Key 7 : MAKE A DAILY REVISION PLAN

Before embarking on revision, you should make a clear timetable.

• Allocate a "realistic" measure of time for what you can accomplish each day.


• Differentiate and re-adjust your priorities to fit in within the time available.


• Consider by what date you can start a second round of revision.


• In a second round of revision, do not repeat what you have already mastered in the first round. Narrow the field each time you begin to revise a topic or a subject by allocating unaccomplished tasks from the previous round of revision for your next round of revision.


• Make a note of what were your stumbling blocks in each round of revision. Go over these in your next round.


• Be determined to meet the goals set for each day and week. Don't slacken.


• Make a separate daily revision plan for things you will need to memorize. These are the marks waiting for you to get, only if you can recall the facts on exam day!


• For aspects you need to memorise, mark these in your textbook using highlighter pens and post-it notes according to Keys 4 and 5. Make a plan to read and re-read bookmarked pages on a daily basis.


• Read once at night when you are tired and cannot do much thinking work. Read once again the exact same matter first thing in the morning. It works like magic!

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!"

What will you revise today? How many subjects will you study each night? Will you have enough time to revise all that you need to?

Before embarking on revision, you should first make a clear timetable for your revision work. Set deadlines and make detailed goals for the completion of goals at the end of each day and by the end of each week. Every two weeks review what you have accomplished.

Exams are sooner than they appear. Think of how little time you have left to prepare if you complete all the tasks necessary. And, watch your time carefully. Unless you are judicious in using it, time will disappear faster than you know it.

Say you have 15 or 16 weeks left before the exams and five subjects, that gives you only 3 weeks or so per subject to master. This is very little time to revise a thick textbook. Imagine when you have twice as many subjects to revise after the course work is complete!

The lesser the time left, the better must be your planning and differentiation strategy.

A quick plan will tell you how much work still remains. If you take a random approach to learning and surround yourself with textbooks without any sense of prioritisation, you will fool yourself into thinking you are working but you will not accomplish much. After the exams are over, you will be annoyed with yourself and wish you had planned better and studied smarter!

Last minute revision takes a toll on a person and is too risky in terms of gaining marks. Also, if you pace yourself well in these few weeks before the examination, your daily revision need not be a drudgery but a pleasant experience which is calming on your nerves. You will also feel more confident as you will walk into an examination hall – wellprepared!

• Allocate a “realistic” time deadline on what you will accomplish each day.


• Make a detailed list of all that needs to be done.


• Differentiate between objectives and re-adjust your priorities to fit in the time available.


• Consider what you will finish by when. When will be your first, second and third round of revision.


• Do not spend more than the time you have allocated. Or, if you find you have grossly miscalculated, redo your plans to be more realistic. Then begin implementing and stick to the new plan instead of constant small revisions to the previous plan. This way, again, you are closely tying in your preparation to strategy so that you will not run out of time on the most important priorities that you have identified in the given time frame.
• Make a note of the aspects that you were unable to cover in the first round of revision and try to find time for these in the second round of revision.


• Make a note of what were your stumbling blocks, where you were taking more time than allocated and where you can speed up by practice.


• Be determined to meet the set goals each day and each week.


• Knowing what to drop is critical to your revision strategy as time comes closer to the Boards. There is no point going over a topic cursorily knowing full well there is no time for you to master it and get marks with the effort you are putting in.


• Unless it is a topic that you can work on by aid of short term memory, are you not gain anything by going over it in a hurry hoping to remember a point or two perchance. Or, you may be going over it at the cost of other topics you could in fact master and gain more marks in.


• It may be that your time is better spent in revising those topics you can actually still gain marks in. You can always use saved time in going over facts and formulae that you need to know by heart and solve questions you can.