27th Nov 2025

Evaluation of Learning Outcomes 2025

How effective use of Up Learn transforms student outcomes

Every year, thousands of students use Up Learn to strengthen their understanding, build confidence, and ultimately improve their grades. Our Evaluation of Learning Outcomes 2025 takes an in-depth look at this impact, analysing almost 2,500 A Level exam entries across 23 schools and several Multi Academy Trusts.

It is one of our most comprehensive analyses to date, and the message is clear:

When students use Up Learn in meaningful ways, they achieve better outcomes.

Across the report, one pattern appears repeatedly:

It’s not how long students spend on Up Learn that matters most—it’s how they use it.

This article breaks down the key findings and explains what they mean for schools, teachers, and students.

1. How effective use of Up Learn is linked with higher attainment

The central finding is straightforward:

Students who engage meaningfully with Up Learn achieve noticeably stronger results.

This shows up across multiple measures:

• Final A Level grades
• Likelihood of achieving an A or A*
• Progress tracked through Value Added
  

Value Added is a way of estimating how much progress students make compared to pupils with similar GCSE scores nationally. A positive score means students performed better than expected.

What’s striking is the consistency. When students engage deeply—completing activities properly, revisiting learning, and practising effectively—their outcomes improve. When they skim content or rush through tasks, the impact is far smaller.

2. What study habits lead to higher attainment?

Across the full dataset, four student behaviours repeatedly stand out as linked to better outcomes.

Mastery: a marker of real understanding

On Up Learn, Mastery means scoring at least 80% in the quizzes within a section.
It’s a simple measure but it’s the strongest predictor of academic progress.

Students who master just 20% of the sections they attempt make the equivalent of 9 additional months of progress compared with students who achieve little or no mastery. They also show higher Value Added scores and a greater likelihood of achieving top grades.

This aligns with decades of learning research:

Students who practise retrieving information and check their understanding regularly learn more deeply and retain concepts longer.

Assignments: structure that builds strong habits

Assignments give students a clear weekly routine. When teachers set 1–2 assignments per week, students stay consistent and complete a much broader range of activities.

The impact is significant:

• Students who complete 90%+ of their assignments score close to ~1 grade than those who complete 20% or less.
  
• Completing 100+ assignments is linked to around 6 months of additional progress and a strong rise in Value Added.
  

The biggest gains appear once students move beyond 60% completion and approach the 90% mark.

Refresh Knowledge: turning revision into spaced retrieval

Refresh Knowledge sessions encourage students to revisit content at spaced intervals—an approach shown by cognitive science to improve long-term memory.

Students who complete 30+ Refresh Knowledge sessions are:

• 70% more likely to achieve an A or A*
  
• Making around 5 months of additional progress
  

When students make Refresh Knowledge part of their weekly routine, their recall strengthens and their confidence grows.

Completing more of the course

Students who complete 40% or more of their course see around 4 months of additional progress. This reflects the importance of breadth:

The more topics students meaningfully interact with, the stronger and more secure their understanding becomes.

3. Why time spent alone doesn’t tell the whole story

Many schools track raw “time spent” as a measure of engagement. The report shows that time does matter to an extent—students who average 1.5 hours per week make more progress than those who average 0.5 hours or less.

But time isn’t everything. Watching videos passively or repeating the same task doesn’t translate into meaningful gains.

Real progress is driven by:

• Mastery
  
• Consistent assignment completion
  
• Regular retrieval practice
  
• Covering a broad range of content
  

In other words, quality of engagement beats quantity.

4. The importance of school culture

The schools that see the strongest outcomes treat Up Learn not as an add-on, but as part of the school’s learning culture.

In these schools:

• Teachers set assignments regularly
  
• Students understand what good engagement looks like
  
• Leaders use dashboards to track progress (e.g., mastery, assignment completion, Refresh Knowledge)
  
• Expectations are consistent across subjects and year groups
  

When everyone pulls in the same direction, students build strong habits and their attainment rises.

5. What this means for schools

The report provides clear, practical steps schools can take to maximise impact:

1. Build student understanding and buy-in

Show students how Up Learn supports progress and what strong engagement looks like.

2. Set 1–2 assignments per week

Consistency leads to better habits and better outcomes.

3. Make mastery the key performance indicator

Students should aim for 80%+ scores in their section quizzes.

4. Encourage weekly Refresh Knowledge

Embedding retrieval practice helps students retain and recall more over time.

5. Track and intervene early

Teacher dashboards make it easy to identify students falling behind and support them early.

For teachers who want to build more structure into lessons alongside these routines, our guide on 8 steps to the perfect lesson offers simple strategies you can use right away.

Together, these habits create a predictable and purposeful structure that helps students steadily build confidence and momentum.

Conclusion

The Evaluation of Learning Outcomes 2025 paints a clear and consistent picture:
When students engage with Up Learn in focused, meaningful ways, their results improve substantially.

The gains range from 4 to 9 months of additional progress, depending on how students use the platform. These improvements appear across different schools, subjects, and cohorts.

While the analysis is correlational rather than causal, the patterns are strong and stable. Schools that embed effective study habits—mastery, assignments, retrieval practice, and consistent expectations—see students who are better prepared, more confident, and more successful.

By weaving these habits into everyday routines, schools can create an environment where students grow in confidence, master the curriculum, and reach higher levels of attainment.

Learn More

If you’d like to explore these insights further, here are a few useful resources:

👉 Watch the full webinar walkthrough of the Evaluation of Learning Outcomes 2025

👉 See why 70% of England’s top state schools use Up Learn

👉Learn how Up Learn supports students with SEND to make strong progress