True-False Tests Enhance Retention Relative to Rereading

Public Significance Statement This study shows that true-false quizzes help students retain more information on a later test compared to passive restudy, when students get feedback on their quizzes. Importantly, these quizzes do not only improve memory on later true-false tests, but also on short-answer tests. This study also suggests that a possible method to increase the effectiveness of true-false quizzes is asking students to try correcting true-false questions they consider to be "false." Testing with various formats enhances long-term retention of studied information; however, little is known whether true-false tests produce this benefit despite their frequent use in the classroom. We conducted four experiments to explore the retention benefits of true-false tests. College students read passages and reviewed them by answering true-false questions or by restudying correct information from the passages. They then took a criterial test 2 days later that consisted of short-answer questions (Experiments 1 and 2) or short-answer and true-false questions (Experiments 3 and 4). True-false tests enhanced retention compared to rereading correct statements and compared to typing those statements while rereading (the latter in a mini meta-analysis). Evaluating both true and false statements yielded a testing effect on short-answer criterial tests, whereas evaluating only true statements produced a testing effect on true-false criterial tests. Finally, a simple modification that asked students to correct statements they marked as false on true-false tests improved retention of those items when feedback was provided. True-false tests can be an effective and practical learning tool to improve students' retention of text material.