Students today are spending record amounts of time on homework each week—and yet, new research shows that English, science, and history homework assignments often have little impact on student test scores. But there’s good news: brain researchers are discovering new ways to help teachers create more effective homework assignments. Here are a few simple techniques you can use to boost student learning and earn an A+ on the assignments you send home:

Spaced repetition: According to University of California-San Diego researchers, homework that uses spaced repetition, a technique that exposes learners to the same material over time, has helped eighth-grade history students double their retention. The idea behind this strategy is simple—consistently exposing students to the same information solidifies what they’ve learned, enhancing retention and boosting test scores.

Put this technique into practice by making time to revisit old topics each time you move on to something new. Then be sure that homework assignments address not only the subject at hand but also related subjects that have already been covered. This will help students retain what they learned weeks or even months before. You can also use Imagine Learning English to reap the benefits of spaced repetition—our interactive language and literacy software program repeats key concepts and principles over time, so students can remember what they’ve learned. Get more information about Imagine Learning English here.

Cognitive disfluency & interleaving: Have you ever found yourself thinking you’ll never forget an important fact, date, or phone number, only to find that moments later, it’s gone? Research shows that the easier it seems to learn something, the harder it is to actually retain that knowledge. On the other hand, the things we struggle to learn are often easier to recall later on. The science behind this theory actually makes a lot of sense—when we work hard to understand something, the hard work signals to our brains that what we’re learning is worth remembering.

Although common techniques for producing this level of difficulty in learning, also known as cognitive disfluency, aren’t the most practical for homework assignments (some researchers have deliberately added typos and mistakes to text, while others have shrunk font size on reading assignments), there’s an easy way to up the level of difficulty as students learn: interleaving, or the mental equivalent of circuit training. By simply reorganizing a homework assignment so that problems aren’t grouped together by topic or concept, you can keep students on their toes by surprising them with unexpected problems. This will force them to work harder to complete the assignment and help them learn the material more thoroughly.

For more homework tips and trips, check out this New York Times article. Then leave a comment telling us what kinds of homework assignments have worked for you in the past and what you’re thinking about doing differently this year.