By Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D.

Think back to your own high school or college experience. You probably crammed, got an A, and then forgot everything. It's because easy learning is easy forgetting.

Here's how you can help students study smarter, not harder:

• Explore our list of the best research-based tips on how to study (retrievalpractice.org/students)

• Download free resources for Powerful Teaching and Make it Stick (retrievalpractice.org/library)

Help students study smarter, not harder

Student study habits are hard to change and they're also pretty ineffective. We want students to remember, learn, and succeed. What should they do instead?

Here's our list of the best research-based books, blogs, videos, and podcasts to help your students study smarter, not harder. We especially love the resources created by our colleagues, The Learning Scientists.

What's special about our list? All of the resources are based on legit research and the tips don't require more studying. Students can take what they already do, like using flashcards, and make their study time more effective for long-term learning–without overhauling ingrained habits.

We've also included activities you can use to spark discussion with students about their study strategies. Here are three simple questions to ask students, with more ideas at retrievalpractice.org/students.

Download free book club resources

Did you know that you can download free resources for Powerful Teaching and Make it Stick? Here's a link directly to our Google Drive and we would love to have you join our Facebook group.

In the Google Drive folder for Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, we've included free templates and figures, including our popular Neuromyths Quiz and Retrieval Guide template.

In the Google Drive folder for Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, we've got discussion questions for each chapter, recommended research articles, and sketchnotes.

Want even more recommended reading? Here's our list of the top books on the science of learning, including Small Teaching, Understanding How We Learn, Uncommon Sense Teaching, and more.