Built on how learning works.
Acemate follows five well-tested findings about how students learn and remember. For each one: what it is, why it matters, the research behind it, and what Acemate does with it today.
Testing yourself beats reading it again.
Retrieval practice means pulling an idea back out of memory by answering a question on it, instead of reading the page again. Recalling takes more effort than rereading, and that effort is what helps it stick.
Why it matters
In a well-known experiment, students who tested themselves on a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who spent the same time rereading it, even though rereading felt as if it was working better.
The research
- Roediger, H. L., and Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
How Acemate does it
Practice in Acemate is answering, not rereading.
- MCQ quizzes built from the chapter you pick
- Written questions, answered on screen or on paper
- Your answer comes first, and the explanation after it
Know why, not just whether.
Useful feedback tells you more than right or wrong. It shows where your answer went off track and what to do about it, while the question is still fresh in your mind.
Why it matters
A major review of research on feedback found it helps most when it answers three questions for the learner: where am I going, how am I doing, and what should I do next. A bare mark, or praise on its own, does much less.
The research
- Hattie, J., and Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.
How Acemate does it
Every answer comes back with its reasons.
- After each MCQ: the right answer and why, with a fuller explanation if you ask
- Written answers marked step by step, each mark with its reason
- A model answer, and the topic to work on next
A lucky guess is not understanding.
On a question with four options, a pure guess is right one time in four. Explaining why an answer is right is what tells knowing apart from guessing, and putting it into words deepens the understanding too.
Why it matters
Students who were asked to explain to themselves what they were reading understood it better than students who simply read it twice. Explaining brings out the gaps that picking an answer hides.
The research
- Chi, M. T. H., de Leeuw, N., Chiu, M.-H., and LaVancher, C. (1994). Eliciting self-explanations improves understanding. Cognitive Science, 18(3), 439–477.
How Acemate does it
The SRV-CARE engine. When a right MCQ answer may be a guess, Acemate asks one short follow-up about the reasoning. It weighs:
- an answer given faster than the question could be read
- a question that asks you to apply or analyse, not just recall
- an open mistake on this topic, or a guess on this question before
- a hard question
A topic you have already shown you know makes a follow-up less likely. It is used sparingly: a few times a quiz at most, and never on two questions in a row. A right reason earns bonus XP and counts against an old mistake on that topic. A wrong one is saved as a lucky guess, and the topic is marked to revisit.
Come back after a gap.
Memory fades quickly after you first learn something. Coming back to it after a gap, and leaving longer gaps as it sticks, holds it better than cramming it all into one sitting.
Why it matters
Ebbinghaus measured how quickly fresh learning is forgotten, and found that spreading out the relearning made it last. Hundreds of later experiments agree: the same study time, split across separate sessions, is remembered better than one long block.
The research
- Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Memory: a contribution to experimental psychology. First published in German as Über das Gedächtnis.
- Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., and Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: a review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
How Acemate does it
Built into the word library today.
- Each word you add comes back the next day, then after 2, 4, 8 and 16 days as you keep getting it right
- A word you miss starts again; three right answers, each spaced out, and it is mastered
- Add an exam to your study planner, and it spreads that exam’s topics over the days before it
Chapter quizzes are not on a review schedule yet. You choose when to practise a chapter, and your weakest topics show you what to come back to.
Spend your time where it counts.
Mastery learning means making each topic secure before you lean on it, and spending your practice on the topics you have not got yet, rather than on the ones you already know.
Why it matters
Bloom argued that most students can reach a high standard when they get enough time and corrective help on exactly what they have not yet learned, instead of everyone moving on at the same pace.
The research
- Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery. Evaluation Comment, 1(2), 1–12.
How Acemate does it
Acemate keeps track of each topic for you.
- Each topic you practise is tracked, from not started to mastered
- Your weakest topics come first, so you know what to practise next
- Your study planner suggests the next topics to work on
