Why students should never wait until in-class revision begins, and why they often do.
The topic of when to start revising for a test is often a hotly contested one between students and parents — and one we are often working to reframe! Part of the challenge is the mixed-messages students receive about when and where ‘revision’ happens.
Students are (rightly) accustomed to taking the lead from their teachers on all things study-related. However, sometimes they interpret messages which their teachers never intended to send. Here is one such message we see students receiving time and again:
My teacher has started us doing revision in class — that means it’s time to start preparing for the test.
And the accompanying message:
We haven’t started revision in class yet — that means it’s not time yet for me to start preparing for the test.
To be clear, we don’t think this is the message that teachers are intending to send! Most likely, the teacher is thinking something like this:
Great! We’ve now covered all the new content for the next assessment and I’ve got some class time available to help students plug the gaps in their knowledge.
All good teachers know that students need to go back over what they have learned to consolidate it and will try to provide opportunities for that to happen during class. They also know that sometimes the information doesn’t ‘click’ for students the first time around, and they can really benefit from the teacher’s assistance to identify where the problems are and rectify them.
However, do teachers think that this in-class revision time is all students need to excel in their learning? No, they don’t — especially not for the senior secondary years. For a few reasons:
- That’s simply not enough time. Think about it: it probably took weeks to teach through all the material that is now being revised. Is a few hours of class time going to be enough?
- The amount of class time available will vary. Sometimes a topic takes longer to teach than expected, for any number of reasons. Teachers can be forced into a position of providing less revision time than they would otherwise like.
- The time is less valuable the longer it has been since new information was first encountered. The forgetting curve shows us how rapidly we forget new information if we don’t actively strengthen our memories. If students wait until in-class revision time at the end of the topic to start consolidating their learning, they are putting themselves in the position of having to completely relearn most of it. That’s not a very efficient use of study time!
While the teachers may know this, students often don’t. Much of our work with students involves shifting their thinking about learning. This means (1) a conceptual shift — to understand and make the most of how their brains actually learn, and (2) an attitude shift — to approach their learning as something for which they are responsible, not as something that just happens to them in class.
So what should students be doing instead? 
Instead of waiting around for in-class revision time to start, we encourage students to:
- Take the initiative to start asking questions about the test or exam early on (e.g. when will it be, what will be covered, what style of questions) rather than waiting for the teacher to bring it up. This will help students to plan for how to go about studying for it.
- Rely on their own time predominately to study, not on the time provided in class. They should think of in-class revision time as an added bonus, not the main event. That way they won’t be caught out if the in-class revision time is limited.
- Realise that study is possible and productive even before the topic has been completed. Did they learn one new thing in class today? That is one thing that is available and useful to study!
- Aim for small amounts of regular study over the course of the topic, rather than lots (or little) at the end. This will save them from having to relearn everything from scratch right before the test, and will enable them to make better use of the time they are given in class when the assistance of their teachers and classmates is available to them.
This conceptual and attitude shift towards study usually doesn’t happen overnight, which is why we find one-to-one coaching so effective. Get in touch to find out more about how it works.
