This post was written by Taylor Jeoffroy (PhD Candidate in English, and ASC Tutor)
Do you enjoy the structure of your weekly timetable throughout the semester but feel lost when it comes to exam season? Do you need an extra boost of organisation to sort your revision for exams and final assessments? Making a Revision Schedule for those final weeks of the semester can help reduce stress, avoid procrastination, and keep you on track with everything you need to accomplish during this busy time!
So how do you make a Revision Schedule?
Step One: Gather Information
Ensure you know when your deadlines are and that you’ve reviewed all the information your module has given you about your exams and final assessments.
Exams:
- How many exams do you have? When are they?
- What style are your exams? Essays, multiple choice, short answers? Can you bring any materials into the exam with you?
- Have you been given specific information about what content will appear on the exam? Is it on particular week’s content, chapters, or books?
Final Assessments:
- How many assessments do you have? When are they due?
- Read over the assignment information. What materials do you need to complete these?
Once you’ve answered these questions, go and gather your materials. This could include lecture notes, books, articles, online resources, My Dundee pages, etc…
Step Two: Planning
Take these things into consideration when making your schedule:
Evaluate how much time you need to revise for each exam:
- Which areas are you most confident in? Which areas do you need more time to review the content?
- For each exam, break your revision down into different topics or styles of revision (reviewing notes, flash-cards, preparing for an essay question)
- Be realistic!
Evaluate how much time you need to complete an assignment:
- Break each one down into sections: research, reading, writing, editing, etc.
- How long will each section take you?
- Be realistic!
Think about how you’ve revised well in the past.
- Time: Do you prefer mornings? Evenings?
- Setting: Do you work well with someone else? Do you need silence or a loud environment?
- Structure: Do you like to dedicate one day to one exam topic? Or switch between different things?
Step Three: Make your Schedule!
Select a Design for your Schedule
You can make a hand-drawn schedule, use a template, or your digital calendar. A digital one is more convenient to have on your phone and allows you to make changes easily, but a hand-drawn one is fun and lets you design it any way you want!
If you’re a visual learner, it can be helpful to colour-code your calendar. Use a different colour for each subject or assignment you’re working on, breaks, and other commitments. This will give you a good visual overview of your time and allow you to see if you’re spending the right amount of time per subject and pinpoint which topics you need to allocate more time to.
Fill in your Schedule
Using the information you gathered in Steps 1 and 2, create your schedule.
Tip: Work backwards, starting from your exam, to give yourself sufficient time to review all the material!
- Start by adding any scheduled exams and other commitments you have (events, meetings, work, etc.). Putting essential things in first will ensure you don’t accidentally double-book yourself when scheduling revision sessions.
- Divide your allocated revision time across several days/weeks to allow yourself to come back to the same material several times with breaks in between.
- Schedule Breaks: short breaks every 25 to 30 minutes will allow you to vary what you study throughout the day. You should also schedule larger breaks, including rest days and rewards, to keep you motivated over the full revision period.
A final tip: Be Flexible! When creating your schedule, it’s good to plan more time than you’ll need so you can move things around if something comes up or if a topic is trickier than you expected. Remember: a plan is a tool, so use it the way that works best for you!
