PsychologyThe BestieBeginner
Studying That Sticks, a free psychology course on Tomo

Studying That Sticks

Stop wasting hours re-reading and highlighting without results. Learn evidence-based learning techniques that cut study time in half and lock knowledge into long-term memory.

Like Duolingo, but for Studying That Sticks. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Retaining Information with Active Memory and Deep Understanding and Session Focus. It starts from scratch.

12 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Sammy the Scholar Squirrel, the guide who teaches the Studying That Sticks course
Studying That Sticks
with Sammy the Scholar Squirrel
12
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Studying That Sticks

  • Recognizing text while reading feels deceptively effortless compared to retrieving it from an empty page
  • Re-reading produces an illusion of knowing because the answers are right in front of your eyes
  • Pulling facts out of your own head forces the brain to rebuild and strengthen memory pathways
  • The mental effort required to search for an answer makes the memory easier to access next time
  • Immediate self-testing locks in vastly more material than multiple review passes
  • Passive reviewing gives quick comfort without durable retention
  • A flashcard works best when it asks one specific prompt rather than cramming multiple ideas together
  • Dense paragraphs on flashcards encourage skimming and partial recognition instead of clean recall
  • Guessing or failing to remember primes your brain to notice what went wrong
  • Verifying the correct answer right after a wrong guess turns the mistake into a memory boost
  • Cramming gives a strong feeling of mastery in the moment but fades rapidly after the test
  • Spacing out study sessions creates lasting recall that survives weeks later
  • Familiarity during an all-nighter is deceptive and does not equal durable memory
  • Reviewing while material is still fresh and effortless provides almost no memory boost
  • The best time to review is when recall feels slightly rusty and requires mental effort
  • Struggling a bit to pull a fact from memory is what actually strengthens the neural pathway
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Studying That Sticks the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Why Re-Reading Tricks Your Brain

Why does re-reading your notes over and over give you a false sense of confidence?

Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.

Course map

Where Studying That Sticks takes you

  1. 1

    Retaining Information with Active Memory

    • The Self-Testing Shift
    • Spacing and Mixing Your Practice
  2. 2

    Deep Understanding and Session Focus

    • Translating Ideas into Plain Language
    • Engineering High-Focus Study Sessions

2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

Studying That Sticks is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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Start free

Start Studying That Sticks today.

Download Tomo, search Studying That Sticks, and play your first lesson in under a minute.