“It’s not about studying more, it’s about studying smart”
I’m very excited to announce that I have been featured as a guest on The Exam Study Expert Podcast!
The Exam Study Expert is a website aimed at transforming students’ study strategies with learning science and productivity psychology. It’s full of amazing resources to help students learn and revise better, including downloadable study guides. It’s managed by an extremely intelligent and talented friend of mine, Will Wadsworth. I know him from back when we were studying at Cambridge. I remember him being truly a star of a student – this is a person who really knows what he’s talking about. You can read about his journey towards becoming an exam study expert here.
In this podcast I talk with Will about how to be an outstanding student – namely, how to cultivate critical thinking and creativity skills. Whilst I was Director of Studies in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge, I supervised many undergraduates. As part of this job, I read and marked hundreds of essays. In order to up my teaching game, I used to try and analyse and break down what I thought made an phenomenal essay, and ultimately student. In the end, it really came down to those two key areas, and I share in this podcast some of my experiences.
Other highlights include:
- CREATIVITY: as an innovation consultant by day, I have some insights to share on how to be more creative as a student, how to draw together ideas and come up with new ones.
- CRITICAL THINKING: in her spare time, I coach students on critical thinking: the art of thinking deeply, logically and critically about information we’re presented with, and how and when to impress your teacher, examiner or admissions tutor by challenging accepted wisdom with critical thinking.
- GOOD STUDY HABITS: keeping on top of your life and your studies, time management for students, and staying in control.
- WAYS TO IMPROVE MEMORY: My PhD was on memory, and we geek out on some fascinating memory science, including why I turned up to my exams in my pyjamas!
Extract adapted from The Exam Study Expert
I hope you enjoy!!