Help your child memorize a chapter in 15 mins: 5 tricks that beat rereading

You read the same chapter twice. Then three times. You underline half the page, highlight a few definitions and still, when you close the book, the details seem to disappear.It is a familiar problem for students: the more they reread, the more familiar the chapter feels - but familiarity is not necessarily the same as remembering it.Research on learning has repeatedly found that some of the techniques students rely on most, including rereading and highlighting, are less effective for long-term retention than methods that make the brain actively retrieve information. Amajor review of 10 common learning techniques, published in the Psychological Science in the Public Interest, found that practice testing and distributed practice had the strongest evidence of effectiveness.That does not mean a 15-minute routine can make an entire textbook chapter permanently stick in one sitting. Memory needs repeated exposure and, ideally, spaced revision.