How to plan exam revision
A good revision plan does three things: it works back from the exam date, it spreads each subject over several days instead of one, and it spends most of the time testing what you know rather than rereading it. And it has to fit the days you actually have.
Work back from the exam
Write down every exam with its date, then everything fixed before it: classes, work shifts, travel. What is left is the time you really have. Divide the material for each exam into topics, and estimate how long each will take to revise once.
If the total does not fit, it is much better to find out now than the night before. Decide what to cover lightly or leave out while there is still time to choose.
Space it out
Revising a topic several times across different days works better than the same amount of time in one sitting. A large review of spacing research found the benefit across hundreds of experiments, and found that the best gap grows with how long you need to remember the material. For an exam a few weeks away, coming back to each topic every few days is a reasonable rule.
Cepeda et al., 2006. Psychological Bulletin 132(3)
Test yourself instead of rereading
Practice testing, answering questions from memory, is one of the best-supported study techniques. In a classic experiment, students who tested themselves on a passage remembered much more of it a week later than students who reread it, even though rereading felt more effective at the time. A major review of learning techniques rated practice testing and spaced practice as highly useful, and rereading and highlighting as of low use.
Roediger & Karpicke, 2006. Psychological Science 17(3) · Dunlosky et al., 2013. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1)
A simple weekly shape
- One short session per subject on most days, rather than one subject all day.
- Start each session with questions from memory, then check what you got wrong.
- Put the topics you got wrong back in two or three days later.
- Keep the day before the exam light: a short test, then rest.
How Sailyn plans revision
Tell Sailyn your exam dates and what each covers, in your own words, and import your timetable or connect your calendar. It spreads revision across the days before each exam, around your classes and shifts, says plainly if it does not fit, and shows one session at a time with a Start button.
Sailyn is a planner and a focus timer. It is not a medical device, it treats nothing, and nothing on these pages is advice about a condition.
Know what you need to do, but can't get started? Sailyn gives you one next step, a plan that adapts, and no penalty for difficult days.