Pre-testing effect

Taking practice tests before information has been learned may cause improved learning performance. Presumably this occurs through a different mechanism than Retrieval practice / Testing effect.

The Adjunct questions literature explored this before the Retrieval practice literature, so there’s some discussion here: Adjunct questions improve comprehension of related but untested content.

I haven’t read much about this effect. Next up, this new review:

• Pan, S. C., & Carpenter, S. (2023). Prequestioning and Pretesting Effects: A Review of Empirical Research, Theoretical Perspectives, and Applications Preprint. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9rqpm
• ~Prequestioning Enhances Undergraduate Students Learning in an Environmental Chemistry Course~