Two aspects of allocation of study time were examined among 48 third- and 48 fifth-grade children. Aspects examined were: (1) allocation of more time to more difficult material; and (2) allocation of sufficient time to meet a recall goal. Under a self-terminated procedure, children studied two booklets, one of which consisted of easy or highly related paired-associate items, such as dog-cat, and one of which consisted of hard or unrelated items, such as book-frog. Findings indicated that with some practice, children in both grades would spend more time on hard pairs than on easy pairs. Children had difficulty in spontaneously monitoring the progress of learning and allocating sufficient time to hard pairs. Brief instructions on how to use self-testing strategies greatly improved many children's assessment of recall readiness. (RH)