Experts believe that many essential study techniques popular with students—such as highlighting key words or phrases in a text with a marker—are not as effective as many learners assume. For example, if a text contains too many important points or the ideas in it are too complex to be expressed in a brief phrase, highlighting is not an effective study technique.* One author, Benedict Carey, argues that people fail tests because study aids like highlighting create a misperception that the material learned now is committed to memory and will be recalled in the exam. Carey calls this misperception the fluency illusion. We become poor judges of what we need to study and practice again. Ironically, it’s testing itself that makes us better at retaining knowledge.*

Your Task Based on the preceding facts, indicate whether the following statements are conclusions or recommendations:

A test is not only a measurement tool; it alters what we remember and changes how we subsequently organize that knowledge in our minds.

Although it is a common learning technique, imitating the style of famous writers is not always an effective study tool.

Instructors need to teach study skills to help students maximize their use of time and outcomes.

Highlighting text has little to offer in the way of subsequent performance.

Students should identify the main ideas in the text before highlighting to benefit from this technique.

Reading, notetaking, and highlighting are not as effective as reading, memorizing, and reciting—time-honored techniques largely absent in classrooms today.

Students should consider techniques they have never tried before; for example, interleaved practice, which mixes different types of material or problems in a single study session.