Between Thoughts -Intellectual Musings

Zama Mfana. 

Ten study habits your brain actually rewards, five myths that cost you marks, and one proverb. For the 400 boys of the Eastern Cape, and every boy writing matric this year.

Eight days in Gqeberha
This weekend I was in Gqeberha, at a programme put together by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) in partnership with the Department of Basic Education. It was led by Bhuti Lwando Bantom and managed by Mr Bulelani Magajana.
If you want a playbook on how to be humane, watch Bhuti Lwando. He is Love and Ubuntu in action. He has been with  SAICA for  more than two decades,  opening doors through its transformation and school programmes, but the door-opening started long before the job title. As a young man he spent six years as a petrol attendant, putting himself through school, and while still pumping petrol he organised the bursary that took Zwai and Loyiso Bala to the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School. Loyiso has spoken publicly about what that mentorship meant. I love Bhuti Lwando’s way of being, and he owes us a few books. That kind of wisdom and compassion should not retire with him.

Why a boot camp for boys?
SAICA and the Department started an eight-day boot camp for Grade 12 boys taking Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Accounting. The boys go through intensive maths classes, but also psycho-social support, conversations about positive masculinity and role modelling, and speakers who look like them and talk their language, telling them how they transcended and why maths matters. This is not charity. It is triage. Boys are falling behind at almost every checkpoint we measure: the weakest outcomes in reading for meaning and in numeracy, high absenteeism, a dropout wave around Grade 10, and then the matric hall itself. In the Class of 2025, girls made up 56% of the matric cohort, which leaves boys at roughly 44%. The Minister of Basic Education warned, on the night she announced a record 88% pass rate, that the boy child is increasingly being left behind. Downstream of that: the lowest share qualifying for university, the lowest university enrolment, and the poorest graduation-on-time rates.

So thank you to SAICA and to the Department for choosing to be part of the solution. What I respect most is that SAICA is running this as an industry-wide intervention. They do not expect all 400 boys to become chartered accountants. They expect them to become something.

Do not reinvent the wheel. Make the circle bigger.
I hope SAICA’s equivalents in other industries are reading. The engineering bodies, the actuaries, the health professions, the banks: either run your own version, or put your CSI money into this one. The infrastructure exists. The boys exist. The gap is the cheque.
It is fitting that this camp happens in the Eastern Cape, one of our poorest provinces. And it does not help that the ANC-led provincial government has run it down through corruption, self-serving sycophants, nepotism, and no regard for competence or good character. The boys of this province did not cause that. They are paying for it.

What the boys told me?
Bhuti Lwando invited me to speak to the 400 boys, who came from all over the province. After the talk I sat with boys one on one. Many of them are hurting. Many of them are in pain. Many do not have a present biological father at home, and some have mothers who are so angry that they ask their sons to choose: me or your father.
That is a lot to carry into a Physical Sciences paper. A boy cannot do calculus with a war going on inside him. So Bhuti Lwando and I agreed that he will ask the Departments of Health and of Social Development to send counsellors, social workers and therapists to volunteer at the camp for the full eight days, so that every boy who needs it has a chance to talk to a professional. Some of the questions the boys asked me were about how to study. I promised to go away, reflect, and come back with research-based study tips, and to bust a few myths while I was at it. This is me keeping that promise.

IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE BOYS, READ THIS FIRST
You are not lazy, and you are not stupid. Most of the ways we were taught to study, reading the textbook again and again, highlighting, staying up all night, feel productive and are not. The good news is that the methods that work cost nothing. No tutor, no data bundle, no expensive pills. A pen, a blank page, a timer and some sleep.
And if what is heavy right now is not the work but what is happening at home, that counts too. Talk to the counsellors at camp, a teacher you trust, or Childline on 116 (free, from any phone). Telling someone is not weakness. It is maintenance.


Study the way your brain works
Preparing for the National Senior Certificate is one of the most mentally demanding periods in a young person’s life. For young men, there is an extra layer: the pressure to “tough it out” and hide stress. That pressure does not make you stronger in the exam room. It makes you slower. Working with how your brain and body actually function, instead of passive cramming, is the fastest way to lift your marks.
Below are ten habits grounded in cognitive psychology, neuroscience and physiology. For each one: why it matters, what the evidence actually says (I have corrected a few popular claims that go further than the research does), and what to do tonight.

