Success in college isn’t just about studying harder and learning more—it’s about studying smarter and learning deeper. Many students spend hours studying but use ineffective strategies that lead to frustration and poor retention. Instead of passively rereading and highlighting notes or cramming before exams, students should rely on research-backed learning techniques that enhance understanding and long-term memory.

The bottom line is that better learning involves effortful learning, which involves active learning strategies. The more popular strategies you've likely heard of, highlighting, re-reading, listening to recorded lectures, clicking through online courses. Note-taking is not completely passive, but note-taking while listening to a lecture is considered passive (because the focus is just copying down words).

Effortful learning strategies involve actively and intentionally engaging with the material - making learning harder to promote a deeper understanding.  Neuroscience research shows that the brain forms stronger neural connections when learning is effortful. Struggling through a difficult concept (and eventually understanding it) leads to deeper retention and mastery. For example, struggling for a few minutes to recall a biological process using a flashcard is much more active and better than realizing you don't remember and immediately looking at the other side of the flash card. Even better would be to draw a concept map of the process linking different parts of it to other biological processes or noting analogies that mean something to you.

This post will explore the science of learning and how you can apply it to boost your academic performance. We’ll focus on:

• Metacognition – Thinking about how you learn, including considering, monitoring, and evaluating your learning strategies

• Feynman Technique – Breaking down a topic into simple, clear explanations and teaching it to someone else

• Active Recall – Retrieving knowledge from memory frequently, including frequent self-testing, to strengthen retention

• Elaboration (especially in note-taking) – Deepening understanding by taking notes, vocabulary, study guides, etc. and going deeper by actively connecting new info to existing knowledge by adding details, explanations, examples, analogies, relationships to other info, etc.

• Concept Mapping – Structuring knowledge visually based on the inter-relationships of related aspects. Concept Mapping is a great way to break down and/or interconnect complex models, ideas, processes, etc., and it can be a very effective tool for elaboration

• Spaced Learning – Distributing multiple study sessions over time as opposed to cramming for a test

• Interleaving – Mixing topics in a non-linear manner instead of simply going in linear fashion (module by module, chapter by chapter) to enhance retention.

 

1. Metacognition: The Foundation of Effective Learning

Metacognition is essentially “thinking about thinking.” But, it's more complex in practice. It involves actively monitoring your understanding and adjusting your learning strategies as needed. Successful students aren’t just smart—they know how to learn and adapt their learning effectively.

 

What the Science Says:

Thousands of studies show that metacognition positively impacts student success and independent learning, because it:

• Improves learning awareness and self-regulation, helping them to identify gaps in their understanding and adapt learning strategies

• Enhances academic achievement, helping to improve and deepen understanding and retention

• Nurtures critical thinking skills through increased analytical thinking and problem-solving

• Supports First-Year student success, helping them recognize ineffective strategies and adapt them

• Promotes Wellbeing, suggested by studies showing a relationship between student using metacognitive skills and life satisfaction

 

When and How to Use Metacognition

• Before studying: Set a goal. Ask yourself, “What do I need to understand by the end of this session?”

• During studying: Monitor comprehension. “Do I truly understand this, or am I just familiar with it?”

• Self-testing as you study can be a very effective tool to help monitor your understanding.

• After studying: Reflect on effectiveness. “Did this method successfully help me understand and retain the information or did I need to make changes along the way? If not effective, then remember what was successful for future studying.

 

Cogi InSight: Keep a Learning Journal where you track what worked with what type of content, what didn’t, and what changes to make.

 

2. Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn is to Teach

The Feynman Technique, named after physicist Richard Feynman, is a powerful method for learning, understanding, and retaining complex information. It revolves around breaking down a topic into simple, clear explanations—as if teaching it to someone else. These days, experts stretch the Feynman Technique to include actually teaching it, particularly in the context of study groups. But, many students teach their siblings, parents, friends, etc. Referring back to the Neuroscience research about stronger neural connections, engaging the technique improves the strength of neural connections, but then actually teaching it to others builds even stronger connections!

 

What the Science Says:

Research across fields, but especially in STEM and Social Science, show that the technique:

• Promotes deeper learning and improved Conceptual Understanding

• Enhances Retention and Recall

• Improves Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving skills

• Nurtures Academic Self Confidence, particularly in the given subject

• Reinforces Effective Study Habits, such as concept mapping, elaboration, and more rather than cramming for tests

 

How to Use the Feynman Technique

• Pick a topic or concept and write down everything you know about it.

