Last updated: September 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. Research and platform terms re-checked at the source on 21 September 2026. See our review methodology.
By Josh Hutcheson · E-Learning Specialist
Reviewing online learning platforms since 2019. Review methodology
THE SHORT VERSION
Bottom line: two study habits have far stronger evidence than the rest: testing yourself and spacing your study into regular sessions. Add a concrete plan for when and where you will study, and remove the phone. Everything else on this list supports those four.
- Plan: fixed sessions in your calendar, written as if-then rules.
- Recall: close the video and write down what you remember before moving on.
- Space: three 40-minute sessions beat one two-hour block.
- Build: do the exercises and projects, even when they feel slower than watching.
Why online courses are hard to finish
Before you spend money on the wrong online course, read this.
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Most people who start an online course do not finish it. In MIT and Harvard’s edX courses, only 3.13% of all participants completed in 2017–18, although 46% of learners who paid for a verified certificate did (Reich and Ruipérez-Valiente, Science, via Inside Higher Ed). And light-touch help does not fix it: in a study of about a quarter of a million students across 247 online courses, short planning and self-regulation exercises raised engagement for the first few weeks but did not raise final completion rates (Kizilcec et al., PNAS, 2020).
Online study fails for predictable reasons: no timetable, no classmates noticing you are missing, and study methods that feel productive but are not. The tips below are ordered to deal with those three problems in turn: planning first, then how to study, then your setup.
Part 1: Plan so you actually show up
1. Write down why you are taking the course, and the date you will finish
A specific reason (“pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam by 15 December”) gives you something to measure progress against and a reason to keep going in week four, when the novelty has gone. Work backwards from the finish date: divide the course into weekly chunks and note which week each module belongs to. If you cannot name the outcome, our guide to choosing an online course starts there.
2. Turn the plan into if-then rules
“I will study more” rarely survives a busy week. A plan that names the situation and the action does much better: “If it is Tuesday or Thursday at 7 p.m., then I sit at my desk and open the next lesson.” Psychologists call these implementation intentions, and a meta-analysis of 94 independent tests found they had a medium-to-large positive effect on goal attainment (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006). Write two or three for your course, including one for what you will do when a session gets cancelled.
3. Book short, regular sessions instead of long ones
Spreading study over several sessions produces better long-term memory than the same total time in one block. That finding, the spacing effect, is one of the most replicated in psychology: a 2006 review in Psychological Bulletin pooled 839 assessments from 317 experiments (Cepeda et al., 2006). In practice, three 40-minute sessions a week beat a two-hour Sunday marathon. Put them in your calendar as fixed appointments before the course starts.
| A 5-hour week, spaced | What to do |
|---|---|
| Monday, 45 min | New lesson; finish with 5 minutes of written recall |
| Wednesday, 45 min | Quiz yourself on Monday’s material, then the next lesson |
| Thursday, 45 min | Exercises or project work |
| Saturday, 90 min | Graded work; mixed practice questions from the whole week |
| Sunday, 45 min | Review mistakes; plan next week’s sessions |
See what online courses do well →
Part 2: Study in ways that make it stick
4. Test yourself instead of rereading
This is the single most useful change most learners can make. In Roediger and Karpicke’s 2006 experiments, students either reread a passage or took recall tests on it. Rereading helped a little on a test five minutes later, but on tests two days and one week later the students who had tested themselves remembered substantially more, even though rereading had made the other group feel more confident (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006).
How to do it in an online course: after each video, pause and write down the main points from memory, then check. Take every quiz the course offers, and retake the ones you got wrong a few days later. Make flashcards for definitions and commands. It feels harder than rewatching, which is a sign it is working.
5. Drop highlighting and rereading as your main method
In a major 2013 review of ten common study techniques, John Dunlosky and colleagues rated only two, practice testing and distributed practice, as high utility. Summarisation, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery for text and rereading were all rated low utility; the authors note that most students rely on rereading and highlighting even though these do not consistently improve performance (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Keep notes if they help you organise, but spend most of your time recalling and practising.
6. Explain it to yourself, and mix problem types
The same review rated three techniques moderately useful: asking yourself why a fact is true (elaborative interrogation), explaining each step of a worked example in your own words (self-explanation), and mixing different kinds of problems in one practice session (interleaving). They are worth using once you know the basics. For a coding course, for example, try explaining a solution line by line before you run it, and practise a mix of earlier and newer exercises rather than ten of the same kind.
7. Do the exercises and build the project, even when it feels slower
Watching a lesson feels like learning; doing the exercise is where most of the learning happens. A randomised experiment in PNAS compared passive lectures with active learning using identical material: students in the active classes learned more but felt they had learned less, partly because active learning takes more effort (Deslauriers et al., 2019). If a course has labs, graded assignments or a capstone, treat them as the core of the course, not the extras. A finished project is also the thing you can show an employer.
8. Watch videos at up to 2x, and spend the time saved on practice
You do not need to watch everything at normal speed. In a 2021 study, speeding lecture videos up to 1.5x or 2x caused minimal loss of comprehension, both straight after and a week later, but performance declined beyond 2x (Murphy et al., 2021). Slow down for new or dense material, and put the minutes you save into self-testing.
9. Ignore “learning styles”
The idea that you learn best when material matches your preferred style (visual, auditory and so on) is popular but unsupported. A 2008 review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest found no adequate evidence base to justify using learning-styles assessments in education, and several well-designed studies contradicted the idea (Pashler et al., 2008). Use methods that work for everyone, such as testing and spacing, whatever format you prefer.