1. Active recall: pull it out, do not pour it in
Why it matters. Your brain learns by retrieval, not by consumption. Reading your notes again builds familiarity, the feeling of “I know this,” which is not the same as being able to produce the answer with a blank page in front of you. Every time you force yourself to pull information out of memory, you make it easier to pull out next time.
The evidence. In a well-known experiment, Roediger and Karpicke (2006) had students either read a passage four times, or read it once and then try to recall it three times. A week later the recall group remembered about 61% of the passage; the re-readers remembered about 40%. The twist: the re-readers predicted they would do better. Re-reading feels like learning. A major 2013 review of study techniques (Dunlosky and colleagues) rated practice testing as one of only two “high utility” methods.
What to do. Close the textbook. Take a blank page and write everything you can remember about a topic: the stages of cellular respiration, the steps for a cash budget, the features of a function. Then open the book and mark what you missed in a different colour. While you study a chapter, write questions on one side of a page and answer them tomorrow without looking. For Maths, cover a worked example and do it yourself before you check.

2. Spaced repetition: little and often beats a lot at once
Why it matters. Memory fades fast unless it is revisited. In the 1880s Hermann Ebbinghaus tested himself on lists of nonsense syllables and found he had lost most of a freshly learned list within a day. Meaningful school content fades more slowly than nonsense, but the shape of the curve is the same: steep at first, then flatter. Each well-timed review flattens it further.
The evidence. This is one of the most replicated findings in learning science. A 2006 meta-analysis by Cepeda and colleagues, pooling hundreds of experiments, found that spreading study across sessions produces better long-term retention than massing the same total time into one session. Same hours, better marks.
What to do. Instead of five hours on one topic the night before, do 45 minutes today, 30 minutes in three days, 15 minutes next week, and a quick blank-page recall the week after. Keep a simple roster of difficult topics and the dates you will revisit them. The Western Cape Education Department’s Grade 12 exam guide has a useful planning template. Cramming is trying to get fat in one bite.

3. Work in sprints, then rest on purpose (the Pomodoro Technique)
Why it matters. Nobody can hold full focus for hours. Performance on demanding tasks drifts down the longer you go without a break; psychologists call it the vigilance decrement. Short, deliberate breaks reset your attention so the next block is sharper. (You may see this sold online with talk of the “attentional blink” and “depleted neurotransmitters.” Ignore that. The attentional blink is a different thing, a split-second gap in noticing, and the chemical-depletion story is not established. The practical point stands without it.)
The evidence. Studies of brief breaks during long tasks find they help people sustain performance, and a 2023 study of students using Pomodoro-style scheduled breaks found less fatigue and better mood than self-chosen breaks, for a similar amount of work done. The evidence is good, not miraculous. The bigger win is what the timer protects you from: your phone.
What to do. Set a timer for 25 minutes of single-task focus. Phone in another room, or face down and on silent. When it rings, take 5 minutes: stand, stretch, drink water, step outside. After four rounds, take 20 to 30 minutes off. If you do not have a quiet room at home, and many of you do not, ask about staying at school after hours, use the community library, or agree on a quiet hour with the people you live with.

4. Dual coding: words plus pictures
Why it matters. Your brain handles words and images through partly separate systems. When you connect a diagram to an explanation, you give yourself two routes back to the same memory in the exam instead of one.
The evidence. Allan Paivio’s dual coding theory and Richard Mayer’s research on multimedia learning both show that well-designed words-plus-visuals beat words alone, especially for processes and systems: the circulatory system, electric circuits, the accounting cycle. “Twice as easy” overstates it, but the advantage is real.
What to do. Do not just write paragraphs. Turn a chapter into a flowchart, a labelled diagram, a timeline or a mind map, in your own words, not copied from the textbook. Then test yourself on it: cover the labels and fill them back in. Drawing it is good; recalling it from a blank page is better.

5. Interleaving: shuffle the question types
Why it matters. If you do twenty questions of the same type in a row, you never have to decide which method to use; the chapter heading told you. The exam will not. Interleaving means mixing different types of problems inside one subject, so your brain practises choosing the right tool. (Note: switching from Maths to English to Physics during an evening is good scheduling, but it is not what the research calls interleaving.)
The evidence. In a 2007 study by Rohrer and Taylor, students who practised mixed maths problems scored about 63% on a test a week later, compared with about 20% for students who practised the same problems in blocks. It felt harder during practice, which is exactly why it works. The effect is strongest in Maths and Physical Sciences, where choosing the method is half the question.
What to do. In Maths, build practice sets that mix functions, trigonometry, calculus and probability, with the topic headings hidden. In Accounting, mix ledger, reconciliation and ratio questions. In Physical Sciences, mix mechanics with electricity. Past papers are already interleaved; that is one more reason to use them.

6. Teach it to learn it (the Feynman Technique)
Why it matters. If you cannot explain something simply, you do not understand it yet. Explaining out loud exposes the exact spot where you stumble, or where you hide behind a big word you cannot unpack.
The evidence. Research on learning by teaching finds that students who expect to teach material, and especially those who actually explain it to someone, organise and remember it better than students who study it for themselves (for example Nestojko and colleagues, 2014; Fiorella and Mayer, 2013). The method carries the physicist Richard Feynman’s name because he was famous for this kind of plain-language explanation.
What to do. Find a study partner, a younger sibling, or an empty room. Explain the topic out loud as if to a ten-year-old. When you get stuck, that is the gap: open the book, fix that one thing, and explain it again until it flows.

