I am advising my students to start their revision now. They have
two big knowledge based exams in about 6-7 weeks time. For me, 6-9 weeks has always
been an optimum time for revision. Enough time to cover everything… from the “but
I don’t get it at all!” to the “Yeah, I think I got this…”
However, there has been some resistance. Many students
appear to be used to cramming at the last minute and getting by. I am not sure
how well this tactic always works.
Summing up the comments I have had from revision refuseniks…
“I’ll revise once I’ve finished all my classes”.
“I have too many things to do right now, I’ll revise soon. I
promise.”
“I’ll start revising for the exams after I’ve done
such-and-such assessment.”
“I’ll start my revision when I’m ready to do it properly.”
Whether you realise it or not, these are usually lies we
tell ourselves. False barriers and justifications for not doing the dreaded
revision.
Why do you have to wait until you’ve finished your classes?
Your brain is capable of doing more than one thing at a time. Trust me. The
brain is well able to cope with preparing for classes and revision in the same
week. Why wait another couple of weeks, when your overall revision window has
slimmed down somewhat? Are you sure you just aren’t looking for an excuse to
put it off a little longer?
If you have too many things to do now, is that going to
improve with time?
Or are you going to find yourself in a bigger log jam of
work all crying out for your time and attention. Start ticking tasks off your
list…. The unexpected can happen, and you might find new calls on your time.
Why would you wait until after you’ve done other
assessments?
Giving yourself a change of task, and a change of challenge will
help you keep stimulated. “A change is as good as a rest” is a famous English
saying. Break up the monotony of only studying for one subject or assessment at
a time.
If you find revision boring, then you’re definitely doing it
wrong.
You need to learn actively. Go and look up active learning. Start using
active methods for learning. Mix it up!
Being honest with yourself, when will you deem yourself to
be ready to your revision “properly”? This sounds like pure procrastination to
me….
And so I am now going to share a terrible secret from my
past. I may live to regret this, but I
think that I ought to come clean. Whilst studying for my degree, my friends always
knew when I had an essay to hand in. Why? Because suddenly I would go and visit
the laundrette. I’d strip my bed, bag all the dirties up and make my way to the
coin op laundrette on campus. If you knew how many sets of clean underwear I
had (I could easily have survived a siege whilst remaining fragrant), you would
realise what a big deal doing the laundry for me actually was…
I’d take a massive bag of dirty clothes and bedding, feed
the machines with detergent and small change and spend half a day getting the
clothes washed and dried. I revelled in watching the massive dryer going round
and administering the 20 pence pieces for each timed burst of hot air.
I would tell myself that “I can’t focus” looking at all
those dirty clothes. They were “gnawing away” at me.
Hogshit.
I was procrastinating. I was finding a distraction, a
displacement activity to defer having to write my essay.
It’s time to level with yourself. How much time do you
really have before your exam? How much ground do you have to cover?
I think you need to start now.
Don’t be worried that you can’t put in whole days of revision
yet. Don’t worry that you haven’t covered all of the course material yet.
Any learning you get done now is a head start. Any
understanding you gain is money in the bank.
My student Aled came to class last week with the quotation
he’d found “strive for progress, not perfection”.
I couldn’t agree more.
Every hour of revision you can get under your belts is
precious. Every gain of understanding is marks in your pocket. Every new piece
of knowledge will pay its dividend later.
Stop putting it off. And no, you can’t go and wash your
dirty socks. I’m wise to that trick!
Many thanks to Aled for putting so many things in
perspective.
