Guide
How to study effectively: test yourself and spread it out
To study effectively, spend most of your time testing yourself instead of rereading, and spread your sessions over days instead of packing them into one night. This guide explains why the usual habits feel productive but fade, seven steps for each session, an example plan for finals, and what to do when you fall behind.
Why rereading and cramming feel like studying
Most students study by rereading notes, highlighting and cramming the night before. Those habits feel productive because the material looks familiar by the end of the session. Familiar isn't the same as remembered, and the test asks you to pull the answer out of your head with the page closed.
In a 2013 review, John Dunlosky and colleagues rated ten common study techniques by how well the evidence supports them. Only two came out high: practice testing and distributed practice, which means spreading study out over time. Rereading, highlighting and summarizing all came out low.
Cramming has the same problem. It can carry you through a test the next morning, but what you learn in one long sitting fades quickly. A review of hundreds of experiments by Cepeda and colleagues (2006) found that study spread across separate sessions was remembered better than the same amount of study done all at once.
The fix isn't more hours. It's using the hours you have on the two methods that work, in short sessions you can start.
Seven steps to study effectively
Use these for every subject. Each session takes 25 to 45 minutes, and the planning takes ten minutes once a week.
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Write down every exam and deadline
Put each test's date, time and topics in one place. You can't spread study out until you know how many days you have.
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Plan short sessions across several days
Give each subject a few sessions a week, starting weeks out, not the night before. Two or three short sessions beat one long one with the same total time.
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Name what each session covers
"Study biology" is hard to start. "Do 15 practice questions on cell division" isn't. A session with a clear task and a start time is one you'll begin.
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Start with questions, not your notes
Close the book and try to answer: past papers, the questions at the end of a chapter, or flashcards you made. Struggling to recall something is part of how it sticks.
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Check your answers and mark what you missed
Look up each wrong or shaky answer and write the right one in your own words. Your misses are the list for next session.
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Mix topics and problem types
Once you know the basics, practice a mix of topics in one session instead of twenty of the same kind. On the test the questions come mixed, so you need to practice choosing the right method.
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Come back to old topics later
Bring last week's misses into this week's sessions. Each return trip, a few days apart, makes the material last longer than a single long review would.
One goal, and today's study session
Finals are the easiest place to see the method at work: a fixed date, several subjects and a few weeks to spread them across. Here is one plan broken down to today's session.
Example goal
- Long-termPass all four of my finals this semester
- Mid-termScore 80% on a practice exam in each course
- Short-termTake one timed practice test per course
Today's taskDo 15 chemistry practice questions, then check every miss
We wrote this example ourselves. In LeapSteps you write the long-term goal in your own words. Tap Generate on the mid-term or short-term step and AI drafts three options; keep one, edit it or write your own.
The screenshot is the app's draft for the same goal, captured for our plan to study for finals. Its short-term step, 45 minutes a day on one course using past papers, is the method in one line: practice questions, spread over many days.
In LeapSteps each session is a task linked to that step, with a due date and a time. Weekly sessions can be repeating tasks with a reminder, so they show on Today when they're due. When it's time, the Do tab's Focus mode pins that one session to the timer, so the 25 or 45 minutes go to the questions and nothing else.
Your first week
Seven short tasks to switch one subject to the method. The aim this week is five short sessions of questions, not a perfect schedule.
- List every exam with its date and topics10 min Now you know how many days you have to spread study across.
- Pick one subject and find 30 practice questions for it15 min Past papers, chapter questions or your own flashcards all count.
- Put five 25-minute sessions on this week's list, each with a time5 min A session with a set time is easier to start than one you'll fit in later.
- Session one: answer 10 questions with the book closed25 min Recall first. The struggle is part of the work.
- Check your answers and write each miss on a list10 min Your misses tell you what the next session covers.
- Two days later, retry the misses and add 10 new questions25 min Coming back after a gap is the spacing that makes it stick.
- At the week's end, count what you got right the second time5 min That number shows progress that rereading never does.
What the research says about studying
Three findings the steps lean on, and what LeapSteps does with each.
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Washington University in St. Louis
Testing beats rereading a week later
Students who reread a passage did better on a test five minutes later. Students who practiced recalling it did better a week later. That's why each session is a task that starts with questions, not with your notes.
Read the study -
University of California, San Diego and colleagues
Spread it out
Across hundreds of experiments, the same study time split into separate sessions was remembered better than one long session. That's why the plan is several short sessions a week, set as repeating tasks with a reminder.
Read the review -
Kent State University and colleagues
Two techniques rated high
Of ten common techniques, only practice testing and distributed practice were rated highly useful. Highlighting and rereading were rated low. That's why each session gets one task in Focus mode, so the time goes to the methods that work.
Read the review
These studies test the ideas behind LeapSteps, not the app itself. Most of them studied students in a lab or a classroom. Checked October 29, 2026.
When you fall behind
Every study plan slips. These are the usual reasons, and the next move for each.
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You missed three sessions this week.
Don't try to make them all up in one long night. Do the next session as planned and keep the practice questions; drop the rereading. Spreading what's left still beats cramming, as Cepeda and colleagues found.
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You keep putting off starting.
Make the session smaller: 10 questions, 25 minutes, at a set time. A plan that names when and where helps people act. Our guide on how to stop procrastinating covers the task you keep avoiding.
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The exam is the day after tomorrow.
Spend most of the time left on practice questions, and come back to your misses the next day. Doing the hardest subject first helps; see eat the frog.
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You did badly on a practice test.
That's the test doing its job: it found what you don't know yet, before the real one did. Write each miss down and make those the next session's questions.
Sources checked October 29, 2026.
Questions, answered
What is the most effective way to study?
Test yourself, and spread your sessions out. A 2013 review by John Dunlosky and colleagues rated ten common study techniques, and only two came out highly useful: practice testing and distributed practice. In practice that means answering questions with the book closed, checking what you missed, and coming back to the same material over several days instead of rereading it all the night before.
How many hours a day should I study?
There's no single right number, and more hours aren't the goal. What helps is how you use them: short, focused sessions of 25 to 45 minutes, spread over many days, spent mostly on practice questions. Start with what you can do every day, such as one or two sessions, and add more as the exam gets closer. Plan the sessions ahead, with a time for each, so they happen.
Is highlighting a waste of time?
Mostly, if it's all you do. The 2013 review rated highlighting and rereading low, because they make material look familiar without making you recall it. Highlighting can still help you find the parts to turn into questions. Then close the book and answer those questions, which is where the learning happens.
How do I stay focused while studying?
Give each session one clear task and a timer. Put your phone in another room, close tabs you don't need, and decide before you start what the session covers, such as "15 questions on chapter 4". When the timer ends, take a short break, then start the next session. A short session with an end in sight is easier to start than an open-ended evening of study.
Can an app help me study?
It can hold the plan and the timer, but you still do the questions. LeapSteps is our app. It's a to-do list where each study session can be a task with a date and time, linked to a goal like passing your finals. Sessions can repeat each week with a reminder, and the Do tab's Focus mode pins one session to the timer. A paper calendar with your sessions written in works on the same idea.
Put this week's study sessions on your list
LeapSteps helps you turn a goal into small next steps, so each study session is on your list with a time. LeapSteps is out now on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows.
Get LeapSteps
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Keep going
- Goal guide How to achieve your goals The method behind every plan here: start with today's list.
- Goal plan Study for finals Three weeks of short, spaced study sessions built on practice tests.
- Guide How to stop procrastinating Six moves to start the task you keep putting off, and what to do after a slip.
- Goal plan PMP exam while working The 2026 requirements, the audit and a year to pass, around your job.