NLNET Law 058
PREPARATION PATHWAYS

How much time do you have?

Your preparation should change with the time you have left. Choose your starting point and we’ll show you how to use the resources on this website.

My preparation cycle

The same loop runs through every pathway. Only the pace changes.

  1. LEARNNotes
  2. PRACTISETopic MCQs
  3. RETRIEVERecall, then check
  4. TESTPYQs and mocks
  5. ANALYSEError log
  6. REVISEWeak units
  7. REPEATNext cycle

HOW TO CHOOSEBe honest about the time you really have

Count the weeks you can actually study, not the weeks on the calendar. If you are between two pathways, I would take the shorter one. It is easier to add depth than to recover from a plan that was too ambitious.

Whichever you choose, the idea is the same: study a little, test yourself, learn from every mistake, and come back to it. Only the pace changes.

Don’t do this

  • Don’t collect endless study material.
  • Don’t postpone MCQs until you finish the syllabus.
  • Don’t repeatedly read notes without testing recall.
  • Don’t take mocks without analysing your mistakes.
  • Don’t completely change your resources in the final weeks.

THE EVIDENCEWhy MCQs sit at the centre of every pathway

I do not treat MCQs as an extra question bank. I treat them as the way you study, because retrieval practice is one of the best-supported ideas in the science of learning. It is an old idea: Gates (1917) found that time spent reciting was more productive than re-reading,10 Spitzer (1939) found that testing schoolchildren soon after reading slowed forgetting,11 and Ebbinghaus (1885) described how quickly memory fades without review.12

Modern studies tested it more carefully. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) and Karpicke and Roediger (2008) found that testing improved long-term retention compared with restudying,2,3 and Karpicke and Blunt (2011) found retrieval practice outperformed concept mapping.4 Rowland’s (2014) meta-analysis found a similar testing effect across many experiments.6 For multiple-choice questions, Butler and Roediger (2008) found that feedback reduced the risk of remembering wrong options,5 which is why I ask you to read every explanation.

Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated practice testing and distributed practice as high-utility techniques and re-reading and highlighting as low-utility.1 Cepeda and colleagues found that spacing generally beats cramming and that the best gap depends on how long you need to remember,7,8 and Bjork’s “desirable difficulties” helps explain why effortful recall pays off.9 Accessible overviews: Make It Stick13 and Powerful Teaching.14

What this does and doesn’t show. These studies are mostly laboratory and classroom experiments on memory. None of them tested a UGC NET strategy, and none can promise a result in the exam. This pathway is informed by evidence on retrieval practice, practice testing and distributed learning. It is guidance, not a guarantee.

REFERENCESSources cited on this page

  1. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
  2. Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
  3. Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968.
  4. Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772–775.
  5. Butler, A. C., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). Feedback enhances the positive effects and reduces the negative effects of multiple-choice testing. Memory & Cognition, 36(3), 604–616.
  6. Rowland, C. A. (2014). The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1432–1463.
  7. Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
  8. Cepeda, N. J., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J. T., & Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing effects in learning: A temporal ridgeline of optimal retention. Psychological Science, 19(11), 1095–1102.
  9. Bjork, R. A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe & A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185–205). MIT Press.
  10. Gates, A. I. (1917). Recitation as a factor in memorizing. Archives of Psychology, 6(40).
  11. Spitzer, H. F. (1939). Studies in retention. Journal of Educational Psychology, 30(9), 641–656.
  12. Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. (English translation: Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology, 1913.)
  13. Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Harvard University Press.
  14. Agarwal, P. K., & Bain, P. M. (2019). Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning. Jossey-Bass.

Unit notes to use with this plan

Revise each unit with its notes page: syllabus topics, landmark cases and sample questions.