Study Tips That Work: Evidence-Based Strategies Beyond Memorization

Learning Tenets: Principles for Effective Study

Before diving into the study plan, it is important to address fundamental principles of learning and dispel common misconceptions that may hinder progress.

1. Repetition is Key to Mastery: Genuine mastery is not achieved through a single exposure to the material. Repetition is essential for deep learning, reinforcing comprehension, and fostering long-term retention. Rather than viewing repetition as redundant, consider it a deliberate practice strategy that enhances fluency and confidence in applying knowledge.
2. There’s No Single Learning Path: No one has a single learning style. (e.g., auditory, visual, or kinesthetic). While individuals may have preferences, optimal learning occurs through multimodal engagement—combining reading, listening, observation, and hands-on application. Furthermore, certain types of content are best suited to specific formats. For instance, research reviews are easiest to scan and search in text format, whereas exercise instruction may be best understood through demonstration (video). Engaging with material through multiple modalities strengthens comprehension and retention.
3. Active Learning Drives Mastery: Passive consumption of information leads to superficial learning. True mastery demands active participation—applying knowledge through problem-solving, critical analysis, and real-world implementation. Effective study strategies include taking practice quizzes, engaging with AI-driven tutors, designing training programs, and testing concepts in clinical or practical settings. The more actively one engages with the material, the deeper the understanding and skill acquisition.
4. Prioritize Conceptual Understanding Over Rote Memorization: The ultimate goal is not merely passing exams, earning credits, or obtaining certifications—it is developing a comprehensive and functional understanding of human movement, physical medicine, and training principles. True success is measured not by exam scores, but by the ability to apply knowledge effectively in professional practice, leading to improved outcomes.
5. Adapt and Personalize Your Study Approach: This study plan serves as a flexible framework rather than a rigid prescription. While following every suggested step may enhance learning, it is not necessary for all learners or all topics. Some individuals may find audio-based learning more effective, while others may prefer written materials or video content. The key is to create a structured yet adaptable study plan that aligns with individual preferences, optimizes retention, and facilitates practical application.

Brookbush Institute's Custom Study Plan:

1. Reduce Friction:

• Make it easy to access courses.
• Get focused on the topics you want to learn.
• Choose your first course.
• Make it easy to return to the course.

2. Set The Stage:

• Read the course summary.
• Take the practice exam.
• Download the study guide and review it.

3. Study While You Warm-up/Walk/Chore/Wait

• Listen to the audio voiceover of the course.

4. Schedule Dedicated Study Time:

• Read the test-critical content.
• Watch the webinars or videos.
• Read through the content (at least the research you have questions about).
• Use the AI Tutor Often.
  • Understand why systematic reviews are important, but you don't have to memorize research.
• Mark sections as "complete."

5. Engage With the Content

• Use the AI Tutor often (As mentioned above).
• Apply what you learn.
• Write everything you can remember into the AI Tutor.
• Compare to the Client Program Generator
• Take the practice exam again.
• Use the AI Quiz Generator.

6. Take the Final Exam:

The Brookbush Institute : A Higher Standard in Education

At the Brookbush Institute (BI), we are not in the business of providing cheap and easy continuing education credits and certifications. Our mission is to offer education with unprecedented levels of accuracy and delivery to the best professionals in the industry. Achieving this level of excellence requires a commitment to prioritizing accuracy and effectiveness over easy and simple, ensuring that our content leads to the most effective intervention strategies and most reliable, objective outcomes. While we strive for clarity and accessibility, we acknowledge that learning about the human body—one of the most complex systems on the planet—requires depth, nuance, and rigor.

We operate under a key hypothesis: Professionals waste valuable time compensating for poor educational delivery, unlearning misinformation, and relearning accurate content. Conventional education in our industry is inefficiently delivered and frustratingly repetitive, and continues to republish the same inaccuracies from certification to certification and year after year. We believe that by improving content delivery and study tools, we can significantly reduce wasted time—allowing professionals to develop a deeper, more accurate understanding without the need for constant correction or relearning.

To address these challenges, the Brookbush Institute prioritizes accuracy and innovative educational delivery (while remaining accessible and affordable ). Every course we develop is built on a comprehensive systematic research review, ensuring it is among the most evidence-based and reliable resources in the industry. Our educational model is designed for real-world professionals with demanding schedules—whether studying between client sessions, during a commute, or in brief moments between parenting responsibilities. With study windows as short as 15 to 60 minutes, our goal is to make every session as efficient, engaging, and impactful as possible.

At the core of our mission is the belief that no one should have to compromise educational quality due to time constraints. Our members (and their clients/patients) deserve access to the most accurate and effective information, empowering them to lead the industry with the best, most accurate knowledge available.

Brookbush Institute's Custom Study Plan:

1. Reduce Friction:

• Make it easy to access courses: If you prefer studying on your computer, choose your favorite browser and bookmark the website. If you prefer the convenience of studying from your phone, save BrookbushInstitute.com on your mobile browser (we are very mobile-friendly).
• Get focused on the topics you want to learn: "Decision fatigue" or "choice overload" are real things. It is important to reduce your options and get focused on what you want to learn. With BrookbushInstitute.com , it's as easy as choosing a certification (CPT, HMS, or IMT). Even if you do not expect to finish a certification, selecting a certification will create a recommended course order for the topics you prefer to study. Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) = strength and conditioning; Human Movement Specialist (HMS) = corrective/therapeutic exercise; and Integrated Manual Therapist (IMT) = manual therapy. Note that you can always select "All Courses" in the certification drop-down menu in the upper left-hand corner of the courses or dashboard screens. If you want to renew your license or certification, we have you covered. You do not need to finish a certification to attain credits. You attain credits every time you pass a short final exam at the end of any course of your choosing. The only organization that currently only accepts a certification for CEs is the NSCA (the CPT and HMS are pre-approved).
• Choose your first course: Commit to start a course that interests you. Although we provide a "Recommended Course Order," it is only a recommendation. You can take courses in any order, you get credit for every short final exam you complete, and you only need to complete a certain number of credits per category for any of our certifications. Our library of courses is large enough that you can omit courses you are not interested in. (Note that we do see higher rates of success from members who follow the recommended course order.)
• Make it easy to return to the course: This is where you can take advantage of the "My List" feature with BrookbushInstitute.com . By clicking on the (+ Add to List) button under the course title of any course, your course will be added to "My List" on your dashboard . (You can return to your dashboard at any time by clicking the logo in the upper left-hand corner). We have also added a "Recently Visited" list and a "Course in Progress" tab under your avatar, and we will keep track of your completed courses in the "Recommended Course Order" to aid in recommending an ideal next course.

2. Set The Stage:

• Read the course summary: Although the course summary gives a brief description of the course, which may not significantly improve your chances of passing an exam, it aids in preparing you mentally for the course topic.
• Take the practice exam: This is a "pro-learner" tip! Before beginning a course, try starting with the practice exam. You can take the practice exam as many times as you want, so there is no penalty for failing. Taking the practice exam first will give you a better understanding of the type of questions you are preparing for, the level of detail, and your current comfort level with the information. You will also find that taking the practice exam first will help you identify the "most testable" content in the course as you study. (Note that BrookbushInstitute.com  actually writes the practice and final exams as one large exam, and then questions are divided equally. This is to ensure the practice exam is a fair representation of the final exam). For some courses, you may find that you already know the information and could pass the final exam without studying the course. This is great; take the final exam, get the credit, and move on to the next course. Technically, you get credit for passing finals, not reading, listening, or watching content.
• Download the study guide and review it: The study guides are PDF files that can be viewed offline, are printer-friendly (if you prefer studying from paper documents), and are designed to summarize enough of the course information to develop a strong general understanding of the topics and pass the final exam. If you want to get a great score on the exam, you may need to do some additional study, but as a study aid, the study guides should prepare you to pass the exam. They are the Brookbush Institute's version of "crib notes."

Caption: Dedicated study time can be more effecient with a little preperation

3. Study While You Warm-up/Walk/Chore/Wait

• Listen to the course: Another "pro-learner" tip! Lucky for you, I have an Audible.com addiction. I have fallen in love with the convenience of being able to listen to great books while doing other things. Because of this, we have added audio to all courses (and most articles). We recommend you listen to your next course on a commute, while you are warming up to work out, or while you are doing household chores. By "prepping" with the practice exam and then doing a listen-through with the audio version, you will "absorb" a significant portion of the course. By the time you sit down to study the material, it will feel like your second or third time through.

