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Simple Practice Questions

ask first, then read

Before you read a chapter, turn its headings into questions and guess the answers, badly if you have to. The wrong guesses aren't wasted. They tell your reading what to look for, and an answer you went looking for stays longer than one you passed on the way.

  • Easy to start
  • Medium impact
  • Learn it in 1 week
  • Two minutes before, five after
four questions, asked before reading
A question card for a chapter on tides, filled in before and after reading At the top, the chapter's four headings: The moon's pull, Two bulges, Spring and neap, The daily delay. Below, a card with a question made from each heading. Under each question is a pencil guess written before reading, and an answer in ink written afterwards with the book shut. Question 1: Why two high tides a day, not one? Guess: “the sun pulls once, the moon once?”, wrong. After: “The moon pulls the near side most, and the far side least: two bulges.”, right. Question 2: What makes a spring tide? Guess: “something to do with spring?”, wrong. After: “Sun and moon in line, at new and full moon: the biggest range.”, right. Question 3: How long from one high tide to the next? Guess: “about twelve hours”, close enough. After: “About 12 hours 25 minutes.”, right. Question 4: Why is high tide later each day? Guess: “no idea”, wrong. After: “the earth slows down?”, still wrong, so reread p. 52. The tally reads 1 of 4 before reading and 3 of 4 after. A strip at the bottom shows the order: two minutes guessing, then reading, then a few minutes with the book shut. Ch. 4 · Tides · contents The moon's pull · Two bulges Spring and neap · The daily delay questions · before after, book shut 1 Why two high tides a day, not one? guess the sun pulls once, the moon once? ✗ after The moon pulls the near side most, and the far side least: two bulges. 2 What makes a spring tide? guess something to do with spring? ✗ after Sun and moon in line, at new and full moon: the biggest range. 3 How long from one high tide to the next? guess about twelve hours after About 12 hours 25 minutes. 4 Why is high tide later each day? guess no idea ✗ after the earth slows down? ✗ → reread p. 52, only that Before: 1 of 4. After: 3 of 4. One page to reread. the order 2 min read, looking for answers book shut

Three of the four guesses were wrong, and that's fine: they were made before reading. The cross that matters is the one after, because it tells you which single page to go back to.

With the next chapter you read

Try it now.

A scrap of paper, a pencil and a pen. Any chapter, article or manual with headings will do.

  1. Turn the headings into questions

    One question per heading, three to five in all. “Spring and neap” becomes “What makes a spring tide?”. Ask why and how, not yes or no.

  2. Guess, in two minutes

    In pencil, write an answer to every one, even a wild one. A wrong guess still helps; a blank one helps less, because you never committed to anything.

    Most of them will be wrong. That's what the step is for.

  3. Read, looking for the answers

    Read the whole chapter, not just the bits that answer your questions. When you hit an answer, notice whether your guess was near.

  4. Shut the book and answer again

    In ink, under each guess, from memory. Then open the book and tick or cross each one.

  5. Reread only the crosses

    Go back to the page each crossed answer came from, and only those. Tomorrow, ask yourself the same questions with nothing in front of you.

Not studying anything? Same card. New phone plan: “What happens if I go over my data?”, “How do I leave?”. Guess, then read the terms. You'll read the small print as if it mattered, because now it does.

Try it on yours

Ask first, then read.

Write a few questions from the headings of something you're about to read. The page gives you two minutes to guess, keeps time while you read, then asks the questions again with the book shut.

  1. 1 · Ask
  2. 2 · Guess
  3. 3 · Read
  4. 4 · Answer again

    what you're reading

    before · after

      Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. Copy the card onto paper if you want to ask yourself again tomorrow.

      What the study found

      Two minutes of wrong guesses beat two more minutes of reading.

      In 2009 Lindsey Richland, Nate Kornell and Liche Kao gave students an essay about vision and ten minutes with it. One group spent all ten reading. The other spent the first two on a five-question test about the essay, then read for eight. Those students got 5% of the pretest right: they were guessing.

      On the final test, straight afterwards, the pretested group answered 75% of the questions they'd been asked before, counting only the ones they'd got wrong. The students who had simply read for longer scored 56%. Four more experiments in the same paper changed the setup, one of them testing a week later, and the advantage held.

      Two honest limits. These were college students reading one essay. And the help went to the questions asked: on the ones they hadn't been asked, the pretested group scored 50%, no reliable difference from the readers. So ask about what matters most in the chapter, and expect the rest to need its own questions.

      Two ways to spend ten minutes, and the final test scores Two ten-minute timelines. The first is ten minutes of reading, and scored 56% on the final test. The second is two minutes of guessing, then eight of reading, and scored 75% on the questions guessed at first, and 50% on the questions not asked before. Read for ten minutes all reading Guess for two, read for eight five questions first, then the essay 0 2 min 10 min 0 100% 56% 75% 50% the questions they weren't asked first
      Richland, Kornell & Kao (2009), Experiment 1. Final test scores straight after the ten minutes; for the pretested group, the red bar counts only questions they got wrong on the pretest.

      The idea

      Why it works.

      A question you've already tried to answer is an itch. When the chapter answers it, you notice, and you notice the gap between your guess and the truth. Reading without questions gives you nothing to notice: every sentence weighs the same.

      The second half, answering again with the book shut, is plain self-testing. Trying to recall something is what strengthens it, and it's the only honest way to find out what you don't know yet. Reading the chapter a second time would only tell you it looks familiar.

      Keep it light

      Habits that help.

      • Commit to a guess. “No idea” is allowed, but a wrong answer gives you more to correct.
      • Few questions, good ones. Three about what matters beat ten about dates and names.
      • Pencil, then pen. Keep the guesses. Seeing how wrong you were is half the point.
      • Ask again tomorrow. Same questions, no book. What comes back a day later is what you've kept.

      Go deeper

      Keep going.

      Practise this in HourLife.

      In Learning: Resurface to remember. Track the books, courses, podcasts, videos and articles you are working through, log where you are, and keep what you take from them.

      Download on the App Store Download on the Mac App Store How Learning works in HourLife