Not All Hard Work Leads to Learning

"1 For example, a study surveying college students' study strategies found that 84% ofundergraduates at a high level institution (average SAT 1400) used rereading as a primary study technique, and most students would choose rereading over practicing recall through selftesting.2 However, the overall effect of rereading on learning is low, while self-testing tends to be higher.3 Within pharmacy, several studies have approached the subject oflearning based on learning strategies,4,5 but studies examining the impact of teaching learning strategies tend to be more common at the undergraduate level.6-8 Most notably, intervention studies have shown increased student success and retention when students are trained on how to learn. Within medicine, one study showed that student learning strategies, particularly skills of self-testing and time management, predicted first-year performance.9 Most recently, an article published in PsychologicalSciencesinthePublicInterestreviewed the most impactful study practices.3 The investigators found that high-yield strategies included distributed practice and self-testing and did not include rereading, highlighting, or summarizing.