The one who learns most in class is the teacher

There's a way of studying that multiplies what sticks without adding hours: study as if you had to teach it to someone afterwards.

It's called the protégé effect. In 2014, psychologist John Nestojko gave the same text to two groups of students: one was told to expect a test; the other, that they'd have to teach it to another student. Nobody ended up teaching anything, but the group expecting to teach recalled more ideas and had them better organised.

The name comes from Stanford experiments in which children learned science by teaching it to a computer character: the harder they worked for their 'protégé', the more they learned themselves. Teaching is unforgiving: it forces you to order things, decide what matters, spot your gaps and retell it all in your own words.

That's why the person who learns most in a class is usually the one giving it. Next time, don't reread: explain it to a friend or the wall. The moment you explain it, it's yours.