2021 Learning Science Cheat Sheet

Learning
Science Cheat
Sheet:
Study smarter
& get higher grades
…without having to
work harder!
The science The psychology The secrets to

of learning * of study * great exam
& memory productivity technique1
Hi there! I’m William Wadsworth, Cambridge-trained
learning psychologist and founder of Exam Study Expert
Psychologist Exam Success Podcaster & Author

& Researcher Coach & Speaker 500,000 Students reached / year
Award-
nominated
podcast
ExamStudyExpert.com
Including the largest- Helping students study

Book:
ever field study on how smarter not harder and
Outsmart
students actually study ace their exams
Your Exams
(30,000 participants) examstudyexpert.com/workwithme/
www.examstudyexpert.com | william@examstudyexpert.com 2
There are a lot of concepts in learning science! They’re
all helpful when it comes to preparing for exams…
Cultivating Retrieval Spaced Recall cues

focus practice learning & chunking
Interleaving State / context

Desirable difficulty
dependent recall
Dual Visualising Schemas and Cognitive

Mnemonics
coding information organisation load
Growth Motivation Habits Importance

Meditation
mindset & resilience psychology of sleep
… this guide focuses on my four favourites: the ones I
prioritise teaching first when coaching or speaking

Interleaving State / context

Desirable difficulty
dependent recall
Dual Visualising Schemas and Cognitive

Mnemonics
coding information organisation load
Growth Motivation Habits Importance

Meditation
mindset & resilience psychology of sleep
These tend to produce the biggest results, fastest
I’m going to walk you through each principle, including
practical tips for putting them into practice
1 2 3 4
Get more done How to make Building A crowbar to

in less time by your learning durable, “forget- crack hard-to-
“monotasking” stick proof” memory learn info
1 Cultivating focus
Focus matters because it’s impossible to do two things

at once (no matter what you might think…)
Check phone
Check phone
Check phone
Check phone
% attention
Work
Time
Multitasking doesn’t really exist: you’re … Worse, there is a cost to switching: every
really switching attention back and forth time you’re distracted, you lose time when you
repeatedly between different tasks… switch back to your work
Treat your mind like a temple: every distraction slows you

down, so take steps to avoid them
1 Cultivating focus
How to focus: be fanatical about eliminating distractions

in your internal and external environment
Study
for 30m
Break for 5m
Study
for 30m
Break for 5m
Remove temptations: get Get distracting thoughts Try using Pomodoro: set a
smartphones and other out of your head and on to timer to work for an intense
distractors (consoles?) out a to do list so you stop bursts, then reward yourself
of your study space. worrying about them. with a break, to train your focus.
Smart students practice monotasking: doing one thing at

a time, and getting far more done as a result
2 Retrieval practice
As with most things in life, there are ways to make life

easy for yourself when studying for exams
The long way The smart way
• Feels like less effort when you’re studying

• Feels like more effort when you’re studying
• Works eventually, but very slow process – a lot
• BUT gets you better results, much faster
of unnecessary study time
Pushing information INTO memory Recall practice: testing yourself
• Reading • Flashcards
• Making notes • Doing test / exam
• Highlighting / questions without notes
underlining • Summarising topic from
memory on blank sheet
2 Retrieval practice
The power and challenge of retrieval practice: students

don’t always think retrieval practice works… but they’d be wrong!
How well did students predict they would Actual test performance: retrieval practice
perform on a test after learning new material students went up 2 grade boundaries on
using re-reading or retrieval practice the same amount of study time
70% 70%
“C grade”
60% 60%
50% 50% 20%
“E grade”
40% 40%
30% 30% 61%
20% 20% 41%
10% 10%
0% 0%
Group
Re A:
Readers Group
TestersB: Group A:
Re Readers Group
TestersB:
re-readers retrieval practice re-readers retrieval practice
Re-reading feels easy, builds confidence, and it’s tempting

to think it’s working. But that confidence is an illusion: it’s
retrieval practice that delivers the goods!
Roediger & Karpicke, 2006
3 Spaced learning
Over time, we forget what we learn: the solution is to

keep revisiting the topic over time, to make it “stick”
% remembered
Time (in days