7. Past papers under exam conditions
Why it matters. The NSC does not ask you to repeat facts. It asks you to apply them, under time pressure, in a silent hall. Full past papers train exactly that: retrieval, method choice, pacing and nerves, all at once. The first time you sit for three hours in silence should not be the real thing.
The evidence. A timed past paper is retrieval practice (tip 1) and interleaving (tip 5) in one package. You may have heard this called “state-dependent learning.” The accurate term is context-dependent memory: in a classic 1975 study, divers recalled words better in the same setting where they learned them, underwater or on land. In everyday life that effect is real but modest. The bigger benefits of past papers are practising under pressure and learning what examiners actually ask.
What to do. Download past papers and memoranda from the Department of Basic Education. Clear desk, timer set to the real duration, no notes, answers written by hand. Mark yourself strictly against the memo, then list every mark you lost and why. That list is your study plan for the week.

8. Sleep is part of studying
Why it matters. You do not finish learning when you close the book. During sleep, especially deep slow-wave sleep, the brain replays and stabilises what you learned that day. Sleep also prepares the brain to take in new information tomorrow. Cut sleep, and you weaken both ends.
The evidence. Sleep scientists recommend 8 to 10 hours a night for teenagers (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2016). Studies of sleep-deprived students find clear drops in their ability to form new memories the next day, along with slower reactions, poorer reasoning and shakier emotional control. Research, so far mostly in animals, also suggests sleep helps the brain clear metabolic waste. It is not wasted time. It is when the filing happens.
What to do. Protect your sleep, especially in the final weeks and during the exams. Aim for at least 8 hours. Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day, weekends included. Screens off 30 minutes before bed, because “one more video” is how midnight becomes 2am.

9. Say it out loud: stress, feelings and the exam room
Why it matters. A little stress sharpens you. A lot of it hijacks the parts of the brain you need for working memory and problem-solving. For young South African men, the pressure to stay stoic often means swallowing stress instead of releasing it, and swallowed stress does not disappear. It takes up space you need for the paper.
The evidence. Habitually suppressing emotions is linked to worse wellbeing and memory than reappraising them (Gross and John, 2003). In a study published in Science, anxious students who spent ten minutes writing openly about their exam worries just before a test scored better than anxious students who did not (Ramirez and Beilock, 2011). Another study found that simply telling students that a racing heart is the body getting ready to perform improved their maths scores (Jamieson and colleagues, 2010).
What to do. If you are overwhelmed, do not hide it to look strong. Talk to a teacher, a counsellor, a trusted peer. On the morning of a paper, take ten minutes to write down what you are worried about, then put the page away. Outside the hall, breathe slowly: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 6, five times. The long out-breath is what calms your heart rate. Tell yourself: this is my body getting ready.

10. Fuel the machine: water and real food
Why it matters. Your brain is about 2% of your body weight but uses roughly 20% of your energy. It runs on a steady supply of glucose and water.
The evidence. Studies on dehydration find that losing around 2% of body water can affect attention and short-term memory in some people, though results are mixed. (You may read that the brain is 80% water; closer to 75% is the usual estimate.) Reviews of breakfast and school performance find modest benefits for attention in class. None of this is dramatic. All of it is free or cheap.
What to do. Keep a bottle of water next to you and sip through each study block. Eat regular meals that release energy slowly: oats, beans, brown bread, eggs, pilchards. Do not write a three-hour paper on an empty stomach.

Bonus: Umntu ngumntu ngabantu
There is a saying, usually called an African proverb (its exact origin is hard to pin down): if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. Study needs both. The “I” of solo study and the “We” of a study group do different jobs, and you need both jobs done.

The “I”: solo study for depth
Solo study is the engine. It is where you struggle with a problem without someone rescuing you, and that struggle is where learning lives. Research on deliberate practice (Ericsson and colleagues) puts effortful, focused, feedback-rich solo practice at the centre of high performance.

Use solo time for the hard work: blank-page recall, flashcards, and full past papers on your own. As a rule of thumb (mine, not a research figure), give most of your study time, around 70 to 80%, to solo work.

The “We”: groups for testing and sharpening
A study group is not for learning something for the first time. It is for testing and sharpening what you have already studied alone. Explaining a concept to a peer forces you to organise it; hearing their version catches errors you would never spot yourself.

