Preparing for your exams with the Revision Planner
How long should I be revising for?
When populating the Oxford Revise Revision Planner, you may be unsure how much time to allocate for revision on a daily basis. There are a number of things to consider here, including your age/stage of your education and how much revision is being done at school, but the important thing is that shorter, concentrated chunks of revision are going to be more effective than fewer, very long sessions.
Suggested revision chunks:
- For ages 11-14/Years 7-9: 20-30 mins
- For ages 14+/Years 10-13: 30-60 mins
How should I schedule activities within my Revision Planner: Should I focus on one subject at a time?
The brain is a muscle and like any muscle needs a work out. The best type of revision is active – this is what helps lock knowledge into long-term memory!
It is best to do this by having short, revision sessions and switching up the subjects and activities. If you stick to one subject or one topic for multiple sessions, then you are more likely to get distracted and stop focussing.
We recommend that you start a revision session with some quick-fire retrieval questions on topics you have previously studied, and then doing an activity that puts into practice the knowledge/skills that you’ve been revising, such as exam-style questions.
If you would like more information, here’s some more tips on how to approach your revision.
The Oxford Revise approach
As well as utilising the Oxford Revise Revision Planner, following our three-step method gets you ready for your exams. In the Oxford Revise Revision Guide you’ll find:
- 1. Knowledge – Learn the facts through an easy-to-follow ‘Knowledge Organiser’ in each chapter.
- 2. Retrieval – Check you’ve retained the exam knowledge, through quick-fire recall questions and answers.
- 3. Practice – Put your knowledge into practice by completing plenty of exam-style questions.
In addition, there are lots of hints and tips from revision and subject experts on how to plan your revision and helpful advice on techniques to build exam confidence. Remember, you’ve got this!
