Although there are several studies that showed positive effects of self-testing on learning performances, Rummer, Schweppe, Gerst, and Wagner (2017) argued that these studies compared testing against less effective learning strategies, such as rereading. Therefore, the benefits of testing may be overestimated. The authors conducted two experiments to examine the testing effect.
In Experiment 1, the authors assigned students to one of the three conditions: a rereading condition, a note-taking condition, or a testing condition. All participants were tested at three time-points: 5 mins after the last learning phase, one week after and two weeks after the last learning phase. Based on students’ performance 5 mins after the learning phase, the results showed that students in the note-taking condition outperformed students in the testing and rereading conditions. Based on students’ performance one week after the learning phase, students in the note-taking and testing conditions outperformed students in the rereading conditions. Based on students’ performance two weeks after the learning phase, students in the testing condition outperformed students in the note-taking condition while students in the note-taking condition outperformed students in the rereading condition. The results suggest that testing is only more effective than note-taking when students are tested after a two-week delay.
In Experiment 2, the authors wanted to examine different combinations of the learning strategies. Students were assigned to one of the three conditions: a note-taking and reading condition, note-taking and testing condition, and a testing only condition. Students were tested two weeks after the learning phase. The results showed that students in the note-taking and testing condition outperformed students in the note-taking and reading condition. Similarly, students in the testing condition outperformed students in the note-taking and reading condition. Students in the note-taking and testing condition performed equally well as students in the testing only condition.
The results of the two experiments taken together suggest that testing is a relatively more effective learning strategy than note-taking in the long run. Note-taking is beneficial for information that needs to be retained for a short period of time since learning by taking notes is not as durable as learning by testing. Moreover, testing in combination with note-taking is as effective as using testing as a strategy in itself.