How I Make the PERFECT Revision Timetable with Spaced Repetition
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares their personal study strategy for tackling a large exam syllabus in just 27 days. They emphasize the ineffectiveness of rigid timetables and instead advocate for a flexible, weekly revision plan incorporating space repetition. The method involves categorizing topics, planning revisions in spaced intervals, and adjusting the plan as progress is made. The key is to master topics in fewer repetitions by studying effectively and focusing on practice questions, ensuring a manageable and adaptable study routine.
Takeaways
- 📅 The speaker finds traditional day-to-day timetables for studying ineffective and prefers a flexible weekly revision plan.
- 🧠 Space repetition is crucial for effective learning as it helps the brain retain information by revisiting topics at increasing intervals.
- 📝 It's essential to write out all the topics needed for an exam to get a clear overview and manage the study load.
- 📚 Grouping topics based on how you want to revise them can make the revision process more manageable and less overwhelming.
- 🔍 The speaker emphasizes the importance of tackling weaker areas first to give them more repetitions and solidify understanding.
- 📈 A personal space repetition formula is suggested: revise on day one, day four to five for the second revision, and two weeks later for a third revision if needed.
- 📝 Create a weekly revision timetable that is flexible and allows for adjustments based on progress and understanding of the material.
- 🔄 The speaker advises against revising all topics sequentially and then repeating the process, instead, interweave first, second, and third revisions.
- 📆 Each day, spend a few minutes transferring tasks from the weekly list to the daily calendar, treating the daily plan as a flexible suggestion rather than a strict schedule.
- 📝 Make each revision session specific, with clear goals for what needs to be achieved during that session.
- 🗂️ The speaker shares a personal revision plan as an example, illustrating how to apply the discussed strategies in a real-world context.
Q & A
Why did the speaker find traditional timetables ineffective for studying?
-The speaker found traditional timetables ineffective because they are inflexible and can easily become disrupted. Falling behind or having topics take longer than anticipated requires rescheduling, which can be too much effort and can lead to abandoning the plan altogether.
What is the main issue with space repetition according to the speaker?
-The main issue with space repetition is the practicality of applying it to a large number of topics. It's easy to space out a few topics, but when dealing with dozens, planning and spacing them over months becomes impractical.
What strategy does the speaker suggest for effectively using space repetition?
-The speaker suggests studying so effectively at each revision that topics can be mastered in two or three repetitions. This approach avoids the inefficiency of going through topics multiple times and allows for more time to be spent on practice questions.
Why is the speaker's revision method considered practical?
-The speaker's revision method is practical because it incorporates space repetition in a flexible and manageable way, allowing for adjustments as the revision process unfolds and ensuring that the study plan is followed in real life.
How does the speaker plan to categorize the topics for revision?
-The speaker plans to categorize topics based on cases, as they are studying medical conditions divided into cases by the med school. This approach simplifies the revision process by reducing the number of individual topics to track.
What is the speaker's formula for space repetition?
-The speaker's formula for space repetition is to revise a topic on day one, then revise it again on day four to five, and for easier topics, aim to skip the third revision after two weeks.
Why does the speaker recommend using a weekly timetable instead of a daily one?
-The speaker recommends a weekly timetable because it is more flexible and easier to stick to. It accommodates unpredictable weeks and allows for adjustments without the pressure of falling behind.
How does the speaker plan to deal with the second revisions of topics?
-The speaker plans to do second revisions of topics 4 to 5 days after the initial study, ideally within the same week or the week after, to adhere to the space repetition formula effectively.
What is the speaker's approach to handling the final week of revision?
-The speaker leaves the final week mostly blank, allowing for adjustments based on the progress made in the previous weeks. This approach acknowledges that plans often change and need to be flexible.
How does the speaker suggest using a calendar for daily tasks?
-The speaker suggests transferring the most important or appropriate tasks from the weekly list into the daily calendar, treating the calendar as a flexible suggestion for the day rather than a rigid plan.
