You come home with homework, a lesson to learn and a test coming up. You open one exercise book, then another, and end up spending more time choosing than actually working. It happens. You don’t necessarily need to work harder: perhaps what you need most is to make simpler decisions.
Here’s a revision method for secondary school that you can try out as early as this week. It’s based on a light schedule, focusing on one main subject each evening and a quick review at the weekend. The suggested time allocations are just guidelines to be adapted, not rules to be followed at all costs.
Start by considering the constraints of your actual week
Make a note of your lesson timetables, your journeys, your activities and the times when you can take a breather. Add in any compulsory homework. What’s left is the time you have available for revision; don’t draw up a timetable that pretends everything else doesn’t exist.
Next, choose the two or three areas you want to tackle first. «Understanding equations» is still a bit too broad. «Solving an equation with brackets» gives you a task that you can actually complete.
A 45-minute session, with a clear objective
You can organise a study session as follows: five minutes to revise the lesson without looking at it, twenty-five minutes to work on it, ten minutes to check your work, and five minutes to note down the next step.
If 45 minutes feels too long after a long day, split it into two shorter sessions with a break in between. If you’re exhausted, a short, focused session might be enough. The aim is to understand something and be able to do it again, not to sit there until the bell rings.
In particular, the research encourages memory tests and the spacing out of revision sessions [1] time. In this study plan, you’ll therefore come across a particular topic several times, rather than spending a single long evening on it just before the exam.
A possible week, without filling every minute
Monday: maths. Choose an exercise relating to a difficulty you identified in class. Once it has been marked, write a sentence explaining why you got it wrong.
Tuesday: French. Work on a language point, then use it in a few sentences. If you’ve got an essay coming up, draw up an outline instead of copying out pages from your notes.
Wednesday: Arabic. Complete a comprehension or writing exercise using your study materials. Finish by asking the teacher a question if any part of the marking is unclear.
Thursday: Physics and Chemistry or Biology. This varies depending on upcoming assessments. Redraw a mind map or explain a method, then check it against the notes.
Friday: social sciences, Islamic studies or a foreign language. Choose the subject you’ve spent the least time revising this week. Keep it light if you’re feeling tired.
Saturday: a twenty- to thirty-minute review and catching up on just one key objective. Sunday: rest, then a few minutes to look ahead to the following week if that helps you. This schedule complements your homework; it does not replace the exercises set by your teachers.
A review that prevents the same mistakes from being repeated
On Saturday, take a sheet of paper and answer three questions: What am I best at? Where am I still struggling? What will be my first task next week?
Test yourself on two small topics you’ve already covered. If you knew how to do them on Tuesday but are now unsure, that’s no reason to start all over again: just set aside some time for a quick revision. If there’s a concept you’ve never understood, arrange to have it explained to you by someone.
What should you do when things go off track?
An unexpected assignment or a difficult day won’t throw your organisation off track. Reschedule a task, scale it back or drop whatever’s less urgent. Avoid turning the next day into a never-ending catch-up session.
You can stick to a basic routine on difficult days: open your workbook, have a go at a question and note down where you got stuck. This gives you a starting point for your next session, without expecting you to pretend you’re on top form.
Your first step tonight
Choose a subject, set yourself a task and prepare only the materials you need. At the end, make a note of what you’ve learnt. A successful week isn’t a perfect week; it’s a week where you have a better idea of what to do next.
If you’re struggling again, contact Elite Academy, stating your class and the relevant chapter. A tuition session can be fitted into your timetable, whilst leaving time for you to study on your own and to rest.
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→ See also: The perfect revision sheet: the template that really works · Feeling demotivated? What to do when you don’t feel like revising any more
