If students followed a typical academic plan over the course of the year, it is precisely the opposite of what science recommends for lasting learning—one topic was probably limited to one week and another to the next. It is what it sounds like—leaving time between practice sessions for the same material. You might call it deliberate not-practicing between periods of deliberate practice. Space between practice sessions creates the hardness that improves learning.

Iowa State researchers read people lists of words, and then asked for each list to be recited back either right away, after fifteen seconds of practicing, or after fifteen seconds of doing very simple math problems that prevented practicing. The subjects who were allowed to reproduce the lists right after hearing them did the best. Those who had fifteen seconds to practice before reciting came in second. The group distracted with math problems finished last. Later, when everyone thought they were finished, they were all surprised with a sudden quiz: write down every word you can recall from the lists. Suddenly the worst group became the best.

Short-term practicing gave purely short-term benefits. Struggling to hold on to information and then recall it had helped the group distracted by math problems transfer the information from short-term to long-term memory. The group with more and immediate practicing opportunity recalled nearly nothing on the sudden quiz. Repetition, it turned out, was less important than struggle.

It isn’t bad to get an answer right while studying. Progress just should not happen too quickly. For a given amount of material, learning is most efficient in the long run when it is really inefficient in the short run. If you are doing too well when you test yourself, the simple solution is to wait longer before practicing the same material again, so that the test will be more difficult when you do. Frustration is not a sign that you are not learning,but ease is.

Confidence is a feeling of trust in your abilities, qualities and judgment. Building confidence is like building a house. You need to start with a solid foundation, then construct everything else from there. It takes time and effort to improve your confidence, especially if you haven’t had the opportunity to prove your skills in the past. 【小题1】 Start strengthening your self-confidence with these how-to guides.

【小题2】 It’s easier said than done, but daily, positive thoughts about what you’re able to do can improve your confidence. Everyone has days when staying positive is tough, but force yourself to remember one good thing you like about who you are every morning until it’s a habit.

Do things you’re good at. What happens when you do things that you are good at? 【小题3】Your strengths become even stronger, which helps improve your belief in yourself. Taking this approach also has another benefit: It can increase how satisfied you are with your life.

Spend time with positive people. The people around you greatly impact how you feel about yourself. If judgmental or critical people surround you, it’ll take a toll(产生负面影响)on your mental strength. If, however, you’re interacting with people who can cheer others on and support one another, you’ll feel much better. 【小题4】

Take care of yourself. Focusing on you and what you need sometimes feel like it’s selfish,but it’s not! 【小题5】 Taking care of yourself can help you take care of others, but it can also help boost your self-confidence. Easy ways to start include taking a break when you’re overwhelmed(不堪重负的), wearing your favorite outfit, or doing something you love.

Have you ever had the experience of talking to someone and you think they are lying? Well, you are not alone. We’ve all had that feeling. But did you know that there are several things you can look for to see if you are being lied to?

Sometimes you can tell if a person is lying by observing what they do with their body. When people are lying they tend not to move their arms, hands or legs very far form their body. They don’t want to take up very much space because they don’t want to be noticed. Sometimes a person who is lying will not look you in the eyes. Other times people who lie try to look at you in a strong way because they want to convince you they are telling the truth.

Liars also use deflection. For example, if you ask a liar the question“did you steal Fatima’s bag?”，they may answer with something like“Fatima is my friend, why would I do that?”in this situation the person is telling the truth, but they are also not answering the question. They are trying to deflect your attention. Liars may also give too many details. They may try to over-explain things. They do this because they want to convince you of what they are saying.

Often when a person is lying, they do not want to continue talking about their lie. If you think someone is lying, quickly change the subject. If the person is lying, they will appear more comfortable because they are not talking about their lie any longer. A little later, change the subject back to what you were talking about before. If the person seems uncomfortable again, they may be lying.

It’s very hard for a liar to avoid filling silence created by you. He or she wants you to believe the lies being woven; silence gives no feedback on whether or not you’ve bought the story. If you’re a good listener, you’ll already be avoiding interruptions, which in itself is a great technique to let the story unfold.

Just because a person is showing these behaviors, it doesn’t mean they are lying. They might be shy or nervous. But if you think someone is lying, you might want to use some of these techniques. Hopefully, you won’t need to very often.