What is the significance of the Eisenhower quote mentioned by the speaker?
-The quote by Eisenhower emphasizes that while planning is essential, the actual plan can become useless over time. It's important to be flexible and adapt the plan as needed, especially during the revision process.
Outlines
📅 Overcoming Traditional Timetable Challenges
The speaker discusses the common struggle with traditional study timetables, which often fail due to the ease of falling behind or the unpredictability of study durations for different topics. They introduce their alternative approach to studying for an upcoming exam with a significant amount of content and practice questions. The method involves space repetition, a technique that leverages the brain's natural forgetting process by revisiting topics at spaced intervals to enhance retention. The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating a practical, flexible study plan that incorporates space repetition effectively.
📝 Crafting a Practical Study Plan with Space Repetition
The speaker outlines a methodical approach to creating a study plan that includes writing out all exam topics, categorizing them for easier revision, and using a weekly timetable for flexibility. They introduce their space repetition formula, which involves revising topics on day one, then on day four to five, and two weeks later for more challenging topics. The speaker advises against rigid planning and emphasizes the importance of adjusting the plan as one progresses through their studies. They demonstrate how to allocate topics and revisions across weeks, ensuring that each topic receives adequate attention without overburdening the study schedule.
🗓️ Daily Scheduling for Effective Revision
In the final paragraph, the speaker focuses on the importance of daily scheduling to ensure that the weekly study plan is effectively implemented. They suggest transferring tasks from the weekly list to a daily calendar, treating the calendar as a flexible guide rather than a strict schedule. The speaker shares their personal method of adjusting tasks throughout the day based on their workload and other commitments. They stress the importance of using a calendar to maintain a balance between study and other life aspects, especially during exam season. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to watch related videos on the science behind space repetition and its practical implementation in study sessions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Spaced Repetition
💡Revision Timetable
💡Practice Questions
💡Mastery
💡Categorization
💡Weekly Timetable
💡First Revision
💡Second Revision
💡Overplanning
💡Calendar
💡Eisenhower Quote
Highlights
The struggle with traditional timetables and the need for a more flexible study plan.
Introduction of a 27-day study plan to tackle a large volume of difficult content efficiently.
Incorporation of spaced repetition into revision for better retention.
The brain's natural tendency to forget and how spaced repetition interrupts this process.
The impracticality of spacing out a large number of topics and the proposed solution.
The strategy of mastering topics in fewer repetitions to allocate time for practice questions.
The importance of writing out all topics for an exam to gain a comprehensive overview.
Categorizing topics based on revision strategy for better organization.
Using a weekly timetable for flexibility and adaptability in study planning.
The method of prioritizing weaker areas or less familiar topics for initial focus.
Space repetition formula: Day 1, Day 4-5, and 2 weeks later for effective revision.
Avoiding the common mistake of revising all topics linearly and the benefits of interleaving.
Planning the revision sessions realistically based on available time and workload.
The process of filling in the weekly timetable with specific revision tasks and dates.
The Eisenhower quote on the uselessness of actual plans but the necessity of planning.
Making each revision session specific and targeted for better focus and efficiency.
Daily task transfer from the weekly list to the daily calendar for immediate action.
Treating the daily calendar as a flexible suggestion rather than a rigid schedule.
The final emphasis on the importance of using a calendar during exam season to manage time effectively.
