Resources · Glossary
Study Glossary: Learning Terms Explained in Plain English
A study glossary is a list of the learning terms parents and students come across, from active recall and spaced repetition to interleaving and adaptive learning. Each definition below fits in a sentence or two, notes what the research says where it matters and links to a guide that goes further.
5,000 free credits, no cardUpdated
What is active recall?
Active recall is a study method in which a student brings information back from memory, for example by answering questions with the book closed, instead of rereading it.
Research on the testing effect supports it, and our guide to active recall shows simple ways to use it.
What is adaptive learning?
Adaptive learning is an approach in which the difficulty, pace or content of practice changes based on how the learner performs.
In StudyMate, practice moves between three levels with each answer. See how adaptive tutoring works.
What is an AI tutor?
An AI tutor is software that uses artificial intelligence to explain topics, answer questions and give practice to one learner at a time.
A tutor built for school study can be tied to a student's own syllabus, unlike a general chatbot. Read AI tutor vs general AI chatbot.
What is a board exam?
A board exam is a standardized exam set and marked by an education board rather than by an individual school, usually at the end of a key school year.
Our board exam revision plan explains how to prepare chapter by chapter.
What is cramming?
Cramming, called massed practice in research, is studying a topic in one long session shortly before a test instead of spreading the study out.
Its counterpart, distributed practice, spreads the same study across several sessions, and Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated that high utility.
What is distributed practice?
Distributed practice is the research term for spreading the study of a topic across several sessions separated by time.
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated it one of only two high-utility study techniques. See study methods compared.
What is elaborative interrogation?
Elaborative interrogation is a study technique in which the student asks why a fact or idea is true and works out an answer.
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated it moderate utility.
What is the Feynman technique?
The Feynman technique is a study method, named after physicist Richard Feynman, in which a student explains a topic in simple words as if teaching it, finds the gaps, returns to the source and simplifies again.
Our guide to the Feynman technique works through an example.
What is formative assessment?
Formative assessment is checking understanding during learning, through quizzes, questions or practice work, so study can be adjusted before a final exam.
Its counterpart, summative assessment, measures learning at the end of a course or unit.
What is the illusion of fluency?
The illusion of fluency is the feeling of knowing material because it looks familiar, often after rereading it, without being able to recall it when tested.
Testing yourself is the quickest way to tell real recall from familiarity.
What is interleaving?
Interleaving is mixing different types of problems or topics in one study session instead of practicing one type at a time.
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated interleaved practice moderate utility.
What is metacognition?
Metacognition is thinking about your own thinking: knowing what you understand, noticing what you don't and choosing how to study as a result.
A chapter-by-chapter progress report is a simple metacognitive tool, because it shows where understanding is thin.
What is the Pomodoro technique?
The Pomodoro technique is a time-management method, developed by Francesco Cirillo, in which work is split into short focused intervals separated by brief breaks.
It is about managing time rather than memory, so it pairs well with active recall during each interval.
What is a practice paper?
A practice paper is a test written in the style of a real exam, used to rehearse answering questions and to find out which topics still need work.
See how to use practice papers in the last month before exams.
What is retrieval practice?
Retrieval practice is the research term for active recall: deliberately bringing information back to mind through quizzes, practice papers or writing down what you remember.
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated practice testing high utility.
What is self-explanation?
Self-explanation is a study technique in which the student explains, in their own words, how new information connects to what they already know or how a solution works.
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated it moderate utility.
What is spaced repetition?
Spaced repetition is reviewing material several times with gaps between the reviews, rather than all at once.
Cepeda and colleagues (2006) reviewed 317 experiments on spacing and found the best gap between reviews grows with the time left before the test. Our guide to spaced repetition includes a schedule.
What is a syllabus?
A syllabus is the official list of topics a course or exam covers; for school students it is usually set by the education board for each class.
StudyMate preloads textbooks by country, board and class, so answers and practice stay inside the syllabus.
What is the testing effect?
The testing effect is the finding that taking a test on material improves later memory of it more than spending the same time studying it again.
Roediger and Karpicke (2006) demonstrated it with students reading prose passages.
Sources
- Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan and Willingham (2013). Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
- Roediger and Karpicke (2006). Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science.
- Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted and Rohrer (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin.
Your turn
Put the Strongest Methods to Work
StudyMate turns any chapter of a student's own textbook into a practice paper and shows which chapters to test again. Setup takes about five minutes.
5,000 free credits to start. No card required.
Get started in 3 steps
~5 min- 1Create an accountAbout 30 seconds
- 2Choose the board and classAbout 1 minute
- 3Open the hardest chapterAsk it anything
- Page cited on every answer
- Explains before it tests
- Nothing to install