Most students revise by rereading. It feels productive, because the material looks familiar. But familiarity is not memory, and the research is clear about what works better.
The forgetting curve
In the 1880s Hermann Ebbinghaus measured how quickly he forgot lists of nonsense syllables. Memory dropped steeply in the first day, then levelled off. Each time he reviewed, it dropped more slowly.
Putting it into practice
Review new material the next day.
Then after three days, a week, and two weeks.
If you forget something, start its schedule again.
Spacing feels harder than cramming. That difficulty is the point: effortful retrieval builds stronger memories.
