Why mock tests work better than re-reading

Reading your notes again feels productive because the words look familiar. But familiar is not the same as remembered, and the exam asks you to recall.

What the research says

Psychologists call this the testing effect. In a well-known 2006 study, Roediger and Karpicke found that students who tested themselves on a passage remembered more a week later than students who spent that time re-reading it. A large 2013 review by Dunlosky and colleagues rated practice testing and spaced practice as the two most useful study techniques of the ten they examined. Highlighting and re-reading rated low.

What this means for you

• Test early. Do not wait until you "finish the syllabus". A test shows you what to study.
• Wrong answers are useful. Getting a question wrong and then reading the solution sticks better than never having tried.
• Space it out. Coming back to a topic after some days works better than a long session in one go.
• Copy the exam. Practising with the real timer also trains your speed and nerves, not just your memory.

How Score Delta uses this

Practice shows the solution right after each answer. Questions you get wrong return for revision the next day, then at growing gaps of up to a month. Your first attempt at a mock counts for rank, and you can see every solution afterwards.