How to use a marked paper to prepare for the next test

1. The real problem: understanding a correction does not mean knowing how to do it again

When a marked paper comes back, the first reaction is often to look at the mark, skim the comments and then quickly check the questions where marks were lost. The reasoning seems obvious once the solution is in front of you: “Oh yes, I forgot that formula”, “I can see the mistake”, “OK, that’s what I should have done”.

But this recognition is a very weak test of mastery. The challenge in the next test will not be to understand a correction that has already been written: you will have to retrieve the knowledge or method on your own, at the right moment.

Research on retrieval practice, of which maths flashcards are a direct application, shows precisely the value of asking the student to produce an answer without support rather than simply being exposed to the content again. In a classic study by Roediger and Karpicke, students who had practised retrieving information remembered the content better in delayed tests than those who had only restudied it several times. The results are presented in Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention.

A marked paper should therefore be used to prompt a new attempt. The correction provides the information; learning begins when the student then has to use it without the correction.

2. Before redoing the exercise, identify why it went wrong

Not all mistakes call for the same revision. Simply writing “to review” next to a question is not enough. You need to identify the mechanism that produced the mistake.

Mistake observed	Question to ask yourself	Useful action
I didn’t know a piece of information	Is it a one-off lapse or a concept I never really learnt?	Rework the knowledge, then try to recall it without support
I knew the lesson but didn’t think of using it	What in the question should have made me recognise this method?	Compare several situations and learn to spot the relevant clues
I chose the right method but made a mistake along the way	Is the mistake accidental or recurring?	Isolate the technical step and practise it separately
I misunderstood the instructions	Which word or request did I misinterpret?	Rephrase the instructions before solving
My answer was incomplete	What did the question expect beyond my result?	Compare the answer given with the expected criteria, then rewrite it
I ran out of time	Does the problem come from time management or from a difficulty that is too slow to solve?	Identify the questions that used up the time before working on speed

This classification prevents a common mistake: going back over the whole chapter when only one or two skills are really fragile.

Feedback is useful when it helps close the gap between what the student can do and what they need to be able to do. The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning emphasises in particular the importance of feedback that moves learning forward and leads to action, rather than simply the choice between written or verbal comments.

3. The 15-to-30-minute protocol for using a marked paper

There is no need to go back over every line of the paper. Start with two or three mistakes that cost a lot of marks, that come up regularly or that reveal an important skill.

Step 1 — 3 minutes: hide the correction and redo the diagnosis

Choose a question you got wrong. Before reading the correction in detail, ask yourself:

• what was I thinking during the test?
• where did my approach go wrong?
• did I know what to do?
• what knowledge did I need?

This step matters because a correction can mentally erase the faulty reasoning that actually led to the answer.

Step 2 — 5 minutes: understand only the point that is blocking you

Then read the correction, the teacher’s comment or the relevant part of the lesson. The aim is not to reread the whole chapter, but to be able to state one precise sentence:

“My mistake was X; in this situation, I should do Y instead because Z.”

If you still cannot write this sentence, the correction has probably not yet been understood.

Step 3 — 5 minutes: redo the question without looking

Now hide the solution and start again from the beginning. Do not copy out the correction from memory sentence by sentence: try to rebuild the approach.

If you get stuck straight away, reopen the material only to find the missing step, then start again.

Research on correcting mistakes shows that trying to retrieve an answer and then receiving corrective feedback can help correct certain mistakes later on. A study by Maraver and co-authors observed in particular that, in the tasks studied, corrective feedback was more effective when it came after an attempt at retrieval than after simple restudy. The study is available in Can we learn from errors? Retrieval facilitates the correction of false memories for pragmatic inferences.

Step 4 — 5 to 10 minutes: change the question slightly

Getting right the exact exercise whose correction you have just read does not yet prove that the method has been mastered. Remembering the solution may be enough, hence the value of a quiz after a delay.

So look for a question that uses the same skill but is presented differently: other values in maths, another document in history, another sentence in a language, another text in French.

The key question becomes: “Do I recognise on my own that this method is relevant?”

Step 5 — 2 minutes: write the rule for the next test

Finish with a short, personal, practical instruction:

• “When I see a percentage change, I first check which quantity is the reference.”
• “Before starting an essay, I define the terms of the question.”
• “In a question with a document, I quote a specific piece of information before interpreting it.”
• “At the end of a calculation, I check only the signs and the units.”

A whole paper can thus produce three or four genuinely useful rules for the next test, rather than a vague list of chapters “to review”.

4. Example: turning a maths mistake into useful practice

Imagine a paper on which a student got an equation wrong. The correction shows a sign error when moving a term. The immediate reaction might be: “I need to redo equations”.

But you need to go further.

First, the student redoes the equation without the correction. If they make the same mistake, they check a very simple transformation separately. If they can carry out this operation perfectly out of context, the problem may instead come from rushing or from not checking.

They can then test, in turn:

1. a very simple equation focused on the transformation in question;
2. a second equation of the same type;
3. an equation where the method still applies but the presentation changes;
4. a few days later, a new question without rereading the correction first.

This approach produces much more information than immediately redoing a whole page of exercises.

The same principle works in other subjects. A forgotten date in history, a misinterpreted quotation in French or an incorrect conjugation in a language call for different tasks, but the cycle remains similar: identify the mistake, understand, redo without support, transfer.

5. Do not make a sheet of all your mistakes

Keeping a “mistakes notebook” can be useful, but only if it remains usable. Copying out every mistake from every test can quickly become a new piece of admin that takes more time than it saves.

Keep mainly:

• mistakes that come back several times;
• important prerequisites that block several exercises;
• poor problem-solving strategies;
• mistakes you were convinced you did not make;
• concrete rules to apply in the next test.

A corrected mistake is not meant to stay on the list forever. If you succeed at the skill concerned several times, including after a few days, it can drop off your priorities.

This logic is close to self-regulation: observing your work, deciding what deserves action and then reassessing your strategy. The 2025 guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation on metacognition and self-regulation structures this approach in particular around planning, monitoring and evaluating learning.

6. How to prepare for the next test using previous mistakes

A week before the next test, do not simply take out the old paper and reread it. Use it as a list of tests.

Previous difficulty	Test before the next assessment
Forgotten knowledge	Recall it without opening the lesson
Wrong choice of method	Identify the relevant method across several exercises
Recurring technical mistake	Do a few short, targeted tasks
Misreading the question	Rephrase several sets of instructions before answering
Incomplete answer	Write an answer, then compare it with the expected criteria
Time management	Do a short timed set and analyse where the minutes go

The aim, then, is not to “review your mistakes”. The aim is to check that they no longer happen when the correction is no longer available.

To explore further the mechanism of actively retrieving information rather than rereading it, you can read the article on active recall. The specific uses of flashcards and of quizzes for spotting gaps are also covered separately.

7. How NOEO can help extend this work after a session

The method works without any particular tool. NOEO’s features can mainly help find the context worked on with the tutor more quickly and organise the work that follows.

After a session, the session report can record, among other things, the topic covered, key points to remember, areas for improvement and work to prepare. Any exercises sent by the tutor remain linked to this follow-up.

When recording has been authorised, the student also has access to the replay of the session for 3 months. When a mistake relates to a specific explanation given during the session, they can go back to that part and then try the exercise again without the replay in front of them. The aim is not to rewatch an hour of tutoring to solve a single difficulty.

From an eligible session, the student can also choose to create a Learn pack, made up of a study sheet, flashcards and a quiz. The pack is not generated automatically and remains separate from any exercises sent by the tutor. It can be used, for example, to check certain knowledge after working on the mistakes in the marked paper.

How the journey works before, during and after sessions is described in detail on the How does NOEO work? page.

8. Mistakes to avoid with a marked paper

Rereading the correction until it seems obvious. Being familiar with a solution does not tell you whether you will be able to rebuild it on your own.

Copying out all the correct answers. Copying can produce a neat record without forcing you to retrieve the knowledge or the method.

Redoing only the original exercise. Immediate success may come from remembering the correction. A slightly different question is a better test.

Treating all mistakes as equivalent. An isolated careless slip does not necessarily deserve the same work as a missing concept or a wrong strategy that appears in several exercises.

Waiting until the night before the next test. If you rework a mistake straight away and then retest it a few days later, you get much more useful information about what has really been retained.

Looking only at the marks lost. A correct answer reached with a lot of hesitation can also signal a weakness. Some research on feedback shows that it can also help consolidate correct answers given with low confidence, and not only replace wrong answers.

9. How can you tell whether this method is working?

Using marked papers well should gradually change what you can do on your own. The next mark counts, but it is not the only indicator: two tests can cover very different content.

For the skills you have already worked on, check instead:

• whether you can redo the old questions correctly without the correction;
• whether you succeed at a variant of the exercise;
• whether you recognise the relevant method more quickly;
• whether the same type of mistake appears less often;
• whether you can explain why your old answer was wrong;
• whether you need an example less often to get started.