Transcripts
I used to find it super hard to plan the
studying for a big exam so like you I
started to create these perfect
timetables with this list of things to
do every single day but the reality is
that these Tim taes suck they never work
because it's too easy for you to fall
behind or for a couple topics to take
longer than anticipated and then you
have to reschedule everything and it's
too much effort and you basically start
bothering with the full thing full stop
so instead this is what we're going to
do I have an exam coming up in the next
27 27 days 4 weeks and to be honest I've
not St studied much for it at all so I'm
going to show you exactly how I plan and
manage this mountain of pretty difficult
content as well as thousands of practice
questions that all need to get done I'm
also going to incorporate space
repetition into my revision and I'm
going to show you how you as well can
space out your revisions very smartly
and of course as usual this is a fully
practical method so ideally make your
own revision timetable as I speak
through it follow along that's the best
use of this video the timetable template
I'm using is linked in the description
below now I mentioned space repetition
the reason this is so important to
understand understand is because our
brain actually wants to forget as much
as possible to free up as much space as
possible and that's why you forget most
of what you study unless you repeat the
topic in spaced intervals repeating a
topic interrupts that forgetting process
of our brain and doing it in increasing
space intervals takes it to the next
level but the issue that you and I face
even though we know about space
repetition is how to actually
practically do it especially with this
humongous ton of topics that we have to
get done because it's easy to space out
three topics but when you have 50 of
them then it becomes a big problem it's
way too impractical to plan and
perfectly space them out over months in
advance the solution however is simple
instead of properly trying to go through
topics four to five times each to
somehow force it in your brain I just
thought why not study so effectively at
each revision that I can Master these
Topics in two or three repetitions doing
anything more than that just isn't worth
it I'd rather spend time doing practice
questions and that's exactly the
strategy I've been following the last
few years but it required me to very I
really plan how I'm going to space out
each of the topics repetitions in the
weeks before the exams so Step One is
organizing the revision you start with
writing out the full list of topics that
you need to cover for your exams I don't
care how hard it is or how boring it is
write all of the topics out having it
all there in front of you is essential I
did this with all the conditions that I
need to know from my exam and
immediately even though before this I
was all over the place I got a better
picture a better overall perspective of
what I need to do you can finally start
procrastinating and realiz okay
everything I need to do is in front of
me it's manageable and second you need
to categorize or group all these topics
based on how you want to revise them if
you're doing any normal subject you
don't need to do this just study chapter
by chapter for me this semester I'm
studying a long list of 70 plus
conditions that the med school has
divided up for us into cases 12 cases
this semester each of them having like
five to seven conditions and so
obviously I'm not going to track my
space repetition for all 70 of these
conditions right instead I'm simply
going to be using these 12 cases to then
track my revision and space it out in my
timetable just having these 12 things to
put on my timetable and using that to
space it out makes it very doable and
that's also how I'll be studying on a
day to-day basis Case by case so group
and categorize the subtopics based on
what makes sense for you step two
spacing the revision in real time now
let's put all of these topics onto a
revision timetable and instead of a
day-to-day timetable I'm using a weekly
timetable as you can see this is divided
up into the four remaining weeks before
my exams on this Google sheet I've
linked this freny template below as well
remember to duplicate it and then you
can start editing it for your own
revision when planning in advance like
this I think making a list of things to
get done weekly is much much smarter
than doing it daily that much far in
advance firstly because having a weekly
timetable is much easier to stick to
it's more flexible I find it impossible
to plan what I'm doing on a particular
day a month in advance my weeks aren't
predictable at the moment I'm back in
Pakistan for 2 weeks and then I'm at
placement for the next 3 weeks in
Manchester and the reason it's flexible
is because let's say you don't get stuff
done on Monday and Tuesday you get busy
then you're not going to be all all of a
sudden 2 days behind you still have the
rest of the week to get the remaining
tasks done and that's because you're
following a weekly timetable it's
planned to do at any time during that
week your brain knows it's flexible so
you won't get overwhelmed by being
behind and that means it'll actually end
up being a system that you follow in
real life now let's start with the
actual meat of the method let's start
planning how we're going to do this
before just taking topics from your list
