Why adding hours stops working
Three habits that cost the most time for the least effect.
- The same approach for everything — A definition, a formula and a set text all studied the same way, read cover to cover. Each has a cheaper route, but it has to be chosen deliberately.
- Studying without checking whether it works — Without self-testing there is no way of knowing which parts have stuck. So everything gets repeated, including what the child has known for a week.
- Working in two-minute pieces — Studying interrupted by a phone takes noticeably longer for the same result, because every re-entry into the topic costs separately.
What speed does not give you
Four limits worth stating plainly.
It will not replace understanding
Material that stays unclear cannot be learnt faster. It can only be forgotten faster.
It does not shorten the first encounter
A new, hard topic always goes slowly. The saving appears at the second and third pass, not the first.
It does not work on too little sleep
After a short night the same methods give noticeably less. This is the one place where “more sleep” is advice about the pace of studying.
It does not turn reading into a sport
Turning pages in record time is not studying. The measure is what the child can say afterwards without the book.
Six moves that shorten the evening
Take one topic and go through them in order. The difference shows on the same material.
- Understand first, memorise second
Five minutes on the question “what is this about at all”. Material memorised without that comes back for relearning within a week, because there is nothing to hold on to.
- Swap the fourth reading for a self-test
Book closed and four sentences from memory. It is the shortest route to knowing what you cannot do yet — and only that needs repeating.
- Cut what will not be examined
The scope of the test, written down from the lesson or asked of the teacher. Studying a whole chapter when one topic will be examined is the most expensive mistake on the list.
- Space it out instead of packing it in
Three lots of twenty minutes across three days leave more than an hour in one evening. The same total time, a different result.
- One thing at a time
One subject until the portion is finished, the phone out of reach. Switching costs several minutes every time, and that cost does not show on the clock.
- Finish by writing down what comes next
Two sentences at the end: what stayed unclear, where to start tomorrow. Tomorrow's run-up then shrinks to nothing.
Speed will not replace the basics. If material from earlier years is missing, every method will run aground on it — then going back one topic is cheaper than speeding up the current one.
The same material in three hours and in one hour ten
A geography chapter before a test. The same content, the same student, a different order of moves.
A three-hour evening
- 19:00 — reading the chapter cover to cover, everything with equal attention.
- 19:50 — a second reading, this time with a highlighter.
- 20:30 — copying the highlighted passages out neatly.
- 21:20 — a third reading of the notes, phone every few minutes.
- 22:00 — a feeling that the topic has stuck, because the text is familiar by now.
The same chapter in one hour ten
- 19:00 — five minutes on the question “what is this about at all”, before memorising anything.
- 19:05 — the scope written down from the lesson; two sub-sections drop out because they will not be examined.
- 19:10 — one reading, with the question in mind of what will have to be said aloud.
- 19:35 — book closed and four sentences from memory. The three holes that appear go on a sheet of paper.
- 19:45 — only those three holes, from the textbook.
- 19:55 — a break. A five-minute return tomorrow morning and a third one in three days.
The second evening is shorter not because something was left undone, but because nothing that had already stuck was repeated. To know what has stuck you have to test yourself once — and that is the entire saving.
Cut the scope — five minutes
The fastest single move in this text. Nothing has to be known; it is enough to know what does not have to be learnt.
- Write out from the exercise book what the lessons covered for the test
Topics only, one under another. Two minutes, from the exercise book, not from the textbook.
- Mark what the teacher did not go through
Anything in the chapter that did not come up in a lesson gets a question mark.
- Ask, or cut
One question to the teacher or to someone in the class. If there is no way to ask, the question-marked items are done at the end, not at the start.
- Count what is left
Compare the number of topics with the number of pages in the chapter.
For most children noticeably less of the chapter is left than it seemed before writing it out — and that is time recovered before studying even began. If there is nothing to cut, that is fine too: you know the evening has to be planned for the whole material, and you plan it across three days rather than one.
Cutting only works when the scope has been checked at the source. Guessing what the teacher will not ask costs marks and has nothing to do with this step.
What the research says
Two papers on where the saved time actually comes from.
Dunlosky et al., 2013 — a review of ten learning techniques
Self-testing and spacing came out highest; highlighting and rereading — the two most popular activities in the left-hand column above — came out lowest.
Cepeda et al., 2006 — a review of 184 papers on spacing
The same minutes spread over several days give better recall than one long sitting. That is why “three lots of twenty minutes” is in this text and “packing it in” is not.
These studies looked at learning techniques, not at our course. And one thing the papers do not say, while we do: no speed-up is available on material that has not been understood, or on too little sleep.
The most common mistakes when trying to study faster
Four things that look like acceleration and are not.
Reading faster instead of studying differently
The speed of reading a textbook is not the speed of studying. Material that has not been retrieved from memory will have to be gone through a second time, and then the saving disappears.
Studying everything with the same care
A definition to be learnt by heart and an example to be understood get the same effort. Half of that effort goes into things nobody will ask about.
Studying in two-minute pieces
An evening interrupted by a phone takes longer for the same result. Every re-entry into the task costs — measure it yourselves with a stopwatch, it shows up on paper.
Cutting sleep to fit everything in
The one place where “more hours” takes away instead of adding. After a short night the same methods give noticeably less.
How much time can be recovered
From our conversations with students who moved to self-testing and spaced returns.
| Stage | How long |
|---|---|
| An ordinary evening with one topic | Shorter for the same result — by how much, your own measurement will show |
| A week with spaced returns | Shorter evenings, because the material does not come back from zero |
| Preparing for a test | Three short sessions instead of one long evening |
See where the bottleneck is
The free test is three game-like tasks: memory, attention and reasoning. If the time is being eaten by distraction rather than by the method, it shows straight away.
Open the free testshort test, about 7 minutes · no sign-up · instant result
Where these four sources come from
They are the things that surface first at Space Memory when a student brings their own material to class and shows how they study it. Coaches work with children aged 8–18 in groups of 5–10, and in most cases they start not with new techniques but with cutting out work that was giving nothing back.
Questions from students and parents
Does speed reading make studying faster?
It speeds up getting through a text, not remembering it. It makes sense where there is a lot of material and general understanding is what is required.
How many times do you have to read something to remember it?
The number of readings is a poor measure. A better one is the number of successful retrievals without looking — usually two or three on different days is enough.
Is studying at night really worse?
After a long day the same work gives less, and sleep cut short for studying takes away part of what was just covered.
Do notes have to be copied out neatly?
No. Copying out looks like studying and barely is. Turning the notes into questions gives more.
How do we cut material that will not be examined without taking a risk?
By asking outright about the scope and the format of the test. It is a question teachers usually answer — and it is the cheapest saving on the whole list.
Does this work with younger children?
Partly. Eight- and nine-year-olds need help deciding what to leave out, because they cannot yet judge what matters.
Pages where the individual moves are written out in detail.
Effective study course for kids
Learning as a skill: planning, review and self-testing in class.
How to study effectively
The order in which studying gets sorted out
Memorising techniques by subject
Which approach is cheaper in which subject
Speed reading for kids
Reading speed counted together with comprehension
Would you like to work through this on your own material?
On the study-skills course the student goes through these moves on current lessons, in a group of 5–10, 90 minutes once a week. Leave a request and we will tell you about the next group.
Request a callThe guide is free. On the course the same thing is practised on current school material.