• Break it down into the clearest and most simplest terms you can (effortful learning struggle)

• As you identify gaps, fill them and refine your understanding

• Once simplified as best as you can, consider drawing some useful analogies that map to the content or parts of it

• Then teach it to someone else, and note any gaps in understanding, recall, etc. and go back and fix them.

 

Cogi InSight: This is a great strategy for study groups that work well together. You can divide up the topics a week or so before, and everyone can come to the study session and teach the group. The group then helps identify gaps and together they fill in those gaps. 

 

3. Active Recall: The #1 Study Strategy

Active Recall, often in the form of self-testing, means retrieving information from memory instead of passively reviewing notes. Instead of reading over your material, challenge yourself to recall key concepts without looking. Active recall is also involved in spaced study sessions, interleaving or mixing up the order in which you learn things, etc.

 

What the Science Says:

Thousands of research studies show that retrieval practice strengthens memory better than rereading. In fact, testing yourself boosts retention by up to 50% more than passive review because it:

• Strengthens retrieval pathways in the brain

• Help you identify weak areas that need more review

• Prevents the illusion of knowing—if you can’t recall it, you don’t know it!

 

How to Use Active Recall

• Look away from your notes and try to recall key facts.

• Engage frequent Self-Testing, such as flashcards (answering them, not just reading them), practice tests, covering up notes and quizzing yourself (both answering wrong AND not remembering important info to ask both inform you of ineffective learning), etc.

• Write down everything you remember about a topic before checking your notes.

• Summarize or explain specific concepts, ideas, etc. to a friend or classmate (Feynman Technique).

 

Cogi InSight: After reading a textbook section, close the book and summarize the main points in your own words. Then confirm and correct your summary taking particular note of what you didn't get right.  Following a chapter, make a concept map to summarize the chapter content and include connections to material you've already learned.

 

4. Elaboration: Why Explaining Concepts Boosts Learning

Elaboration means explaining a concept in detail using your own words, examples, and connections.

 

What the Science Says:

Close to a thousand research students across fields, ages, etc. show that Elaboration forces students to engage more effortful recall and deeper thinking in terms of relationships, component parts, etc., making it easier to understand and remember information.

 

How to Use Elaboration

• Take detailed notes in your own words (not just copying from slides).

• Ask and answer “why?” and “how?” questions about what you’re learning, such as "How does it work?" "How does x relate to y?", "What causes x to happen?" "How are they similar/different?" "Which occurs first?" and "What happens next?"

• Make real life connections - "So this is what's going on when I…." "When do I see this happening outside of class?" "How do I experience this day to day?"

• Use the Feynman Technique: Break it down and explain a concept as if teaching a 5-year-old. If you can’t, go back and learn it again.

• Read below how you can draw a concept map of the topic, which requires elaboration.

 

Cogi InSight: Link new concepts to things you already know—this helps your brain organize and retain information.

 

5. Concept Mapping: Visualizing Ideas for Better Understanding

When I first became fascinated by the Science of Learning in the early 2000's, Concept Mapping was just beginning to get traction in research on learning. I adopted it early on to study how student concepts of leadership evolved as they participated in a leadership-based learning community. Today, there are thousands of research studies on it across nearly every field.

Concept maps are diagrams that show relationships between ideas, models, components, etc.  Here's a great resource on Concept Mapping, and an example of a hierarchal concept map on learning strategies.

 

What the Science Says:

Extensive studies across multiple fields, including mathematics, nursing, science education, and more show it to be a highly effective learning strategy, because it:

• Involves organizing complex information into a clear structure, fostering Deep Learning and Critical Thinking

• Forces active engagement by connecting ideas

• Makes studying more efficient by seeing the "big picture"

• Enhances Deep Learning and Retention – Concept mapping requires students to actively connect new knowledge with prior knowledge, improving understanding and long-term retention

• Improves Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving – Concept maps involve the active organization and analysis of information in logical and ordered manner, fostering problem-solving and critical thinking skills

• Improves Grades – Studies show that students who use concept mapping perform better on assessments compared to those who rely on traditional note-taking or rote memorization

• Encourages Active Learning and Engagement – Concept maps require students to actively engage with course material, making them more involved in their own learning process

• Facilitates Knowledge Organization in Complex Subjects – Research in fields like nursing and medical education has shown that concept mapping is particularly helpful with complex systems and information, because it requires students to cognitively and visually organize the information in succinct and meaningful ways

• Boosts Confidence and Learning Satisfaction – Students using concept mapping report higher satisfaction and confidence in their ability to understand and apply what they have learned

 

How to Use Concept Mapping

• Draw a central topic, then branch out to related concepts.

