Nick Serifin - PsychBoost

Real revision is supposed to feel a bit uncomfortable! And... well.. that’s exactly why it works. When it comes to desirable difficulties, challenge is a feature, not a bug! and students need help recognising that.

In this session, we’ll cut through the “busywork” habits students love (rereading, highlighting, copying notes, last-minute cramming) and focus on strategies that genuinely build long-term memory: retrieval practice (the testing effect), spaced practice (the spacing effect), and interleaving (mixing topics and question types).

But evidence alone doesn’t change behaviour. A big part of the session is about persuasion: how to sell hard revision to teenagers who crave quick, easy reassurance. We’ll explore why “feels easy” often equals “learns little,” and how to re-label struggle as progress using quick, visible wins.

You’ll leave with practical classroom routines, classroom activities and student-friendly language you can use immediately. We’ll also cover metacognition (helping students spot what they don’t know yet) and ways to keep them moving when motivation drops."