Yesterday. I posted about the testing effect – testing yourself instead of just re‑reading.

Worked great for history. For biology. For anything with words.

Then I tried it in physics.

Disaster.

I closed the book after a section about Newton's laws. Tried to explain it out loud. Froze. Said "something with force, I guess." My cat looked disappointed.

Math was worse. I would solve one problem, check the answer, get it wrong, and feel like a potato.

But I kept falling forward. Here is what actually works for physics and math – from someone who still gets humbled by word problems.

1. Cover the solution. Re‑solve from scratch.

You read a solved example. Looks easy. Then close it. Try to solve it yourself on a blank page.

First time: you will forget half the steps. That is the point. The struggle is where learning happens.

Pro tip: laugh at your wrong answer. Write "nice try, past me" next to it. Then check the real solution.

2. You should explain the problem like you are teaching a 10-year-old.

No jargon. No, "the net force is proportional to acceleration."

Say: "Push something hard, it goes faster. Push it soft, it barely moves."

If you cannot explain it in a way, you do not understand the problem yet

3. Do ONE problem. Check it. Then do another.

Do not do 20 problems in a row. You will just practice making the same mistake 20 times.

Do one problem. Check the answer. If wrong, figure out why. Fix your brain. Then do the next one.

I call this the "slow and embarrassing" method. Works every time.

4. Draw the diagram from memory.

For physics: free‑body diagrams. For math: graphs, triangles, whatever.

Close the book. Draw it. Label everything. Then check.

If your diagram looks like a 3‑year‑old's scribble, you know what to review.

5. The "why did I use this formula?" drill

When you figure out a problem, ask yourself: "Why did I use this formula and not that one?"

If you cannot answer, you memorized the steps. You did not truly learn the concept – at least not yet. That is okay. Now you know what to review

6. Mix old problems with new ones. (Interleaving.)

Study one chapter. Then do a problem from two chapters ago.

Your brain will scream: "Wait, what method do I use here?"

That screaming is the sound of learning.

You will forget. You will get things wrong. You will feel like a potato.

That is not failure. That is your brain rewiring.

Keep going. The potato eventually becomes a French fry. (Crispy. Seasoned. Delicious.)

Has anyone else found a weird trick that works for physics or math? Share your pain. We are all in this together.

I used to open the textbook, use a yellow marker, and underline everything important. Felt productive. Remembered almost nothing. Read again and again and again. But after a few days, I would only remember 10%.

Then I read about the testing effect: testing yourself once = 50% less forgetting than re‑reading.

The Testing Effect

A landmark study conducted in 1917 – replicated hundreds of times since – divided students into two groups. Group one read a passage four times. Group two read it once and then tested themselves on it three times. When evaluated weeks later, the testing group retained vastly more information with far less total study time.

Across studies of musical learning, mathematical learning, language acquisition, and motor skills, a single self‑directed test taken immediately after first exposure to material halves the rate of forgetting compared to passive re‑study. Three tests cut forgetting by up to 80%. Getting things wrong and seeing the correct answer accelerates learning further.

So I tried this:

1. Read one section (5‑10 minutes).
2. Closed the book.
3. Wrote down everything I remembered on a blank page.
4. Opened the book and checked what I missed.

The first time, I remembered maybe 30%. Felt humiliating. But I kept doing it.

After two weeks, I was remembering 70‑80%. My exam scores went up. My study time went down.

Now I spend 50% of my study time testing myself, not reading.

Has anyone else tried this testing method before to learn??