and then putting them on your revision
timetable to just get this done with
slow down and take a few minutes to
think about the order of how you want to
revise this list of topics I.E first
tackle the weaknesses the stuff you
don't know the stuff you've least looked
at this is important because you'll be
able to give more repetitions to the
stuff you do initially for me I've been
studying the gastro conditions on here
in my placement this month so it makes
sense for me to just do this and finish
them off then I think I'm going to focus
on cardio and I'm going to leave the
resp cases for the end because I did a
9we rotation in resp anyways next let's
actively plan the revision based on
rough spaced intervals first let me tell
you my space repetition formula and then
let's go through exactly how I'm going
to space these revision sessions out
these topics so listen carefully my
formula is to revise topics on day one
then do the second revision of the
topics on day four to 5 and then the
third revision 2 weeks later 14 days for
the easier topics my aim is usually to
even skip that third revision if I can
so for those simpler topics I'll just do
day one then day four to 5 and then I'll
do mix practice questions after that is
because as I said going through the
entire topics again and again is just a
waste of time I know for me that I just
need to study better in less revisions
and then focus on banging on posat
practice questions I've been following
this formula of day one day four to 5
and then 2 weeks later for years and it
works very well especially if you have
only one or 1 month to 5 weeks before
the exam now for the actual spreading
and spacing out of the work the most
important thing to understand here one
of the main things that I've learned is
that it isn't really smart to revise all
of the topics one by one and then go
back and revise all of the topics again
one by one and then do it the third time
as well I know for a fact that you've
done this before my friends do I have
but in my experience you're just bound
to forget way more if you don't keep
keep coming back to the topics more
often in between if you're not following
that space repetition formula so let's
do it smartly logically think about the
tasks that you have to get done and
think about the free time you have in
the week and think about what you can
realistically do for me I know I have
these 12 cases that means in the same
week I know I want to cover a few of
these cases each week for the first time
plus do second revisions of the stuff I
did earlier that week or the week before
remember we want to do the second
revisions of them 4 to 5 days after
studying them ideally so realistically
here I'll probably be able to do the
first revision of I think five cases per
week because I also want to do a few
second revision sessions from the things
I cover plus practice questions each day
as well that's probably a good strategy
for now so actually let me just do it
right now in front of you let's put on
case 11 10 9 8 and 4 in that first week
itself and then cases 5 7 1 and 2 and 3
in week to let me just add them on now
because I'm only doing the first
revisions of five cases a week I'm
because I'm spreading it all out across
2 weeks I've created enough time in each
week to do the second revisions of the
things I'm revising as well for example
at this point I've gone through all my
resources and made questions and done my
first revision of cases 11 and 10 so
their second revision can be done this
week itself let me just add them on I
also add dates next to each of the
sessions that I do so that then I can
track them in the future as well now
because I did the first revisions of
these cases two days ago I know I need
to get their second revisions done this
weekend itself the same will apply for
cases 9 8 and 5 I'll be trying to do
them their second revisions in the next
week and then so I don't want to explain
one by one let me just fill them all in
and I think for this step in this
process I think this is enough we don't
need to fill every single column out and
make space out every single repetition
just yet because for now I don't know
how much I will need to revise or what
specifically I will need to revise in
week four and later on in week three
even that's why I've left that entire
fourth week blank for now and even most
of three I've realized over time that it
changes way too much in the later weeks
anyways over planning right now is
useless I could obviously just show you
yeah I'm going to perfectly space out
these topics in advance using that
formula day one day four five and then 2
weeks later but the reality is I don't
know what I'm going to find hard at that
point in my revision and that's what's
nice about this method and using this
revision timetable as I go through the
topics and do revisions I'll just start
adding the dates next to them so I'll
always know okay for this case it's been
2 weeks do I need a third repetition if
not which parts of this case is is
specifically the thing that I need
repetition 4 is it the drugs mentioned
is it memorizing the guidelines do I
need to memorize different guidelines of
different cases in conjunction do I want
to combine those study sessions together
there's a very nice quote by Eisenhower
that I want to mention actual plans are
useless but planning is essential
revision is fluid and yes the thing is
