A Study Skills and Brain Health Workbook for Ages 14 to 16
By Sarah Jane Ferguson, Nidra Mind
Most students are told to go and revise. Very few are ever shown how.
So they do what feels like studying. They reread their notes until the words look familiar. They highlight nearly every line. They sit at a desk for hours and still walk into the exam with a mind that goes blank. Not because they are not clever enough, but because nobody showed them the methods that actually work.
Learning is a skill. And a skill can be practised.
WHAT THIS BOOK IS
This Is How I Learn is a write-in study skills and brain health workbook for teenagers aged 14 to 16, preparing for GCSEs or equivalent exams. It teaches how memory works, why we forget, and which study methods the research shows really work, with a page to practise each one.
This is not a book of quick tricks or promises about grades. It explains, in plain language, what your brain is doing when you learn, and gives you methods that use the time you already spend far better. Some come from modern research in cognitive psychology. Some are over 2,000 years old. All of them are simple enough to start today.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND INSIDE
Part One — Your Learning Brain How your brain changes with practice, why you forget, and the brain myths worth letting go of.
Part Two — Brain Health Sleep, movement, food, water and stress: looking after the brain that does the learning, with three simple breathing practices.
Part Three — Purpose and Planning Finding your own reasons, building small habits, setting up a study space, and an evening review.
Part Four — How to Learn Testing yourself, spacing it out, mixing topics and learning by teaching: the methods that help most.
Part Five — Notes and Reading Cornell notes, idea maps, a commonplace book, and reading with purpose.
Part Six — Memory Techniques Vivid images, chunking, the chain method, the memory palace and peg systems, some of them over 2,000 years old.
Part Seven — Exam Season Planning revision, a study session from start to finish, the night before, the exam room, and what to do if your mind goes blank.
THROUGHOUT THE BOOK
A page to practise every method Clear explanations of the brain science behind each one Trackers and planners for sleep, revision and reviews A before-and-after check-in and memory test, so you can see what has changed Boxes marking techniques that people have used for thousands of years Two guided rest practices, printed in full and recorded Further Support, with helplines.
WHO THIS IS FOR
This book is for any teenager who works hard and still feels it is not going in. For anyone who has reread a chapter three times and remembered none of it. For anyone who has been told to revise and quietly wondered how.
It is also a thoughtful gift from a parent, teacher or tutor who wants to give a young person something genuinely useful before exams. Not more pressure, but methods they can use on their own, in their own time, at their own pace.
A NOTE FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND TUTORS
Many teenagers spend hours revising in ways that feel productive but do very little: rereading, copying and highlighting. When the marks do not come, they often decide they are simply not clever enough.
This Is How I Learn shows them a better way, and explains why it works. Every method is grounded in research, and the book is honest about what the evidence does and does not show. It also looks after the brain doing the learning, with practical pages on sleep, movement, food, stress and phones.
It works on its own, or alongside This Is Possible, the six-week Nidra Mind journal on exam stress. The journal helps young people manage the pressure. This book gives them the methods.
GO FURTHER WITH THIS IS HOW I LEARN
Guided rest. Two 10-minute guided rest practices: The Fresh Page for a study day and Lanterns at Dusk for bedtime. Free to listen to. Guided rest →
For parents, carers and schools. Free resources to support young people as they learn the methods in this book. For parents, carers and schools →
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah brings NHS mental health experience, brain health coaching and Yoga Nidra teaching together. Drawing on twelve years of teaching and developing curriculum-aligned courses, alongside a personal yoga practice of nearly thirty years, she founded Nidra Mind to help people safeguard their brain health, manage stress and restore emotional balance. Through her work, Sarah creates practical tools and programmes that make mental wellness skills accessible to both adults and young people.
ALSO IN THE NIDRA MIND SERIES
This Is Possible A Six-Week Guided Journal for Teens on Academic Stress and Exam Pressure Find out more →
This Is Me A Six-Week Guided Journal for Teens on Confidence and Self-Esteem Find out more →
This Is Okay A Six-Week Guided Journal for Teens on Stress and Anxiety Find out more →
WHERE TO BUY
Buy the US Letter paperback from the Lulu Bookstore >
Buy direct from Nidra Mind ↓
Copies will be available in physical bookstores soon.
Part of the Nidra Mind series.
Nidra Mind donates 10% of profits to Soñar Despierto, supporting children in foster care. Children in care and from low-income families receive free access to all Nidra Mind content.
