Prior laboratory research has shown the positive benefits of answering pre-questions on learning. Specifically, pre-questions have been shown to increase learning from subsequent pre-questioned material presented either in a readingor in a lecture format compared to a non-pre-questioned group. However, it is not yet clear whether these learning bene-fits translate into larger lecture-based classrooms and whether they can facilitate transfer to non-pre-questioned material.Moreover, there are few classroom studies, utilizing pre-questions, that explore these effects. We investigated the effectof pre-questions on learning during a large lecture course. Students who received pre-questions performed better on endof lecture quiz questions compared to students who did not receive pre-questions. Consistent with prior laboratory andclassroom studies, this effect was primarily for the pre-questioned information and there was no immediate effect onnon-pre-questioned information. We discuss the implications of the results for theories of learning and applications toeducation.

Test anxiety affects a sizable proportion of college students, especially in competitive STEM fields. Prior research has proposed interventions aimed at changing students’ implicit beliefs about intelligence (intelligence mindset) to help reduce students’ test anxiety, but results have been mixed and the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. We propose that students’ beliefs about effort regulation may partially mediate the relationship between intelligence mindsets and test anxiety. We tested our model as an exploratory post-hoc analysis in a small sample of introductory physics students reporting psychological threat in a laboratory study. Effort regulation was measured as self-reported judgements of persistence in the face of difficulty and test anxiety was measured on a problem by problem basis during a laboratory physics assessment. Students’ intelligence mindset at pretest was a significant predictor of test anxiety at posttest, and this relationship was mediated by self-reported effort regulation. We discuss potential implications of these findings for mindset-based interventions aimed at reducing test anxiety.