You’ve got upcoming exams and you know that you should be revising. As the exams loom the pressure mounts and yet somehow you can’t seem to focus. There’s so much to remember to the point where it feels overwhelming. It can feel like a hopeless endeavour to try and get back on track. Well, let me tell you it’s not. Whether you’re working to schedule or lagging behind, it’s never too late to get organised with your revision. It’s like the saying goes, ‘fail to plan, plan to fail’. Here’s our process for creating an effective revision timetable.
1. Break your day into smaller manageable chunks
Waking up to an entire day of revision is a daunting prospect, and one that isn’t going to entice you out of bed in a hurry! By breaking up your day into smaller chunks of time, with plenty of breaks away from work, you’ll make a day of work feel more manageable. You’ll also be more productive as you’re starting the day knowing exactly what you need to do. How you break up your day will depend on your preference; it may take a bit of experimenting to find what works for you. We’d recommend chunks of 45 minutes as a minimum and an hour and 15 minutes as a maximum. Any shorter and you’ll struggle to get stuck into work and any longer and you’re likely to start losing concentration. After each chunk of revision time make sure to schedule a break to stretch your legs and refresh your mind. This will also help your focus for the next revision session!
Everyone works differently, so adapt this advice to suit your preferred style. If your’re struggling to create an effective revision timetable then you can use our revision timetable template.
2. Itemise your revision
Whether you’re revising twelve subjects for GCSEs or three for A-Levels, it’s important to break down each subject into smaller topics and areas of focus. One main reason students struggle with revision is they plan out their time with tasks such as “revise Physics”. When they get around to the task they spend so much time trying to work out what they should be doing and fail to actually get anything done! Don’t fall into that trap, work out what you need to do before you start revising. Think of topics you need to go over, past questions you want to do, exam papers that you need to attempt. Write these all down for each subject, don’t miss out anything that you think will be useful. It might look like a lot, if that’s the case don’t panic! It will all feel a lot more manageable when it’s in your revision timetable.
3. Find a balance
When you’ve got a lot to do it can be difficult to prioritise. This is particularly true when you’ve got a lot of different subjects to revise for. Another mistake students make is to spend more time on the subjects and topics that they enjoy at the expense of areas that are weaker. It’s all about striking a balance, ensuring that you’re spreading your time well across all subjects and devoting any extra time and attention to areas where you’re struggling. A good way to ensure this is to alternate your time between something you enjoy and something you’re less enthusiastic about. This is also where breaking up your time will help as you’ll only ever be working on something tricky for an hour or so before you’re scheduled to move on. Creating a revision timetable is all about creating a balance across subjects, topics, practice questions and time off.
4. Keep it simple – one aim for one session
If you commit to doing too much you’ll feel constantly disappointed which is hardly going to motivate you to continue revising. If you’re struggling to stay focused an easy way to combat this is building momentum in your studies. You can do this by keeping things simple, for each revision session have one aim or goal. For example you might have an hour scheduled for Biology and you know you need to study respiration. Set a simple goal of spending 20 minutes revising the topic and 40 minutes doing practice exam questions which you’ve found in advance. Staying focused on one topic or a single activity will make it easier to achieve what you need to in each of your revision slots, building momentum as you work through your timetable. Prepare any materials in advance to make it easier and simpler to start work when you need to!
5. Schedule self-care
Life would be pretty dull without anything you enjoy. Yet so many students prepare for exams by eliminating everything they like from their lives to focus solely on studying. Not only is this depressing it isn’t very sustainable. Make sure you schedule time into your revision timetable for relaxation, hobbies and most importantly fun! You can even use this time as a reward for a day’s hard work to motivate yourself to keep going. The effect of scheduling time for yourself is two-fold. Firstly, you need breaks from studying to allow what you’ve covered to process in your mind. Without that time you can start to muddle ideas and concepts, rendering a lot of the time you’ve spent revising ineffective. Secondly, you’ll work and learn better if you feel better. Taking time to clear your mind and enjoy yourself, free from the pressure of studying is going to make all the difference.
When creating an effective revision timetable it’s crucial to prioritise quality over quantity. Productive revision sessions where you actually make progress are far better than hours spent staring at your textbooks hoping that something is actually going in. Take the time to prepare yourself for revision so that you can start each session ready to work, printing any questions or papers you may need in advance. Schedule shorter regular sessions, across all of your subjects and topics with a focus and purpose to each timeslot. By doing all this you’ll be setting yourself up for revision, exam and life success!
Struggling with creating an effective revision timetable? Check out our revision timetable template to get you started.
Looking for more help with revision? We’re here to help. Contact our expert exam tutors today for additional support and advice.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by revision help is available.
NHS Exam Preparation Tips
Young Minds – Coping With Exam Stress
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