How to build your revision schedule?

Your exams are approaching, and you know that your results will be decisive. Whatever your objectives, you will need to be well prepared. The revision schedule is the essential tool for top organisation. Want to know more? Follow the guide 👇

To be able to carry out an effective planning, it is important that you define your objectives. The strategy to be put in place will naturally follow from this.
Ask yourself the right questions:

• Are you just aiming for the average?
• Do you have a specific average grade you need to achieve to get into a course?
• Do you want to achieve excellent grades?

Depending on your objective, the resources to be mobilised will not be the same. If your objectives are moderate, to be more effective you can base yourself on Pareto’s law which consists of thinking that 20% of your work will generate 80% of the results. This means that you should concentrate on the most important information in your lessons. On the other hand, if your goals are ambitious, you will need to put in more effort. To do this, deepen your lessons with complementary manuals to your course, explanatory videos on YouTube, etc…

For your planning to be realistic, start by estimating the amount of free time you have to study between now and the exam. Use two very factual figures:

• How many days do you have left before your deadline? It is very easy to count them.
• How much time do you have per day to work?

To be as close to reality as possible, remember to subtract all your hours of classes, work, travel, activities, but also all the time devoted to meals and sleep. This will give you the number of free hours you have per day. Divide this time into 2 categories:

1. Your leisure time: this time will allow you to rest, take breaks, see your friends, etc. It is necessary for your success.
2. Your revision time: this is the time that will allow you to make progress on your coursework.

Be careful not to be too optimistic about the time you will be able to give to your revisions. Be down to earth.

Once you have collected this data, multiply the number of days by your daily available revision time and you will get an overall number of hours in which you can divide the different subjects to be revised.

It is now time for you to list everything you must do, whether it is:

• Sorting through your lessons, if you haven’t taken the time to do this throughout the year,
• Cards and flashcards to summarise your course,
• Learning your lessons,
• Practice, by working with subjects from previous years.

This will give you an idea of the work to be done.

Do not hesitate to also integrate the delay that you can potentially have taken on certain subjects on which you could miss bases. The idea is not to demoralise yourself in front of all the tasks to be carried out but to show lucidity as to the path you still have to follow.

Before you build your final schedule, determine your learning priorities according to your strengths and weaknesses. It would be totally inefficient to allocate so much time to every subject you must learn.

You certainly have an ease for some of the subjects? Allocate less time to them. On the contrary, for those you have the most difficulty with, you will need more time to review the basics.

Because stress is often linked to difficulties, start with the subjects you have the most problems with, those you have so far failed to master. Once you have mastered these, much of the pressure will be off and it will seem much easier to move on to the subjects you are most comfortable with.

That’s it! We’re almost there! It’s time to divide the subjects into your available time.

• Don’t forget to start by placing the most complex subjects for you.
  You have two options:

1. If you feel that you need a framework, define precisely for each slot which chapter of your course you will cover.
2. If you need more flexibility, determine only the material you will be reviewing and give yourself the freedom to define the content on the day.

Forget the whole day dedicated to one subject. Concentration decreases over time, so try to alternate subjects.

• How to position the different revision slots?

Use the interval revision method to time your revision sessions. This method allows you to revise very regularly so that you don’t forget what you have learnt previously. It consists of revising on day 1: day 0 and then in sessions that are closer together in time to reactivate the memory.

There are different versions of this method which tell you on which days the same concept should be reviewed:

1. D0/D1/D3/D7/D15/D30
2. D0/D2/D5/D14
3. D0/D3/D10/D30

You can adjust these intervals to suit your needs & your way of revising.
Then, it’s very simple. Set revision slots for each subject at regular intervals in your timetable.
Once you have written down your schedule on paper, scan it with the SCRIBZEE mobile application. This way, you will always have it with you, in your phone. In addition, you can set reminders on your scan of the schedule to remind you to study at the right time.

• How to stay motivated over time while studying?

Use the pomodoro technique to optimise the time spent on each of your tasks. Structure your revision sessions into 25-minute sub-sessions. Stay focused during this time and then give yourself a 5-minute break to do whatever you want. This alternation of work and rest will help you feel efficient and satisfied with your work. Nothing like this to keep you motivated in the long term.

You now have all the keys to creating your revision programme. By planning, you are halfway there. The most important thing is to succeed in transforming the test into practice. So don’t wait, the sooner you start, the more ready you’ll feel for your exam.