Why Your Teen Might Be Studying the WRONG Way (And How to Fix It!)

Hands up if you’ve ever stared at your textbook, reread the same sentence five times, and still had NO idea what it said.

Is this you? Yeah, me too.

But what if I told you the problem isn’t you? It’s how you’re studying.

Let me tell you about a student I worked with—let’s call her Adele (she loves the singer Adele).

Adele was convinced she was stupid. She thought she was just “bad at studying.”

She tried all the usual stuff: rewriting notes, highlighting everything (seriously, her textbook looked like a Coldplay concert with luminous yellow everywhere), and reading the same thing over and over.

And guess what? None of it worked.

Her results were constantly in the 40s and 50s and the school even described her as ‘under-average’.

Her self-esteem was on the floor and her confidence was shot.

Until… she discovered how HER brain actually learns.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain – Which One Are You?

Here’s a little secret: Not all brains work the same way.

Some people are more left-brained (logical, structured, loves lists), while others are right-brained (creative, visual, love colour and pictures).

Adele? 100% right-brain dominant.

So instead of fighting her natural strengths, I showed her how to study the right-brained way.

No before some of you message me to say right and left-brain learning has been debunked, let me just say that I find it a very useful as an analogy for learning where you can:

• Turn facts into stories and pictures.

• Use images to trigger keywords

• Boost memory using acronyms

• Create mind maps and whizgridz instead of boring lists.

• Draw pictures, doodles and color-coded notes.

And guess what? It clicked.

She instantly went from 5/10 to 10/10 in her memory test.

For the first time, she actually remembered things.

“I thought I was one of those people who could not remember. I thought I was stupid.”

She didn’t feel lost or overwhelmed. And best of all—she didn’t feel stupid.

The Secret Sauce: make learning fun!

The best way to learn is when you integrate your left-brain and right-brain—it’s to make it creative.

We need to use images, colours and shapes.

Even the way you lay things out on a page and the way you use the space on the page can make a huge difference.

It’s like switching gears in a car.

I like to teach students how to get their brain into 5th gear by using both sides of your brain.

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If you are a visual learner click above

The Lightbulb Moment 

By the end of our session, Adele’s face LIT UP.

She finally understood how her brain works and how to input and retrieve information in a creative way—and that made all the difference.

“I feel so much more confident” she beamed.

So if your teen feels frustrated with studying or says things like ‘I am just bad at learning” or “I am stupid”, here’s your permission slip to ditch the traditional methods and find an alternative way to learn.

🔹 Do they write their notes in black pen? Embrace colour.

🔹 Do they try to rote memorise lists? Turn the words into images.

🔹 Do they rewrite the textbook into hardback notebooks? Use Whizgridz.

Because here’s the truth: You’re teen is not bad at studying—they just haven’t figured out how to use their creative brain to learn.

It’s a game-changer!

I know because I spent all of secondary school, all of my college years and nearly 6 years sitting professional exams NOT knowing this information. I wasted years.

Maybe this is why I am so passionate about helping young people today?

I never knew anything about how-to-learn and I ceratinly had never heard about the left and right brain.

But when you do, like my student Adele, you will be quickly singing your way to study success and they will be no longer rolling in the deep (music fans will get this!)