Revision can be a daunting task, especially for GCSEs when you’ll likely have 8-12 subjects to familiarise yourself with before the start of exams. However, this is by no means an impossible task with the help of a good revision timetable.

There are loads of revision guides out there, which can make creating your timetable almost as overwhelming as the revision itself. So instead of leaving you to trawl through endless conflicting articles, Beatrice at Manning’s has taken that task upon herself, and created a list of top revision tips to help you hit the ground running.

1.  Start with your exam timetable.

This may sound obvious but it’s worth mentioning – if you can get hold of your exam timetable (which your school should be able to provide for you) that will let you know which subjects require the most urgent attention. GCSE exams this year begin on the 13th of May and run until the 21st of June, so if (for example) you have Biology on the 14th of May and Physics on the 14th of June, it’s pretty clear which you should start revising first.

2. Prioritise tricky subjects.

Giving equal revision time to all your subjects may seem a sensible first step, but why sacrifice valuable time doing hours of revision for a subject you are already confident in? It’s important to make sure you do a little bit of revision for every subject, but that revision should be weighted so you do more work on subjects with which you feel less confident.

Furthermore, it’s helpful to schedule those tricky subjects for times in the day when you feel you perform best. If (like me) you work better in the morning, get that difficult subject out of the way before you start feeling lethargic after lunch. If, on the other hand, you’re more of a night owl, fill your evening revision time with subjects you find harder.

3. Revise in short bursts with plenty of scheduled breaks.

We’d recommend revising a particular topic for 30 minutes, then taking a 10 minute break before moving on to a new one. Rinse and repeat as many times as you think you need that day.

Revising in this way has multiple benefits:

Firstly, it breaks up the monotony and keeps your brain more active. Revising a little bit of a variety of subjects every day means that you don’t stagnate, or end up with any hellish days where all you study is your least favourite subject.

Secondly, studies suggest that revising in this manner helps to improve focus and motivation. Parkinson’s Law dictates that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Essentially: the more time you give yourself to finish a task, the more time that task will take. So giving yourself 2 hours to revise a certain topic won’t mean you get more revision done, it just means it will take you longer.

Thirdly, factoring short breaks into your revision plan means you come to each new topic refreshed. Keeping your breaks short and frequent will help you feel more energised, as this gives enough time to get up and stretch your legs/make a cup of tea but not enough time to get too comfortable and lose momentum.

4. Revise by topic, not by subject.

One helpful aspect of this is that it simply saves you a few minutes at the start of each half-hour. If you’ve planned to revise trigonometry rather than just “Maths”, you’ll be ready to go straight away.

More importantly, it allows you to be more specific in terms of giving yourself more time for harder subjects. If, for example, you’re feeling really confident about Macbeth but are really struggling with An Inspector Calls, you can plan for that, rather than just giving yourself a bit more “English” time. Let’s face it, we all prefer to revise topics we know we’re good at: it makes us feel confident and motivated. However, we also know it’s much more important to revise those topics we’re not so enthusiastic about: building your revision timetable this way forces you to include specific topics you might struggle with, rather than allowing you to avoid them.

5. Be adaptable!

Generally speaking, it’s important to stick to your timetable: don’t be lax with yourself about break lengths, etc. However, if (for example) you’ve given yourself three half-hour slots to revise chemical equations, but are feeling pretty confident after two, don’t be afraid to repurpose that third slot for something you feel you need more.

Remember: this timetable should be designed to help you. If at any point it stops being helpful, change it up. You know better than anyone what you need to work on, so be honest with yourself and assign more/less time to certain topics as you go along.

6. Keep refreshing.

Don’t just cover a topic once and then move on. Make sure you’ve scheduled some time every week to test yourself on topics you’ve already revised, to make sure you’ve retained the information.

7. Don’t overdo it.

Fit your revision around your day-to-day life, not the other way around. If you’ve got commitments to sport/music/drama or any social events you’re really looking forward to, then do those things. Letting off steam is vitally important during revision: you don’t need me to tell you how much pressure is put on young people regarding exams, so what you do need is time to enjoy yourself. You’ll actually do more effective revision/perform better in your exams if you make some time to relax and do something enjoyable every once in a while. If you lock yourself away revising for 12 hours every day, you’ll burn out.

8. Know what works for you.

This is your revision timetable, so use the method that works best for you. Some people find it helpful to draw up their timetable on a big sheet of A3 or even A2 paper so they can add notes/changes. Some people prefer to use an e-Calendar, as this allows for more flexibility. There are even study planning apps that can help you build your timetable. (As far as I can tell, the most popular ones are SQA’a MyStudyPlan and Timetable for Android).

Similarly, some people swear by colouring coding their timetables, while others deem it a waste of time. I’m not going to say either is correct – different brains work in different ways. Don’t let someone else’s timetable make you feel unsure about yours: different people find different methods helpful when it comes to revision. As long as you know you’re putting your best foot forward, you’ve got this revision stuff in the bag.

With two months to go until the start of exam season, now is the time to get your revision plans in order. Leaving things to the last minute never helped anyone, and now you’ve read this blog entry you’ve no excuse not to get started. Go, go, go, and best of luck with your exams!