A large 2014 review of university science classes (Freeman and colleagues) found that students in active, discussion-based classes were substantially less likely to fail than students in traditional lectures. Groups work when they are active. Keep yours small, three or four serious learners, and never meet without an agenda. Not “let’s study Life Sciences,” but “Thursday at 4pm we quiz each other on Paper 1, Question 3 from the 2024 paper.” Do not read textbooks together. Test each other.

Myth-busting: five study myths that cost you marks
Myth 1: “Weed relaxes you and helps you study.”
The biology: THC, the active compound in cannabis, binds to receptors packed into the hippocampus, the brain’s gateway for forming new memories. While you are high, short-term memory and new learning are measurably impaired. You may feel relaxed. You are also recording less.
The long view: Heavy use that starts in adolescence is associated with higher rates of depression and with lower motivation. One long-running New Zealand study found IQ declines in persistent teenage-onset users, though twin studies have questioned whether cannabis itself caused the drop. You do not need to settle that debate to know that in the weeks before matric, weed is a tax on your memory. Being legal for adults in private does not make it good for an exam brain.

Myth 2: “An all-nighter is the best way to catch up.”
The neuroscience: It is a self-inflicted wound. Without sleep, the brain cannot properly consolidate what you studied, and your ability to take in new information the next day drops. Fifty pages read at 3am do not stick.
Why it matters in the hall: In one well-known study, people who had been awake for 17 to 19 hours performed on some tests about as badly as people at a blood alcohol level of 0.05%, the legal driving limit in South Africa. Stay up longer and it gets worse. You would not write Paper 2 drunk. Do not write it on no sleep.

Myth 3: “Energy drinks give you sustained brain power.”
The chemistry: The caffeine in an energy drink does make you more alert for a while. The word that makes this a myth is sustained.
Why it backfires: A big dose of caffeine on a nervous system already running hot can bring on a racing heart, shaky hands and anxiety, the opposite of calm focus. And the sugar does not help: a 2019 meta-analysis found that sugar does not lift mood, and that within about an hour of eating it people feel more tired and less alert. If you use caffeine at all, keep it small, early in the day, and never as a replacement for sleep.

Myth 4: “You need expensive brain foods or supplements to do well.”
The reality: No pill, muthi (herbs) creates intelligence. Companies and Inyanga (herbalists)  market expensive “brain” supplements to anxious students and parents. A balanced diet of affordable staples, spinach, phutu, eggs, beans, pilchards, gives a healthy brain what it needs. Spend the money on data for past papers and the time on active recall. That is what changes your marks.

Myth 5: “I have read it five times, so I know it.”
The psychology: This is the most expensive myth of all because it feels so true. Re-reading and highlighting create fluency, the text feels familiar, and familiarity is easily mistaken for mastery. The 2013 Dunlosky review rated both highlighting and re-reading as “low utility.”
The fix: Turn every re-read into a test. Read once, close the book, write down what you remember, then check. If you cannot produce it on a blank page, you do not know it yet. Better to find that out on Tuesday at your desk than on exam day.

The one-page version

THE ZAMA AUDIT: FIVE QUESTIONS EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT
Q1. What did I test myself on this week, and what did I only read?
Q2. Which topic have I not revisited in more than a week?
Q3. Did I write at least one full past paper under exam conditions?
Q4. On how many nights did I sleep 8 hours or more?
Q5. What is weighing on me that I have not said out loud to anyone yet?


THE STUDY I WOULD RUN
Four hundred boys is not just a camp. It is a dataset. I would track the camp boys against boys from the same schools with similar Grade 11 marks who did not attend, and measure NSC marks in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Accounting, Bachelor pass rates, and university registration two years later. Then the question I most want answered: do boys who get eight days of on-site counselling alongside the maths do better than boys who get the maths alone? If healing the boy helps the marks, every camp in the country should budget for a social worker, not just a tutor. SAICA has the infrastructure, NudgeLab Africa or SALDRU or JPAL Africa  and African Men Care would gladly help design it, and the boys deserve to know what works.


Zama, Mfana
My name, Mzamo, comes from zama: to try. It is an attempt, not a guarantee. That is all I am asking of these boys, and of every boy writing matric this year. Not perfection. Not a performance of strength. An honest, well-designed attempt. Close the book and test yourself. Spread it out. Sleep. Say what hurts. Study alone to go deep, and study together to go far. And to SAICA, to Bhuti Lwando, to the Department, we say Thank You ( Enkosi) and to every professional body still sitting on the sidelines: these boys are our boys. Make the circle bigger.

Umntu ngumntu ngabantu. A boy becomes a man through other people. Let us be those people.

Read next on Between Thoughts: “Kancane Kancane” on why you cannot get fat in one bite; “Ubaba Akekho” and “Ufile Kimi” on the father wound; “Ukuzilibazisa” on what young men use to forget.
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Dr. Mzamo Masito

Between Thoughts- Intellectual Musings

Where the uncomfortable questions get a seat at the table.