“Actively self-reflecting on the approaches that you are taking fosters a strategic stance that is really important in life,”

<ul><li>Across two studies, students receiving the intervention performed significantly better than those in the control group on the same exam; on average, their grades increased by one-third of a letter grade.</li><li>Students also reported higher levels of empowerment and control after the intervention, as well as more positive feelings about future exams in the class.</li></ul>

The Results

“It’s not merely about using a greater number of resources for studying. The important point here is using resources more effectively,”

They divided the students into two groups: the experimental and control.

Experimental and Control Groups

Stanford researchers asked students to reflect on specific strategies to improve their performance and investigated the direct causal effect of this self-reflection.

How They Did It

What they had to do:<ul><li>They had to explain what they thought would be on the exam and which resources they thought were most useful to help them study for the expected questions.</li><li>They were also asked how they planned to use these resources to prepare and why they thought their plan would be effective.</li></ul>

Experimental Group

They only received a standard exam reminder.

Control Group

Although many schools attempt to shower students with more money and information to improve performance, the authors argue that too many resources can actually be a hindrance to intentional studying and strong performances.

Information is the Problem

In a recent study released in Psychological Science, Stanford researchers concluded that the key to better exam performance is not to work harder…

PATRICIA CHEN

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