Randomized Study Strategy Intervention in a Large Introductory Psychology Course

Exam wrappers are exercises where students evaluate their exam performance, reflect on their study habits, and make plans for how to improve. There have been few randomized control studies of the effectiveness of exam wrappers, and existing studies often have small samples. We used a randomized experimental design to assess the effectiveness of an exam wrapper in a large introductory psychology course. Students were randomly assigned to either the study habits condition (N = 153) or the healthy habits condition (N = 163). About a week before the second exam, students in the study habits condition wrote about study habits they wanted to maintain and change, and a specific plan for how they would do this. Additionally, these students wrote about a potential obstacle to their plan and created implementation intentions to help them overcome the obstacle. Students in the healthy habits condition completed a similar exercise focused on healthy habits. All students completed postexam reflection surveys where they answered questions about both their study habits and health habits. We found no evidence of a difference in exam scores between the study habits and healthy habits conditions. However, students in the study habits condition spent somewhat more time using effective study strategies and less time distracted. We discuss implications for interventions targeting students’ study habits.