Structuring efficient revision sessions
INTRO
Prelims are here, and O-levels are looming closer than ever. In the last article, we talked about the importance of taking action and asking for help. That set the base for the learning attitude you should have as a student. These are more actionable tips than you can apply right here, right now. Let's dive right in.
ENVIRONMENT
Having a clean, non-distractive surrounding tremendously helps with study sessions. Start by decluttering all your items on the desk. Give each object its place. If anything unrelated to your current study session is on your desk, move it somewhere else. Have good airflow around your study space. Add some fragrance if needed. Finally, remove everything from your desk and place it on a shelf. After which, take ONLY what you need for the study session.
For example, if I am revising math, I will only have a pen, a pencil, a calculator, my revision file and assignments on the table. Nothing else. Not only is it a pleasant environment to study in, it is a focused one. You have nothing else on the table to devote your attention to, except what is at hand. Go do it.
HEALTH
I bet many of us are guilty of this, and it is not taking care of our mental and physical health during exam revision periods. Do you feel that if you started going for a run or meditating during the exam week, time that could be spent studying is wasted? I felt like that too. I am also sure that on days you did skip on taking care of yourself and instead spent one whole day studying continuously, the session was slow, laborious, monotonous. You just felt bored, and started mindlessly scanning the books. There was no active brainwork at play.
I'm not going to start citing articles and researches, but I will ask you to follow this blindly. Meditate and go for physical exercises AT LEAST twice a week during the exam session. You read it right. "But I don't want to waste time, I have lots to study," is your typical excuse. The reason why so many of us become overnight grinders during the exam period is because we goddamn choose to cram the syllabus. And cramming arises from poor planning: a lack of a good revision timetable. You can't manage time well.
REVISION TIMETABLE
We need to plan study sessions with one goal in mind: not wasting a single minute. That demands intense focus on your behalf. How can we plan sessions that allow us to sustain our level of focus? I would like you to do this right on your next study session: Set a stopwatch, and start studying intensely, with 90% focus. When you feel your focus draining a little, tell yourself to keep going for 10 more minutes. Once you have done that, look at how long your session has been.
That is the duration for one study session. Now everyone has personal preferences, and it is perfectly normal. One person may have short sessions of 20 minutes, but he is laser focused and quickly gets work done. Another may average out his attention over an hour, and be consistent. Please note faster is not always better. All of us process information in different ways, and we take different amounts of time to do so. For me, my intense focus span lasts about 85 minutes. Below is my timetable for the holidays that have been given to us for revision prior to the exam.
My study sessions have been spaced out, and appropriate breaks have been slotted in between. This is clearly not your whole day grind, but with this timetable, 6 HOURS of focused study time has at least been achieved. And I still found a way to integrate my leisure activities. I think why many of us don't absorb the material well despite studying the whole day is our lack of focus. Spending 10 hours staring at the material, versus 4 hours of practicing it is much, much better. Practicing information forces you to recall it, and apply it, which is why I recommend hoarding past year papers. Centre your study sessions towards applying the material, NOT learning it last minute. It's called RE-vision, you twit.
You might want to have a look at the below retrospective timetable created by youtuber Ali Abdaal, who clinched the first place in essays during his time at Cambridge practicing medicine.
Timetable template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WOS6bAzIaeHX3zv4gaEB-8c1ZfdIAu16/edit#gid=2018847633
His video explaining this in-depth:
Short version of the video: Identify weaker topics, revise them more often.
PRO TIP:
If you truly want to excel in your grades, put the damn phone away. Use it for less than an hour a day. You know the distraction that arises with every notification, and you're down the rabbit hole before you know it. Keep everything you need to revise on your computer or laptop, and use extensions to block notifications during study sessions. Phone=taboo. Its up to you if you want to listen to this or not.
OUTRO
Create a neat environment with 0 distractions, take good care of your mental and physical health, DON'T start learning the material the day before the exam, and have a good revision timetable. What's more to say? Go start applying these, for knowledge without action is nothing but time wasted. Please leave any opinions you have about this article below, or improvements you would like to see on Student's Spot. Help a buddy out by subscribing, and sharing this to those who need this, if you think this is helpful. Peace out.
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