Experiment Pilot

What it looks like

People who use this approach treat studying as a run of small tests. They guess what will happen, try it, and look at what really happened. Then they change one thing for the next try. It might be a practice problem, a new way to review vocabulary or a different opening for an essay. Each try teaches something, even when the guess was wrong.

One habit to try

Before you check an answer key, write your answer and how sure you are. Then check. Where you felt sure and were wrong, pick one thing to change on the next problem. Testing yourself before you look at the answers is one of the study habits with the strongest research support (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013). Keep a short log so you can see what each try taught you.

Where it can trip you up

When something goes wrong, it is tempting to change everything at once. Then you cannot tell which change helped. Pick one thing to change on the next try and keep the rest the same. It is slower, but you will know what worked.

If this is not your top approach

Before your next practice problem, write down what you think the answer will be. Then try it. Right or wrong, change one thing next time. A prediction takes ten seconds and makes the result easier to learn from. Over a week, those small changes add up to a way of studying you have tested yourself.

How it works with others

• Experiment Pilot and Pattern Scout: Guess the rule, then test it on a new case.
• Experiment Pilot and Evidence Tracker: Predict what the data will show, then check what it does show.
• Experiment Pilot and Route Planner: Plan a few tries, then adjust the plan after each result.

Also pairs with Model Maker, Explanation Builder, Team Synthesizer, Transfer Navigator.