Stop Studying in the Same Chair: Your Brain Is Addicted to Context

Most JEE students build a perfect study ritual.

Same chair. Same desk. Same playlist. Same time. Same notebook layout. Same “vibe”.

It feels disciplined.

It is also a trap.

Because your brain does not just store information. It stores information plus the cues that were present when you learned it. And if you always learn in one narrow context, you quietly become good at recalling in that context only.

Then the exam happens.

Different lighting. Different posture. Different noise. Different pressure. Different clock. Suddenly your “I knew this yesterday” collapses.

That is not bad luck. That is context-dependence.

The ugly truth: memory is cue-driven

Psychologists have known for decades that recall improves when the learning context and the retrieval context match.

The most famous demonstration is Godden and Baddeley’s diving study. Divers learned word lists either underwater or on land. They recalled better when the test happened in the same environment as learning. Switch the environment, recall dropped.

This is called context-dependent memory.

The meta-analysis by Smith and Vela (2001) finds that context effects are not always huge, and they depend on conditions. But the direction is consistent: when cues change, recall gets harder.

Now translate that to JEE prep.

If your entire Physics chapter practice happens at your desk with a calm mood and your exact stationery, you may be training a “desk-only” version of the skill.

You are building fragile retrieval.

Coaching sells stability. Exams punish it.

Coaching culture loves routines because routines look like seriousness.

“Study 6 to 10 daily.”

“Sit in the same place.”

“Never break your rhythm.”

There is a kernel of truth: consistency helps you show up.

But there is another truth that coaching avoids because it is harder to package:

You must train retrieval under varied cues if you want transfer.

Exams are not polite.

JEE does not care that you can solve a question when your brain is warm, your confidence is high, and you are sitting like a monk.

JEE cares whether you can solve it when you are cold, distracted, and time-poor.

That means your practice has to include cue variation on purpose.

“But I need a quiet place or I can’t focus”

Yes. And you should protect deep focus.

The goal is not to study in chaos all day.

The goal is to stop making your success dependent on one exact set of cues.

There is a difference between:

• protecting deep work blocks, and
• becoming context-addicted.

Most students accidentally do the second.

The learning science angle: desirable difficulties (done correctly)

Bjork’s work on retrieval and “desirable difficulties” is basically a warning label for students: what feels smooth during learning can produce weak long-term performance.

Retrieval itself is not just a measurement. It changes memory. When you pull something out successfully, you make it more retrievable later.

Now add context.

If you can retrieve a concept across multiple cues, you are not just memorising. You are building a flexible handle on it.

If you can retrieve only inside one ritual, you are building a brittle handle.

The exam is a different context in three ways

Most students only think of “context” as location. It is bigger than that.

1) Environmental context

Where you are.

Desk vs bed. Morning sunlight vs tube light. Silence vs fan noise.

2) Internal context

Your state.

Calm vs anxious. Fresh vs tired. Hungry vs fed.

You cannot perfectly control this on exam day.

3) Task context

What the retrieval demand looks like.

Untimed practice vs timed sets.

Single chapter vs mixed.

Neat questions vs weird framing.

If you always practise in one task format, you become dependent on it.

A blunt protocol: context variability without losing your mind

Here is a practical way to do this without turning your life into an experiment.

Rule 1: keep “deep work” stable, vary “retrieval”

Use stability to show up.

Use variability to build transfer.

That means:

• Do your learning and first-pass understanding in your best environment.
• Do your retrieval practice across varied contexts.

Retrieval practice is where you want friction.

Rule 2: vary one knob at a time

Do not change everything.

Pick one knob per week:

• location
• time
• noise level
• posture
• materials (pen vs pencil, notebook vs plain sheet)

Small changes are enough.

Rule 3: force “cold starts”

The biggest lie in preparation is warm-up.

You read notes for 20 minutes, then solve questions, then feel smart.

That is not how the exam begins.

Start one session daily like this:

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
2. Pick a random old topic.
3. No notes.
4. Write the key formulas, conditions, and one representative derivation.

If you blank out, good. That is data.

A JEE-specific weekly schedule (simple and brutal)

Daily (20 to 30 minutes): “Context-switch retrieval”

• Take 10 old questions (mixed chapters).
• Solve 5 at your desk.
• Solve 5 in a different place.

Different place can be:

• kitchen table
• balcony
• floor with a board
• library desk

Same difficulty, different cues.

Twice a week (30 minutes): “Noise inoculation”

Pick a tolerable distraction.

Not reels. Not WhatsApp.

Something like:

• a fan
• light background chatter
• a simple ambient track

Then do a timed mixed set.

The goal is not to suffer.

The goal is to learn: “I can still retrieve under imperfect conditions.”

Once a week (60 to 90 minutes): “Exam-context rehearsal”

Recreate the exam feel:

• same time of day as your test slot (if known)
• hard chair
• no snacks
• strict timing

Do a mixed paper or a mixed set.

Afterwards, do not review by reading solutions.

Review like an adult:

• What cue did I miss?
• What condition was present but I did not notice?
• What wrong template did I apply?

Write those as triggers in an error log.

What this looks like in real chapters

Physics

You think you know rotational dynamics because you can solve standard questions.

Now change context:

• Solve 10 mixed questions with no chapter label.
• Stand up for the last 3 questions.
• Reduce your writing space.

You will notice something painful:

Your errors are often not “I forgot formula”.

They are “I didn’t recognise which model applies”.

That is not a formula problem.

That is a cue problem.

Organic chemistry

Students learn mechanisms with beautiful notes.

Then JEE asks a weird substrate and the whole thing feels unfamiliar.

You want to practise mechanism recall with cue variation:

• write the mechanism from memory with only the reagent list
• then do it again with only the product shown
• then do it again with only the key intermediate shown

Same reaction family, different entry cues.

That is how you build flexible retrieval.

Maths

Maths is context-sensitive because you overfit to question style.

Do this:

• take a set of 20 old questions
• hide the chapter
• label each question with the first decision: substitution, symmetry, inequality tool, geometry, calculus

You are training the real bottleneck: the choice step.

The paradox: variability makes you feel worse in the short run

If you do this properly, your practice will feel less fluent.

You will feel slower.

You will feel like you are “forgetting”.

That is the point.

Fluency is not learning. Fluency is familiarity.

If you want performance under pressure, you must train retrieval under shifting cues.

A final warning

Do not use “context variability” as an excuse to avoid deep work.

If you are constantly moving around because your desk is boring, you are not training transfer. You are running away from effort.

The test is simple:

• Are you doing retrieval without notes?
• Are you tracking errors honestly?
• Are you repeating the same weaknesses until they stop being weaknesses?

If yes, variability helps.

If no, variability becomes another productivity aesthetic.

The takeaway

Your brain is a cue machine.

If you always learn in one cue set, you will recall in one cue set.

JEE is a cue change.

So train the change.

References (for the curious)

• Godden, D. R., & Baddeley, A. D. (1975). Context-dependent memory in two natural environments: On land and underwater.
• Smith, S. M., & Vela, E. (2001). Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis.
• Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab: research summaries on retrieval, testing effect, and the new theory of disuse.