Presentation
Recording of presentation for the British Accounting and Finance Association 2026 Annual Conference.
Title: “Why at-risk students cannot ‘just try harder’ – A Mindset Meaning System perspective”
Related Content
Student Excerpt - "I should be getting this right..."
A coaching session with two postgraduate students. This excerpt relates to their concern about ‘feeling stupid’ when they fail questions.
(Note, this discussion was early enough in the year for them to have time to study. The final exam was not pending)
Notice the narratives around the process of learning. What’s unsaid is that they don’t truly recognise how learning works – ie, going from ‘stupid’ to ‘mastery’, and a massive amount of steps in between.
The video below discusses why I connect the MMS (Mindset Meaning System) with professional skills, keeping in mind what we’ve seen about student beliefs about their learning.
Why is mindset important for higher level exams?
The shift from technical to professional exams includes a shift in learning from ‘instant’ knowledge to ‘time-built’ skills.
For students used to ‘before-your-eyes’ progress, and instant ‘right or wrong’, the time it takes to develop a skill can feel ‘wrong’. Surely if you were smart enough, you should be able to get this right faster? Like everything else you studied? “I used to be a fast learner”; “I used to get stuff right after I studied it”
Students’ understanding and implicit beliefs of what learning really is, and how it looks and feels, is crucial to their study approaches and their responses to challenges
How I explain what I do to my students
Students perceive ‘mindset’ coaching as ‘warm / fuzzy’, which they don’t have time for as they prep for exams. Here’s how I explain what I really do when I talk to them.
I generally say that I ‘sneak’ the mindset concepts in the back door when I work with students. They’re interested in practical study advice and help, not psychology sessions. ‘Growth mindsets’ sound great, but how will that help me pass my exam next month?
Mindset research informs my work, shapes the tools I provide, but I focus on practical study approaches for students.
