As a society, we have grown accustomed to technology working its way into all aspects of our life. Think back 20 years ago and you'll notice how big of a role technology plays in our lives. Our study habits are one area where we still use a book and binder despite being surrounded by amazing technology. Makeanexam.com is here to change that.

Our online study tool can't do all of your studying for you (not yet, at least). We allow you to build online tests that mark themselves instantly, and for free. How does our system help you improve your grades? Let's take a look.

Practice makes perfect. Makenaexam online practice tests have several major benefits:

Better retention of knowledge

Reduce exam anxiety

Practice under exam conditions

Increase confidence in what you know

Instant results

Free to create and take

Discussion among peers

We offer a complete online exam system that utilizes the latest web technology to help improve your grades. Our system works equally well on desktops, laptops, tablets or mobile phones. Which means that you can study anywhere, anytime.

Some of the most commonly used study techniques are actually the least effective, including highlighting or re-reading key passages. One reason for their ineffectiveness is they do not force you to think deeply and critically about the topic, so they often end up being done on auto-pilot.

Numerous scientific studies have found that taking practice tests results in deeper learning and can improve your memory on a test at a later date. A recent study (study) showed that practice exams significantly improve your knowledge and ability to recall information. One hundred twenty Washington University undergraduates, ages 18 to 24, participated in partial fulfillment of course requirements. The experiment showed that students who took practice tests versus just revising material scored better on the final exam and showed better long-term retention.

A team of cognitive and educational psychologists recently reviewed all the evidence on 10 popular study techniques to answer this question. According to the study in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, students and teachers often use study techniques that are not very effective and should make far greater use of study techniques that have a greater impact on learning. The 10 techniques reviewed in this study are: Summarization, highlighting, keyword mnemonic, practice testing, imagery use for text learning, rereading, distributed practice, elaborative interrogation, self-explanation, and interleaved practice.

The most effective study techniques across a range of learning conditions were practice testing and distributed practice, the researchers report. Distributed practice refers to applying study techniques over time as opposed to cramming the night before. Although cramming is commonly done, spreading out study time has been shown to produce better results.

Just by building the exam you are reinforcing knowledge. Similar to the process of taking notes, by creating an exam you are forced to think about the subject and that processing aids in reinforcing the information in your brain. Building your own practice exams on our site involves thinking about the subject matter from a different perspective, choosing the wording of the question and answers. Creating wrong answers involves critical thinking about the material which further aids in retention.

Practice exams have been shown to reduce exam anxiety and actually protect your memory from exam related stress. A recent study from Tufts University (study) showed that individuals who learned a series of words and images by mock exams showed no impairment in memory after experiencing acute stress.

“Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory. We now show for the first time that the right learning strategy, in this case retrieval practice or taking practice tests, results in such strong memory representations that even under high levels of stress, subjects are still able to access their memories,” said senior study author Ayanna Thomas, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the graduate program in psychology at Tufts.

Studying under exam conditions can actually help you perform better on your finals. It makes sense. You wouldn't train for a bike race by playing tennis, you'd train by riding your bike in similar conditions. Multiple studies confirm that a person is able to better recall information on a test if they studied the material in the same environment. This concept is referred to as context-dependent memory. Our online practice tests give students an opportunity to practice in an exam scenario but in your own home and whenever you want.

Online practice exams dramatically increase your confidence for major exams. By testing yourself you will know which areas you've already mastered and bring that confidence into your studies and real exams. At the same time, you will know which areas you still need to work on. Makeanexam's automatic grading and results will show you real results based on your exam scores.

Our exams are graded instantly. As soon as you complete the exam your results are provided to you. The exam can be taken as many times as you want, the question order and answer order shuffle automatically so you can't memorize the correct answers. Traditional paper exams need to be graded manually and in many cases take days or weeks before you find out your results. Our instant grading system provides immediate feedback so you are never in the dark.

Through the makeanexam.com forums, you can discuss your exam questions and results with your peers. You can direct message the exam creator or other users on the site. The ability to discuss the subject material further reinforces your learning. Through input from your peers, you can improve your exams and test each other. You can see results from other users who have taken your exam and compare scores.

Online practice exams are convenient and scientifically proven to be the single best study technique available. At Makeanexam.com we have built an easy to use and effective online exam system. We provide instant results available 24 hours a day. Sign up today to start creating and taking our online exams for free.