4. Schedule Dedicated Study Time:

• Read the test-critical content: This is when your focused study time should begin, and you're prepped and ready to go. Because of your pre-work, this could be the most efficient study time you have ever had. Additionally, we have done everything we can to enhance clarity and provide additional resources. We have added stars next to all "test-critical content." In this content, you should be able to find the answers to every practice exam and final exam question. The reason for this, is because these sections include the primary topics, conclusions, and recommendations that have been developed during the course creation process (which often includes a comprehensive systematic review of all peer-reviewed and published research). This information is likely to affect practice and/or contribute to the optimal decision-making necessary to develop programs that will result in optimal outcomes. Do we want you to pass tests and get credits... sure. But remember, our goal is to provide the best in the industry with the best possible information. These starred sections are the most important information for achieving that goal.
• Watch the webinars or videos: This is optional, and you may think it's out of order, but we have always learned more when we "showed up to class" having reviewed the critical information before the class. It's like two to three times as much of what the teacher says actually sticks. For this reason, we recommend a review of the test-critical information before engaging with the videos.
• Read through the content (at least the research you have questions about). You will never be expected to memorize all of the information that is not included in the text-critical content, you will not be tested on information that is not in the text of the course (that is, you are not responsible for information in a course that is hyperlinked or the questions and other additional information that is discussed in videos), and you will not be expected to memorize individual research studies. However, you should do some additional reading beyond the text-critical content to understand how the "test-critical content" was developed. Taking some time to understand the "why" will help with your retention, comprehension, application, and future education efforts.
• Use the AI Tutor often: Note that you can find the "AI Tutor" tab on the bottom right-hand corner of all courses. There is a phenomenon in education known as the "Bloom 2 Sigma Problem." It was originally observed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom (developer of Bloom's Taxonomy) and reported in 1984. It suggests that the average student tutored one-to-one, using mastery learning techniques, performed two standard deviations better than students educated in a classroom environment. Of course, providing every student with a personal tutor is prohibitively expensive; however, we may finally have a close approximation. The AI Tutor on BrookbushInstitute.com uses the latest AI technology, has been trained with our content, and gets better and better as more students interact with it. Whether you feel that you need the AI Tutor or not, we suggest that you use it to fuel your understanding, growth, and curiosity. The very act of participating in a dialogue with the AI tutor will significantly improve your retention, comprehension, and ,hopefully, your understanding of how to apply the information. Although this is discussed in the next section, repetition and actively engaging and applying the content are your best learning tools.
  • Side note: Why systematic reviews (SRs)? We aspire to produce the most accurate information possible, and, likely, we are already much more accurate than competing organizations. To date, we are the only education platform building every course from a systematic review of all relevant peer-reviewed and published original research that could be located at the time of the course's publication (We also regularly update courses). You can call this our anti-cherry picking, anti-confirmation bias, or optimal accuracy project. Although this can result in certain sections of courses being long and complex, the importance of this initiative cannot be understated. It may be the most important work the BI is doing. Research is the most accurate information currently available and, strangely, the most under-utilized in our industry. It is not an exaggeration when we say that we have refined our models with orders of magnitude (10s or 100s of times) more research than competing organizations. Although our industry has been calling for evidence-based practice for nearly 30 years, since Sacket et al. (1997), the industry continues to fail at building a foundation from a comprehensive and unbiased aggregation of research findings and comparison of interventions based on reliable, objective outcome measures. Our industry continues to fall back on "expert opinion" and "anecdotal evidence;" unwilling to take the next steps in developing truly scientific methodologies. This is also known as "the strong opinions of gurus" and "schools of thought." We have dedicated ourselves to addressing this issue. Although accuracy is a percentage, and it is unlikely that any organization has perfect accuracy (including ours), we feel personally responsible for wasting a student's time learning, memorizing, or applying false information. It is only our scientific rigor (and perhaps our empathy for students) that should give you a reason to trust us. This company's education is not based on the opinion of some self-proclaimed genius guru. Every attempt has been made to build better systems for reducing bias, aggregating research findings, testing recommendations in practice with reliable, objective outcome measures, and delivering that education in the best formats possible. Note; we do not expect anyone to memorize research, only the conclusions and recommendations implied by the entire body of research. We do expect that our efforts will raise the bar in our industry and put an end to education by blog or education by guru.
• Mark sections as "complete": We believe this is going to be another powerful tool for tracking progress. Our hope is that giving you the ability to mark sections as "complete" will help with feelings of accomplishment by providing intermittent goals. It will also make it easier to keep track of progress following shorter study periods.

