Pashler (2008): In over 1,350 people, tested up to a year later: lengthening the gap before a review improves retention up to a point, then reduces it.Spacing Effects in Learning: A Temporal Ridgeline of Optimal Retention. Psychological Science, 19, 1095-1102.
- Rawson & Dunlosky (2011): In 533 students, with short-answer recall: returning to the same material in later sessions has a pronounced effect on retention at 1-4 months, for few extra trials.Optimizing schedules of retrieval practice for durable and efficient learning: How much is enough? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140, 283-302.
Reading the explanation after you answer
In the app
In practice, after each answer you see the correct one and a short explanation; the full explanation comes with Premium. In simulations, corrections come at the end. The study concerns feedback on the correct answer, not our explanations.
The studies
- Butler & Roediger (2008): Multiple choice can also teach the wrong options. Feedback, immediate or delayed, increases correct answers and reduces those errors on a later test.Feedback enhances the positive effects and reduces the negative effects of multiple-choice testing. Memory & Cognition, 36, 604-616.
An overall review
- Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham (2013): Review of 10 study techniques: practice testing and distributed practice are the two rated high utility.Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14, 4-58.
What these studies do not say
- The studies concern the techniques, not UniTest Pro: none measured our app's results, and no training guarantees passing an exam.
- Many use materials unlike exam questions: passages, vocabulary, facts. The testing benefit is larger with recall than with recognition, and our questions are largely multiple choice.