• Use arrows to show relationships between ideas.

• Keep it simple—don’t just copy notes, actively structure them.

• Check out this resource for more instruction

 

Cogi InSight: Use color coding and images to make concept maps more memorable.

 

7. Spaced Learning: The Opposite of Cramming

Spaced Learning means spreading study sessions over time instead of cramming. Counter-intuitively, it's been shown to result in better learning in less time overall - giving students a "two for the price of one" benefit!

 

What the Science Says:

There have been hundreds of studies on Spaced Learning, also known as Distributed Practice, showing its effectiveness across many different subjects. It's main benefits to student success include:

• Enhances Long-Term Retention by involving effort learning and active recall to strengthen memory consolidation and retention, leading to better recall over time compared to the "cramming" strategy

• Improves Grades on Tests due to improved retention

• Enhances efficiency by enabling students to remember more in less time overall

• Increases Student Motivation and Engagement because it breaks up the monotony of epic-cramming sessions and gets better results, improving student's confidence and motivation

 

How to Use Spaced Learning

• Study material multiple times over weeks/months instead of one long session.

• Review old material before learning new topics.

• Use apps like Anki or Quizlet to automate spaced review.

 

Cogi InSight: Start reviewing as soon as possible after learning something new—don’t wait until just before an exam.

 

8. Interleaving: Mixing It Up for Better Mastery

Interleaving means studying multiple related topics in one session instead of "blocking" or focusing on just one topic at a time or progressing only in a linear manner. It is possibly the most effective learning strategy, but it's also the hardest.

 

Here are two examples:

Within the Same Subject: In math, instead of working only on regression techniques (Statistics), interleave Calculus and other statistical methods, including ANOVA, t-tests, SEM, etc.

Across Subjects: If studying history, mix in different historical periods or science literature to challenge your brain to switch gears and apply different styles of reasoning and analysis.

Focus on Making Connections: Interleaving is most effective when students intentionally make connections between different concepts and across subjects.

 

What the Science Says:

Interleaving has become a widely studied learning strategy - as well as a teaching strategy, too!  It's also one of the most difficult ones for students to employ, because it feels so counter-intuitive. It's arguably the most effortful of learning strategies, and the benefits aren't immediately clear until later on. Thus, students often feel like "it's not working", but it does and powerfully! This is because it:

• Improves problem-solving ability

• Makes knowledge more flexible and adaptable

• Helps you recognize patterns across different topics

 

How to Use Interleaving

• Set up a time each day (weekly at the very least) dedicated to interleaving. This helps establish a routine and "trains" your brain so that it becomes more comfortable and less "alien".

• Identify Related Topics and Concepts to study in the same session.

• Math - Alternate between Calculus, Geometry, and Statistics or linear, quadratic, and exponential equations, calculating area, volume, surface area, etc. of different shapes

• Language Arts - mix up different authors or books, or combine practicing vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and different grammatical tenses together

• Science - Alternation between Cell Biology, Genetics, and Ecology, different chemical reactions, or different Physics concepts

• Social Sciences - Switch between Micro- and Macro-economics, different historical periods or regions, or different psychological theories or concepts (evolutionary, social learning, mind-body duality, etc.)

• Alternate between topics, concepts, or subjects. There is no ideal time to switch, but you don't want to switch so rapidly that you're essentially multitasking. Longer intervals tend to be better for long term retention, but a good rule of thumb is switch when you first notice getting cognitively tired or more easily distracted.

• Utilize other effortful learning strategies, such as self-testing (flash cards), concept maps (and make links between the concepts you’re mixing!), etc.

• Challenge yourself to switch between concepts without cues and to have patience when it feels like it's not working at first.

• Take Breaks and switch between study tasks and brief non-study tasks.

 

Cogi InSight: Don't give up! Interleaving often feels harder and less effective. Students report more difficulty remembering info from early chapters than if they simply studied in a linear manner. But, that's somewhat of an illusion. What's really happening is that it's requiring more effort to recall, and as noted earlier - effortful learning is better for long-term retention than easy learning.  So stick with it - even if it feels harder and less effective.

 

Smarter Studying = Greater Success

College success isn’t about studying more—it’s about studying better. By applying metacognition, active recall, spaced learning, and other science-backed strategies, you can learn more efficiently and retain knowledge longer.

• Start small: Pick one or two strategies and implement them today. Then gradually expand and build on them.

• Track progress: Reflect on which techniques work best for different types of information or contexts.

• Be consistent: These habits compound over time, leading to stronger academic performance.

• Your brain is an incredible learning machine—use it with intention!