How Mastery Practice Books Work

60% of GCSE marks come from applying knowledge to unfamiliar situations.  This is the "application gap". We've all seen it. A student revises hard, memorizes the facts, and feels confident. But in the exam, they crumble. They know the science, but they can't use it when it counts. Why?

Because standard teaching often leads to "compartmentalized knowledge." Students learn a topic, do questions on that topic, and get a false sense of security. They are cued to use the right concept by the context of the lesson.

But in the exam, there are no cues. When faced with a question that looks different—superficially unfamiliar but testing the same underlying concept—they don't know which tool to pull from their mental toolkit. 

The Solution: Mastery Practice Books. Our books are designed to bridge the gap between "knowing" and "applying." They don't just test knowledge; they teach the skill of application.

Each chapter builds students’ confidence by guiding them through worked examples, prompting them to reflect, and giving them opportunities to practise and transfer their learning in varied situations.

The pedagogy is grounded in evidence from cognitive science and educational psychology about how students develop problem-solving skills, deepen their understanding, and successfully transfer learning to new contexts.

1. The Detect-Recall-Solve strategy

Instead of just asking "what is X?", each problem-solving sequence supports a three-part thinking routine: Detect what the question is really asking, Recall what you know that’s relevant, and Solve using that knowledge step-by-step. This routine helps students activate prior knowledge and apply it deliberately.

  • Detect: Look past the surface details to identify the deep structure of the problem.
  • Recall: Retrieve the correct scientific concept without being told what it is.
  • Solve: Apply that concept to the specific scenario in front of them.

Explicit problem-solving strategies improve transfer, especially when students learn how to recognise cues that signal which knowledge to use.

2. Metacognition & Self-Explanation

According to the EEF, metacognition is one of the most effective ways to improve achievement. Our books include annotated worked examples with self-explanation prompts. These force students to articulate why a step was taken, moving them from passive following to active understanding.

3. Worked examples with self-explanation prompts

Each topic begins with a carefully structured example that models expert thinking. We include prompts in speech bubbles to encourage self-explanation—one of the most well-evidenced strategies for helping students make sense of what they’re learning and why it works.

Research shows that self-explaining worked examples helps students notice the deep structure of problems, organise knowledge, and build mental models for future use.

4. Scaffolding and fading

We start with support, then gradually take it away. Students move from fully worked examples to independent problem-solving, ensuring they are ready for the unpredictability of the real exam.

5. Structured practice with varied examples

After the example, students tackle a very similar “Your Turn” question, followed by further questions that vary the context. This sequence—near to far transfer—gives students a scaffolded path to apply what they’ve learned in new and more challenging ways.

By practising with examples that gradually differ in surface features but share underlying principles, students strengthen their ability to recognise when and how to use core ideas.

6. Hints and feedback to support learning from mistakes

If students get stuck, they’re encouraged to use hints and check their answers. The emphasis is on learning from errors and developing persistence—building the metacognitive habits needed for independent problem solving.

Feedback and reflection help students refine their understanding and develop flexible thinking, especially when linked to their own reasoning process.

Research links

  • Chi, M. T. H. et al. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13(2).

  • Renkl, A. (2014). Toward an instructionally oriented theory of example-based learning. Cognitive Science.

  • Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J. J., & Paas, F. G. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational Psychology Review.

  • Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. N. (1989). Rocky roads to transfer: Rethinking mechanisms of a neglected phenomenon. Educational Psychologist.

  • National Academies of Sciences. (2018). How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures.