How Effective Are Practice Tests?

Rethinking the Use of Tests: A Meta-Analysis of Practice Testing

This meta-analysis examined the effects of practice tests versus no practice tests on student performance. The research demonstrated that students who take practice tests often outperform students in non-testing learning conditions such as restudying, practice, filler activities, or no re-presentation of the material. Results revealed that practice tests are more beneficial for learning than restudying and all other conditions that exclude practice tests. This review found that the impact of practice tests had a moderate effect size of 0.51 compared with restudying, and a larger effect size of 0.93 compared with filler or no activities.

Adesope, O. O., Trevisan, D. A., & Sundararajan, N. (2017). Rethinking the Use of Tests: A Meta-Analysis of Practice Testing. Review of Educational Research.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0034654316689306