In one sentence
Regular low-stakes multiple-choice quizzes immediately after half of the lectures helped third-year dental students score much higher on that material at the final exam than on lectures without those quizzes.
What the researchers did
Kalyva and colleagues ran a within-participants design with 81 third-year dental students in a preclinical endodontics course. After each lecture, half the course topics were followed by multiple-choice quizzes on Blackboard with immediate automated feedback; the other half served as a non-tested control. At the end of the course, final exam scores on tested versus non-tested material were compared. A subset of 44 students also completed a questionnaire on cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and attitudes toward testing.
What they found
- Students scored significantly higher on tested material (mean 25.3 vs 21.1 on non-tested material) with a very large effect in the main analysis.
- The gap remained significant after adjusting for prior course grade and sex, though the adjusted effect was smaller.
- Emotional engagement moderated the benefit: students who reported higher emotional engagement gained more from the quizzing intervention.
What this means for learners and educators
- Short quizzes right after a lecture — not high-stakes exams — can strengthen retention by the time of a summative test, consistent with retrieval practice.
- Feedback matters: automated immediate feedback lets wrong answers become learning moments, not silent errors.
- Engagement is part of the story: students who feel emotionally connected to the material may benefit more from testing — worth pairing quizzes with supportive framing, not only more pressure.
Limitations and what we don't know yet
This was one dental school, one course, and one exam format. We do not know long-term retention months later or whether identical results would appear in high school, online-only, or non-medical subjects. Students knew which material had been quizzed, which can change study behavior outside class. The design compares tested vs non-tested lectures within the same students — strong for this course, but not a randomized between-class trial.