The study aims to examine students' awareness and reported use of learning strategies as well as their effectiveness for word recognition using a word list memorization task. The sample included 1039 Grade 2, 1069 Grade 4, 832 Grade 6, and 3752 Grade 9 students (aged 8-15 years) from 272 Estonian schools. More students in higher grades reported using abstract grouping than students in lower grades. Students' evaluations of rehearsal and perceptual grouping were loaded onto theoretically expected factors, and evaluative statements tended to have similar meaning across all grades. Grade 9 students tended to evaluate abstract grouping higher and rehearsal lower than students in lower grades. Reported use of abstract grouping was related to higher word-recognition scores in Grades 4 and up; this trend was not evident in Grade 2. The word-list memorization task is one possibility to assess memorization strategies in basic school, and it can provide useful information to plan activities supporting students' development of effective usage of strategies.