Students often know effective study methods — but still avoid using them

Short version

A common assumption in education is that students rely on weak study habits simply because nobody taught them better alternatives.

But a new survey suggests the problem may be more complicated.

Many students already know about evidence-based learning strategies such as retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and explaining ideas in their own words. Yet they still often choose easier and more familiar methods like highlighting text or rereading notes.

According to the researchers, the biggest barriers are not lack of information, but the perceived cost of effective studying: more effort, more planning, more time, and sometimes more anxiety.

What the researchers studied

Carpenter and Sanchez surveyed students about a wide range of learning strategies.

The researchers asked participants which methods they had heard about, which ones they actually used, and which they believed were effective. The survey included both passive techniques — such as rereading or highlighting — and more active approaches like retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, self-explanation, and pretesting.

The study also explored something especially interesting: where students learned about these methods in the first place.

Participants reported whether their knowledge came from teachers, friends, personal experimentation, social media, or scientific sources. Researchers also asked why students avoid strategies they already believe can improve learning.

Rather than testing memory performance directly, the study focused on students’ beliefs, habits, and decision-making around studying.

What the survey found

One important finding was that awareness of effective learning methods is higher than many educators assume.

Students were often already familiar with concepts like retrieval practice and spaced learning. Many also understood the value of explaining material in their own words. However, awareness was much lower for techniques such as interleaving or pretesting.

At the same time, students frequently overestimated the usefulness of passive study habits. Highlighting, rereading, and reviewing notes repeatedly were still viewed as highly effective by many participants, even when they also knew about stronger alternatives.

The survey suggests this contradiction may come from how different strategies feel during studying.

Passive review methods often create a sense of fluency and comfort. Rereading notes feels smooth and familiar, while retrieval practice can feel slow, difficult, and mentally uncomfortable — even if it produces better long-term retention.

When students explained why they avoided effective methods, the answers were surprisingly practical. Many described active learning strategies as tiring, stressful, time-consuming, or difficult to organize consistently.

Some students also associated retrieval practice with test anxiety. Even if they intellectually understood the benefits, the emotional experience of “trying to remember and failing” made the method less appealing.

Interestingly, published scientific research was one of the least common ways students learned about study techniques. Teachers, friends, and personal trial-and-error played a much larger role.

Why this matters

The findings suggest that educational advice alone may not be enough.

Simply telling students to “use retrieval practice” or “space your learning” may have limited impact if learners already know those ideas but experience them as exhausting or difficult to maintain.

This shifts part of the conversation away from pure information and toward psychology, habits, and emotional friction.

In practice, the challenge may not be convincing students that effective methods work. The challenge may be helping those methods feel manageable enough to become part of everyday routines.

For parents, teachers, and developers of learning tools, that could mean designing systems with lower psychological resistance: shorter study sessions, gentler prompts, progress tracking, low-pressure quizzes, and environments where mistakes feel safe rather than punishing.

The broader message is simple but important:

People do not always choose the learning strategy that works best long term. They often choose the one that feels easiest right now.

Limitations

The study relies on self-reported beliefs and habits rather than controlled classroom experiments.

The public summary also does not provide detailed subgroup analyses or large amounts of statistical detail.

In addition, barriers to effective learning may differ across cultures, age groups, educational systems, and personality traits.

Final thoughts

The paper challenges a very common assumption in education.

The issue is not always that students have never heard of science-backed learning strategies. In many cases, they already know them — but still struggle to use them consistently because the methods feel effortful, stressful, or inconvenient.

That means improving learning may require more than spreading information.

It may require designing study systems that reduce friction and make effective learning feel more achievable in daily life.

This is a plain-language summary of: “A closer look at students' knowledge of effective learning strategies, where they learn about them, and why they do not use them”.

Source: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2025).