5. Engage With the Content

• Use the AI Tutor 0ften: As mentioned above, participating in a dialogue with the AI tutor will significantly improve your retention, comprehension, and understanding of how to apply the information.
• Apply what you learn: Applying what you learn is the key to mastery. There is perhaps no more powerful teacher than trying out what you have learned in practice. You can start with your programming/treatment, then help friends and colleagues, and then, of course, test the methods on clients and patients. When I was part of the training and development departments at two of the largest health club chains in the USA, it was very obvious what separated the great personal trainers from the trainers who would exhibit average or less-than-average results. The best trainers applied the information they had learned after they left class, and the average and below-average trainers would go back to whatever training methodologies they were using before class (usually learned from non-scientific sources like popular magazines and blogs).
• Write everything you can remember into the AI Tutor: Here is another "pro learner" tip. Prior to the development of the AI tutor, I might suggest to dedicated students, or students struggling with the information, to try writing a report on what they had learned by memory, and then grade themselves with their notes. Now, we can use technology to make this process more effecient and effective. Set a timer for as long as you want to write. I would recommend starting with just 5 - 15 minutes. Prompt the AI tutor with "Based on this course, is this accurate, and does this cover the test critical content:" followed by free writing all of the important information you can remember in the time you have allotted yourself. Pretend like you are trying to explain everything you have learned to a friend via an email or a really long text message. When you press enter, the AI tutor will tell you what is wrong and what is missing. This exercise in recall is an incredibly powerful tool, and it just might build some "writing chops "in the process.
• Compare to the Client Program Generator : Here is another pro-learner tip! Based on what you have learned, write yourself a strength, corrective, or manual therapy program (depending on which course you took). Prompt the client program generator to create a similar program. Now, compare and contrast your program and the program developed by the client program generator. Consider how the information in the course applies to the two programs. Consider what you might change about each program. Are there things about the generator's program that you like and would use instead of your program? Are there parts of your program that you would use instead of the generator's program. Keep in mind that this is a learning exercise. Your goal is to engage with the content in a meaningful way to improve comprehension and application. Try not to take the attitude of judge, jury, and executioner toward the generator's program or your own.
• Take the practice exam again: In order to be compliant with the various accrediting bodies that allow us to provide you with continuing education credits and certifications, final exam questions are randomized, you cannot see the answers to final exam questions, a passing score is 70% correct, and you only get two attempts before being locked out for 30 days. Before you use one of those attempts, it is a good idea to take the practice exam again. Do you feel ready? If so, go for it. If you do not pass the practice exam, carefully consider the questions you had a hard time with, and study the related material again.
• Use the AI Quiz Generator if necessary: Did you pass the practice exam with a near 90%? Try the final exam. If not, review the information you think you may have missed and use the AI quiz generator to create more questions. If you used one final exam attempt, it may also be helpful to use the AI quiz generator until you feel confident you are ready. Note, the AI Quiz Generator is likely to write quiz questions in a "different style" then the practice and final exam questions; however, the AI quiz generator will automatically adjust difficulty based on the questions you answer correctly and the questions you do not answer correctly.

Take the Final Exam:

• It's time to get your credits. Take a deep breath, make sure you can focus for a few minutes, and try to enjoy the challenge. All multiple-choice exams are short (7 - 20 questions), so taking an exam on BrookbushInstitute.com is not going to feel like an endurance event, but the questions provide a reasonable level of challenge. As mentioned above, you have 2 attempts to pass the final exam. If you do not pass the final exam the first time, do not panic. Consider the questions you might have missed, review that content again, and retake the exam. If you do not pass a second time, you still have no reason to panic. You will be locked out of that exam for 30 days, and only that exam, for just 30 days. Continue on with the next course, and make a note to return to the course you did not pass at a later date. Chances are that after passing a few more courses in that category, the course you failed will make more sense.

Conclusion: A Personalized Approach to Mastery

There is no single "right" way to study, and you do not need to follow every step outlined in this article to be successful. Instead, think of this as a flexible framework—a collection of proven strategies designed to enhance your learning experience. Choose the methods that work best for you, and if you ever find yourself struggling with retention or comprehension, revisit this guide and refine your approach.

At the Brookbush Institute, we are committed to continuously improving our educational delivery, optimizing study tools, and making learning more effective, engaging, and accessible. If you have suggestions, we want to hear them—the feedback and needs of students and professionals like you have shaped our platform. We believe education should evolve to meet the demands of modern professionals, not force them into outdated, inefficient learning models. That is why we remain unwaveringly dedicated to providing the highest-quality, research-backed education in the industry—a platform built not just to meet expectations, but to exceed them.

Your success is our mission, and we are honored to be a part of your journey toward mastery and professional excellence.

© 2025 Brent Brookbush (B2C Fitness, LLC d.b.a. Brookbush Institute  )

Comments, critiques, and questions are welcome!