Part 3: Set up your time and space
10. Put the phone in another room and close other tabs
Multitasking during a lecture costs you. In an experiment in Computers & Education, students who multitasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test afterwards, and so did students who could merely see a classmate multitasking (Sana, Weston and Cepeda, 2013). At home the classmate is you. Put the phone out of reach, turn off notifications, and keep only the course open. If you need to look something up, note it and do it at the end of the session.
11. Make starting easy
Choose one place you use for studying, with decent light, a chair you can sit in for an hour, and headphones if the room is noisy. Keep what you need there, so a session starts with opening the laptop rather than finding a charger. Check your internet before live sessions or timed exams, and download lessons for offline viewing if the course allows it, so a train journey or a bad connection does not cost you a session.
12. Use the people around the course
Online does not have to mean alone. Ask questions in the course forum as soon as you are stuck, since later lessons build on earlier ones. Search the forum first; someone has usually asked. Join the course’s community or study group if it has one, or find a friend taking the same course and agree to check in weekly. On premium programs with mentors or project reviewers, use every review you are paying for.
Adjust the tips to your type of course
The habits above work everywhere, but the weak point differs by format:
- Self-paced courses (most Udemy, LinkedIn Learning and Coursera courses): nothing external makes you show up, so tips 2 and 3 matter most. Set your own weekly deadline for each module and keep it in your calendar.
- Cohort courses with deadlines: the timetable is done for you; the risk is falling behind in a busy week. Look at the whole schedule on day one and mark the weeks that clash with work or travel.
- Certification exam prep: recall matters more than coverage. Take a practice exam early to find weak areas, and space full practice exams across the final weeks rather than taking them all at the end.
- Project-based programs and bootcamps: the project is the course. Start each project the week it is released, and book mentor or reviewer time before you are stuck, not after.
- Free courses: with no money at stake, completion is lowest. Give yourself a stake: a finish date shared with a friend, or a small project you promise to publish.
Not sure which format suits you? Our comparison of the best online learning platforms shows which platforms run self-paced libraries and which run structured programs.
Compare online learning platforms →
What to do when you fall behind
- Do not binge. One marathon session to catch up is the least effective way to learn and the most likely to put you off.
- Find the fixed deadlines. Graded work and exam dates come first; optional material can wait.
- Skim what you know. Use the module quiz first; if you pass it, move on.
- Add one short session a week until you are back on schedule.
- Tell someone. Instructors and cohort programs often grant extensions if you ask early.
Study habits compared
| Habit | Evidence | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Practice testing (self-quizzing) | Rated high utility (Dunlosky 2013); beat rereading at 2 days and 1 week (Roediger and Karpicke 2006) | Do it every session |
| Spaced sessions | Rated high utility; 317 experiments pooled (Cepeda 2006) | Plan for it |
| If-then study plans | Medium-to-large effect across 94 tests (Gollwitzer and Sheeran 2006) | Write two or three |
| Self-explanation, interleaving | Rated moderate utility | Use once you know the basics |
| Watching at 1.5x–2x | Minimal comprehension cost up to 2x (Murphy 2021) | Fine for familiar material |
| Rereading, highlighting | Rated low utility | Replace with recall |
| Matching a learning style | No adequate evidence (Pashler 2008) | Ignore |
For memory-specific techniques such as sleep and review schedules, see our guide on improving your memory for studies.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to study for an online course?
Quiz yourself and space your study out. A 2013 review of ten common learning techniques by John Dunlosky and colleagues rated practice testing and distributed practice as the only two of high utility, because they help learners of different ages and abilities across many kinds of test. In practice: book short, regular sessions, and spend part of each one recalling what you learned without looking.
How many hours a week should I study for an online course?
Use the course’s own estimate as a starting point and add a margin, since most learners take longer than the stated time on unfamiliar material. Spread the hours across at least two or three sessions rather than one long block; spaced sessions produce better long-term retention than the same time crammed together.
How do I stay motivated in an online course?
Rely on plans more than motivation. Decide exactly when and where you will study, in if-then form: if it is Tuesday at 7 p.m., then I open the course at my desk. A meta-analysis of 94 studies found that plans of this kind had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals. A deadline, a study partner and a visible finish date help too.
Is it okay to watch lecture videos at 2x speed?
Up to 2x, usually yes. A 2021 study found minimal loss of comprehension when lecture videos were sped up to 1.5x or 2x, but performance declined beyond 2x. Slow down for dense or unfamiliar material, and spend the time you save on practice questions.
Does rereading notes help?
Less than it feels like. In Roediger and Karpicke’s 2006 experiments, students who reread a passage felt more confident, but students who tested themselves remembered substantially more after two days and after a week. Replace most rereading with recall: close the notes and write down what you remember, then check.
Should I study according to my learning style?
There is no good evidence that matching teaching to a preferred learning style improves results. A 2008 review by Harold Pashler and colleagues found no adequate evidence base for using learning-styles assessments in education. Use methods that work for everyone, such as practice testing and spacing.
What should I do if I fall behind in an online course?
Do not try to catch up in one marathon session. Check which deadlines are fixed, skip or speed through material you already know, do the graded work first, and book an extra short session each week until you are back on track. If the course has a cohort or instructor, tell them early; many allow extensions.
Final verdict
Finishing an online course is less about willpower than about a few habits with strong evidence behind them. Book short, regular sessions and write them as if-then plans; test yourself instead of rereading; do the exercises and the project; and study with the phone in another room. If you have not chosen a course yet, start with the outcome you need and a format with enough structure for how you work.
How to choose the right online course →
Related guides: How to choose an online course · Advantages of online courses · Are online courses worth it? · Improve your memory for studies · Online learning statistics