Study Methods for High School: How to Practise and Remember

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), which writes guides for teachers based on education research, calls this kind of practice retrieval practice: recalling what you've learnt from memory instead of reading it again in the same form. You can adapt this classroom advice for revision at home.

You can start by turning a page of notes into questions, written down the side of a page or on one side of a flashcard, with the answers left in your notes. You can then answer from memory with your notes closed, opening them to check. AERO suggests mixing questions about facts with questions that ask why or how. For an English novel, two questions might look like this:

• What does the main character decide at the end of chapter 4?
• Why do you think they made that choice, and which line in the book shows it?

Questions you can't answer show you what to revisit. When you check, you can mark each answer as right, partly right, wrong or blank. You can return to those questions in your next session.

AERO's guide pairs retrieval with spacing: spreading the learning of something across two or more sessions rather than doing it all in one. For a test, that means answering the same questions on a few different days instead of in one long night.

There's no set gap to aim for. AERO says the exact time between sessions, whether it's a day or a week, matters less than spacing the learning out at all. Starting about a week before a test leaves room for a few sessions, like the example below.

To fit sessions like these around school, sport and everything else, our weekly study planner lets you lay out your week by subject, then print or save it.

For equations, science reports or analytical paragraphs, you also need to practise the steps. You can start with a worked example, which AERO describes as one that shows all the steps needed to complete a task or solve a problem. Your class notes and textbook often have some.

You can read through one and say to yourself why each step happens. You can then cover the last step and try completing it. Once you can explain and finish the steps, you can try a similar question with the whole example covered.

AERO advises teachers to remove support as students become more proficient, meaning they can do the task more accurately and independently. You can use your attempts to decide how much of the example to cover, rather than hiding more just because it is a new session.

For English, you can adapt this approach to a model paragraph from your teacher. You can label what each sentence is doing, such as making a point, bringing in a quote or explaining it. You can then put the model away and write your own paragraph about a different quote.

You can check and correct answers promptly to help stop wrong ideas from sticking. For most fact questions your notes have the answer, many textbooks have answers at the back, and in maths you can often put your answer back into the question, as in the example above. A paragraph or an answer to a why question is harder to mark yourself, and that's where another person helps.

Your teacher is a good first person to ask. You can bring the question and your attempt, or the step you got stuck on, and ask what a complete answer would include. Some schools also run homework clubs or study sessions, and your teacher or year level coordinator can tell you what yours offers.

If the same kind of question keeps stopping you after that, a tutor is another option. TMJ's Years 7 to 10 maths and English tutors work one-to-one, at home in Melbourne or online, following your schoolwork with time to go back over earlier gaps.

For your next session, you can choose one question you couldn't answer and find the class explanation that goes with it. You don't have to sort out every subject tonight.

My test is tomorrow. Is it too late?

No. You can spend tonight on questions you couldn't answer, even without time for the example week above.

What if I get every question right straight away?

Then the questions may be too easy to show you much. AERO notes that when recall feels easy, students can mistake that for knowing the topic well. You can make them harder by asking why instead of what, mixing in questions from earlier topics or leaving a longer gap before you answer them again.

What if I knew it but panicked in the test?

That's different from not knowing it, and it happens. Answering with your notes closed at home means the test isn't the first time you've had to do it. If worry about tests keeps getting in the way, a teacher you trust or your year level coordinator can help you find support at school. Our study stress check-in is a private set of questions about the past two weeks of school, with ideas to try and where to find support.

Should I still make notes?

Yes. Clear notes give you an answer to check against. Our guide to taking notes goes through ways to make them.

We checked these sources on 6 November 2026.