1st time of 2ndtime of 3rd time of / weeks)
study study study
Each time you revisit a topic, you forget it more slowly,

and remember it for longer
Forgetting curve adapted from
Ebbinghaus (1885/1964, pp. 67–76)
3 Spaced learning
Practice spaced learning: spread out your study of a

particular topic over days and weeks
An example of a spacing schedule: this would be a relatively • DON’T just use any old
intense schedule for information you’re finding hard to learn technique when you revisit a
topic – use retrieval practice!
• DO space more if it feels easy,
and space less if it feels hard.
• DON’T worry if you have to
move on sooner than feels
comfortable the first day you
study a topic – space properly
and you’ll master it far more
thoroughly in the end.
• DO try and automate your
spacing – embedding spaced
“revisits” of previous topics
into your regular routine.
It’s not about spending more time on a topic, it’s about

spreading that time out over several days / weeks
4 Cues, chunking, mnemonics
The leap to full recall of complex information is

sometimes too wide to jump: we need “stepping stones”
Going from “not remembering” to The solution is to find an easy-to-

“full recall” can be challenging for remember cue that triggers full
long lists, process, diagrams etc. memory of the information
Can’t remember Full remembering

And once we have the cue,
it’s easy to remember the
full information from it
Too hard to
recall in one go
Memory cue “stepping stone”
The cue itself is easy to remember
Not remembering Not remembering
4 Cues, chunking, mnemonics
There are many mnemonic devices that can act as the

cues we need – though not all are helpful for studying
Value for exam study?
in my experience!
Acronyms: e.g. order of operations in maths “Please Excuse Good, but longer to create
My Dear Aunt Sally” Parentheses/Exponents/Multiply/Divide/Add/Subtract and recall than acrostics
Chunking:
condense Acrostics: remember a word rather than a phrase e.g. “PEMDAS” Extremely helpful to
information to for above example, or HOMES for Great Lakes of North America remember words / lists
simpler triggers Number e.g. remember first date + Extremely helpful to
patterns pattern, not 3 separate dates remember numbers
Powerful but high-effort to

Dual coding: use simple graphic + text together = 2 routes to recall
create (drawing images)
Visual
techniques: Visualisation: e.g. the “champion champignon” Very useful, but in specific
using your helps us remember the French for “mushroom” circumstances only
mind’s eye Method of loci: “place” facts in your memory around a known You’ll either find it ultra-
location (like your house) powerful or totally unhelpful
Can be useful, but often time-

And more… E.g. the major system, rhymes, music, physical cues intensive to create or learn
And more…
For the ultimate support in landing top grades in your

exams, talk to me about 1:1 study coaching today
Work with me to develop a complete
and fully personalised study strategy
in as little as 1 session, and unleash
your exam potential:
Science of learning: supercharge

✓ your memory
Psychology of productivity: get
✓ more done in less time
Mindset mastery: coaching with
✓ heart and understanding
Exam technique secrets: maximise
✓ your mark when it counts www.examstudyexpert.com/coaching
To book a your consultation today
For (high) school, college and university
students, as well as professionals taking
exams in law, finance, medicine and more

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Learning

The science The psychology The secrets to

Psychologist Exam Success Podcaster & Author

Including the largest- Helping students study

Cultivating Retrieval Spaced Recall cues

Interleaving State / context

Dual Visualising Schemas and Cognitive

Growth Motivation Habits Importance

Cultivating Retrieval Spaced Recall cues

Interleaving State / context

Dual Visualising Schemas and Cognitive

Growth Motivation Habits Importance

These tend to produce the biggest results, fastest

Get more done How to make Building A crowbar to

Focus matters because it’s impossible to do two things

Treat your mind like a temple: every distraction slows you

How to focus: be fanatical about eliminating distractions

Smart students practice monotasking: doing one thing at

As with most things in life, there are ways to make life

• Feels like less effort when you’re studying

Pushing information INTO memory Recall practice: testing yourself

The power and challenge of retrieval practice: students

Re-reading feels easy, builds confidence, and it’s tempting

Over time, we forget what we learn: the solution is to

Time (in days

Each time you revisit a topic, you forget it more slowly,

Practice spaced learning: spread out your study of a

It’s not about spending more time on a topic, it’s about

The leap to full recall of complex information is

Going from “not remembering” to The solution is to find an easy-to-

Can’t remember Full remembering

Not remembering Not remembering

There are many mnemonic devices that can act as the

Powerful but high-effort to

Can be useful, but often time-

For the ultimate support in landing top grades in your

Science of learning: supercharge

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