Summary.TWO experiments were conducted in which first‐year students were asked to read a passage of prose under different conditions, chosen to represent realistic study strategies. In the first experiment 86 students were allocated to three main conditions of reading, copying and summarising. The summarising activity, contrary to expectations, did not lead to greater recall than reading alone. The results of the second experiment, in which some of the 96 students read the material and others listened to it, indicated that the requirement to undertake recording activities has a negative effect upon learning only in circumstances whereby such a requirement imposes constraints upon learners' strategie