A gap in the literature on testing and studying strategies is that other studies fail to analyze if differences in strategy were related to student achievement.   In their paper “Study strategies of college students: Are self-testing and scheduling related to achievement?”, Hartwig and Dunlosky set out to discover if different patterns of study strategies are correlated to student grade point average (GPA).  The two research questions: (1) Are study strategies significant to student achievement? (2) Are there differences in study habits for high vs low achieving students? Hartwig and Dunlosky found that the study habits of self-testing, rereading, and scheduling of study are significantly related to student achievement.  

324 undergraduate students were surveyed about their study habits/practices. The study strategies of self-testing and re-reading were significantly correlated with student GPA.  High performers were less likely to study at later hours than low performers. These low performers were especially driven to use study strategies because of deadlines.  For all students, the strategies of massing contrasted to spacing of study correlated with the use of fewer study strategies.  It is important to note that variance in performance can be accounted for by exogenous factors, such as, motivation, interest, intelligence, environment, or competing demands.  In addition, it is unclear the degree to which one can generalize different course contents and different kinds of tests.  The major finding was self-testing was a relatively popular strategy and was significantly related to student achievement.

 Self-testing is significantly related to student achievement. 


Hartwig, M. K., & Dunlosky, J. (2012). Study strategies of college students: Are self-testing and scheduling related to achievement? Retrieved February 02, 2021, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22083626/

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

claim that learners use a variety of strategies to achieve their learning goals, and that the quality of strategy use should be related to performance

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