Overlearn the material Short-term memory is not very effective in test situations. Our short-term memories have limited capacities and do not respond well under stress. Long-term memory is much more reliable in stressful situations and long-term memory has an unlimited capacity. Moving information from short-term to long-term memory requires time, energy, understanding and repetition. When you are studying material, study it multiple times using different study techniques. Also vary the order in which you study the material. The "recency effect" says that we remember what we heard or learned last the best. The "primacy effect" says that we remember what we heard or learned first the best. If we always study material in the same order, the same material is always first, last and in the middle. It is likely that one will have the least recall of the information from the middle of study session so it is important to study this information first or last some of the time.