Preparing for exams can feel overwhelming for students, and as academic coaches, parents, or teachers, you play a vital role in guiding teens and young adults toward success. Understanding how the brain learns—and applying evidence-based strategies—can transform study habits and improve outcomes.
This article explores the science behind learning and offers practical, research-backed techniques you can share with your students. You’ll discover how to help them move beyond passive studying, manage distractions, and build effective habits that lead to deeper understanding and better exam performance.
Learning isn’t just about absorbing information. It physically changes the brain. This process, called neuroplasticity, refers to the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself in response to experience. When students learn something new, neurons form fresh connections, creating pathways that strengthen with repetition.
This rewiring can feel uncomfortable. Just like muscles strain during exercise, the brain experiences a similar stretch as it builds new neural connections. Recognizing this discomfort as a sign of growth can help students persist through challenging material.
Information enters the brain through two distinct pathways:
Track One: Focused, Conscious Learning
This is the intentional, effortful process students use when learning something new or challenging. Examples include solving math equations, writing essays, or mastering a musical instrument. This type of learning requires full attention and mental capacity.
Track Two: Diffuse, Unconscious Learning
The brain also learns without conscious awareness. This unconscious processing helps organize and store information automatically. It’s where instincts are conditioned and intuition develops. Students often describe this as a “gut feeling” because the information didn’t come through conscious thought.
The most effective learning happens when students engage both tracks. Here’s how:
This quiet downtime is when the brain connects new information with existing knowledge, leading to those “lightbulb moments.” Constant stimulation—scrolling, listening to music, watching videos—interferes with this essential consolidation process.
Not all information students encounter makes it into long-term memory. New information pauses briefly in short-term memory, where working memory processes it. Think of working memory as an active desktop—it decides what to save and what to discard.
Auditory Rehearsal
Repeating information verbally or mentally helps keep it present longer. In coaching sessions, reflecting what a student says serves this function, keeping ideas active while they make connections.
Visual-Spatial Processing
Mentally rearranging, visualizing, or connecting images to information strengthens retention. Encourage students to picture concepts or imagine themselves applying what they’ve learned.
Making Connections
Linking new information to what students already know is powerful. Ask them to recall similar experiences or compare new concepts with familiar ones. This comparison strengthens memory pathways.
In the 1880s, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that people forget more than half of what they learn within hours—and most of it within a month. However, research shows that spaced and distributed review dramatically improves retention.
Reviewing material at increasing intervals—immediately after learning, then 24 hours later, one week later, and one month later—helps students retain far more information.
Students retain more when they understand their personal reasons for learning. Help them identify:
Find the “optimal stress” zone—where students feel challenged but not overwhelmed.
Sustained attention is difficult for everyone, especially adolescents whose brains are still developing. Modern technology has conditioned many students to maintain continuous partial attention—constantly splitting their focus between multiple things.
Ways to Support Better Focus:
Once students are focused, they need strategies to store information effectively:
Rehearsal (Conscious Repetition)
Best for new information with few existing connections. Repeating material helps move it from short-term to long-term memory.
Deep Processing
Encourage students to encode information based on meaning. Ask: What does this mean? How does it relate to other concepts? Why is it important?
Interleaving
Mix different topics or types of practice rather than studying one subject for hours. This forces the brain to problem-solve and strengthens learning.
Mnemonic Devices
Use imagery and organizational tools to create memorable associations.
Chunking
Break information into manageable units, making it easier to process and remember.
Sleep
Memory consolidation happens during REM sleep. Studying before bedtime allows the brain to “sleep on” new information, strengthening retention.
Self-Testing
Testing knowledge is far more effective than rereading notes. It reveals what students truly understand and what needs more work. Many students rely on rereading, which creates a false sense of preparedness.
Distributed Practice
Space study sessions over time rather than cramming. This spacing effect dramatically improves long-term retention.
Many students try to multitask while studying, but this interferes with deep learning.
Monotasking (focusing on one thing at a time) is essential for:
Multitasking (managing multiple tasks simultaneously) works for:
Help students recognize which approach fits their current task.
Procrastination is one of the most common challenges students face. Common causes include:
Procrastination forces students to work under high stress at the last minute, interfering with learning and leading to surface-level task completion rather than deep understanding.
The Solution: Distributed Study and Practice
Break assignments into manageable pieces based on effort required and due dates, then follow through on a schedule. This approach:
Becoming distracted typically signals one of these issues:
Strategies to Address Distraction:
For lack of interest or challenging material:
For tiredness or exhaustion:
For students managing a condition:
This simple tool helps students categorize tasks and identify priorities:
Work through this matrix with students to help them organize their workload and identify what deserves their attention first.
Time blocking helps students chunk tasks based on the capacity and focus they require, along with deadlines.
Steps for Effective Time Blocking:
Create a study calendar working backward from the exam date. If students have four weeks, they shouldn’t study Chapter 1 on Monday and never revisit it. Instead, study Chapter 1 on Day 1, review it briefly on Day 3, again on Day 7, then Day 14. Each topic gets multiple passes with increasing intervals.
Simple spreadsheets or apps like Anki can automate spacing and track what needs review when. The key is returning to material right before students would forget it.
After reading a section, encourage students to close the book immediately and write down everything they remember on blank paper (not notes). This will feel uncomfortable—that difficulty signals learning.
Additional retrieval strategies:
Instead of doing 20 algebra problems followed by 20 geometry problems, mix them: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, geometry. For humanities, don’t study all of World War I then all of World War II. Jump between periods, comparing causes, outcomes, and key figures across different eras.
Create mixed practice sets intentionally. Yes, this feels messier and harder than blocked practice, but that difficulty signals deeper learning.
For every fact or concept, students should ask: “Why is this true?” and “How does this connect to what I already know?”
For example, when studying photosynthesis, don’t just memorize the equation. Ask: Why do plants need sunlight specifically? How does this relate to food chains? What would happen if one step failed?
Writing these questions and answers transforms passive reading into active sense-making.
For every abstract principle, encourage students to generate at least two specific examples themselves (not just the textbook’s). If studying economic concepts like supply and demand, think through examples from their own lives—concert tickets, gas prices, trending sneakers.
For historical movements, connect them to current events. Create mental images and stories around dry facts. The more personal and vivid, the better.
Continue cycling back through topics, constantly reinforcing earlier material while adding new content.
The hardest part of effective studying is that it feels harder and slower than ineffective studying. Rereading feels smooth and comfortable; retrieval practice feels choppy and frustrating.
That frustration, however, is the brain working and learning. Help students understand that struggle is not a sign of failure—it’s a sign of growth.
As academic coaches, parents, or teachers, you have the opportunity to equip students with strategies that go far beyond memorization. By teaching them how their brains learn, how to manage their time and attention, and how to study effectively, you’re giving them tools they’ll use throughout their lives.
Encourage students to experiment with these techniques and find what works best for them. Remind them that building new habits takes time and that small, consistent efforts lead to significant improvement.
The brain is remarkably adaptable. With the right strategies and your support, students can transform their approach to learning and achieve the exam results they’re working toward. Would you like to learn more evidence-based techniques to empower young people to excel and thrive? Visit our coach certification page to review our training programs.