strict rigid planning at the start is
very beneficial but the actual plan is
useless after a while for me I change
and alter it as I make progress it will
eventually become a retrospective
timetable where I'll look back at what
I've done decide where I what I'm
lacking and what revision that I find
and deem more important to do at the
moment and the final step of this
process is to make everything as
specific as possible so what I'm doing
in each revision session needs to be as
specific as possible even if it's
obvious or even if I want to change it
down the line it's there to give me
specific direction that first revision I
go through and understand the topic
using various resources and side by side
create my recall questions as well I
start forming a mental picture start to
memorize the details that I need to then
in the second revision session I
actively test myself on these recall
questions that I created in that first
revision session I do it even if I don't
remember much I add more questions if I
need to I focus on what I need to
actually improve in this topic and the
third division is more of the same as
more practiced questions it's more
testing myself it's more actually
filling in the knowledge gaps that
brings us on to the final step step
three scheduling the revision now that
we have a weekly list the topics are all
planned and roughly spaced down in your
revision timetable the final step of the
process and it's crucial to your actual
revision day to-day is to spend 2
minutes every day transferring the most
important or appropriate tasks from your
weekly list into today's calendar that's
it use a calendar you look at your daily
schedule okay look at what you're doing
this is this is busy I have these two
gaps let me just take 2 minutes to add
in the most appropriate TOS the best
toss that I need to get done that day
let me show you for example I looked at
my calendar today I saw that most of my
day was free I needed to film this video
I had to get a few revision sessions
done and I added those in I also noticed
that it's been a few days since I've
done the revision the first revision
sessions for cases 10 and 11 so I added
those on on the on the Sunday and the
Saturday practically speaking this is a
very simple step but the thing that most
people don't do is that they don't use
their calendar just start using your
calendar especially in exam season your
life isn't going to be only studies for
me at least I'm busy with family friends
I have YouTube stuff going on after to
script and film so a calendar is crazy
essential to not let the other parts of
your life take over and let this very
important revision time slip away and so
I'm going to repeat this once the weekly
timetable is made and you have a good
idea of how you're spacing out your
topic ICS then each day take 2 minutes
on the toilet or whatever while eating
just grab a few tasks from this weekly
timetable the ones that are most
appropriate for you to do depending on
how you're spacing or your vision and
just put them in the gaps within your
calendar I've shown you my this week's
calendar too I've changed nothing on it
is not perfect and the reason I'm okay
with that is because I never treat these
tasks on the calendar as set and stone
the bonus tip here is that I treat my
calendar as more of a suggestion for
myself that I set at the beginning of
the day that means for me this stuff is
ideally what I should be doing but there
are things that can come up and I can
Shuffle it around and it's flexible the
weekly timetable the revision calendar
is actually the important thing to
follow so make sure you're getting
everything in that week done make that
the non-negotiable rather than the daily
stuff and that overall is the actual raw
process of how I'm making my revision
plan I've shown you what I did with the
topics as I started and how I put them
onto the weekly timetable this is real
this is the plan this is my plan for the
next month and I wanted to share this
video with you like this in this pretty
casual way is because I wanted to show
you that this is not a perfect method
it's messy it's pretty intuitive
actually and relies on me looking at my
workload beforehand spending 30 minutes
or an hour or so thinking about how I'm
going to do my first revisions how I'm
going to split my time up in the next
few weeks with first revisions the
second revisions as well as doing the
practice questions in the day so that
everything can be covered without
sacrificing the aspect of space
repetition which is very very crucial to
my revision I know and I know I made a
very similar video in the past but it
was around a year and a half ago and
even though people found it very helpful
I still feel like it didn't give you the
reality of how spacing topics works I
just gave you a formula in that video
and expected you to follow it whereas me
talking through it and showing you kind
of a live demonstration gives you a much
better idea or at least I hope it did
I've already made several videos on the
science behind space repetition and what
you can practically do within your study
sessions to implement it as well as
possible check them out right here
somewhere anyways thank you so much for
watching please leave a like spam the
comments help me out with the algorithm
and I will see you in the next one oh
and good luck for your
exams
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