HOW TO MAKE THE BEST STUDY TIMETABLE (that you'll actually stick to!) ✨📚

Summary

This video offers a comprehensive guide to creating an effective revision timetable for exams. It advises identifying personal productivity peaks, prioritizing tasks, and scheduling downtime. The presenter suggests using Parkinson's Law to manage time efficiently, focusing on one subject at a time, and gradually increasing study sessions. They emphasize the importance of discipline over motivation and recommend adjusting the timetable for exam season to mirror actual exam conditions.

Takeaways

• 🕒 **Time of Day Matters**: Schedule revision sessions based on whether you're a morning person or a night owl for maximum productivity.
• 🔍 **Self-Awareness**: Understand your personal study habits and create a timetable that suits your natural rhythm to avoid burnout.
• 📅 **Prioritize and Block Out Time**: Identify and schedule non-negotiable activities and downtime to maintain a balanced study-life routine.
• 📈 **Gradual Progress**: Start with small, achievable study goals and gradually increase them to build focus and discipline.
• 🚫 **Avoid Multitasking**: Stick to one subject at a time to maintain focus and effectively absorb information.
• 📘 **Subject Ranking**: Allocate more time to subjects you find difficult to improve your overall performance.
• 📝 **Consistency Over Intensity**: Regular short study sessions are more beneficial than infrequent, long cramming sessions.
• 📆 **Retrospective Timetable**: After learning the content, use a retrospective timetable to review and grade your revision sessions for future planning.
• 🗓️ **Weekend Wisdom**: Reserve time for relaxation and enjoyment on weekends to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• ⏰ **Exam Season Adjustments**: Adapt your timetable during exam season to mimic exam conditions and focus on areas that need improvement based on mock exams.
• 🏋️‍♂️ **Discipline Over Motivation**: Maintain discipline and stick to your study schedule even when motivation wanes to ensure consistent progress.

Q & A

What is the importance of understanding whether you are a night owl or an early bird for creating a revision timetable?

Understanding whether you are a night owl or an early bird is crucial for creating a revision timetable because it helps determine the most productive times for you to study. Scheduling revision sessions during your peak productivity times can prevent burnout and make studying more enjoyable and effective.

Why is it recommended to schedule downtime after coming back from school or university?

Scheduling downtime after school or university is recommended because it allows for relaxation and activities not related to academics. This break is essential for mental well-being and can help prevent burnout, making future study sessions more productive.

What is Parkinson's Law as mentioned in the script, and how can it be applied to revision?

Parkinson's Law states that 'work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.' In the context of revision, it suggests that if you allocate more time than necessary for a task, you may end up spending most of that time being unproductive. To apply this, allocate less time than you think you need to complete a task to encourage focus and efficiency.

How does the speaker suggest ranking subjects in a revision timetable?

The speaker suggests ranking subjects based on difficulty. Subjects that are harder or yield worse grades should be given more time in the timetable to improve and ensure better performance in those areas.

What is the 'one subject rule' mentioned in the script, and why is it important?

The 'one subject rule' is a strategy where you focus on only one subject per day, ideally different from the last period studied in school. This rule is important because it prevents multitasking and allows for deeper focus on one topic, which can lead to better retention and understanding.

How does the speaker recommend easing into revision sessions?

The speaker recommends easing into revision sessions by starting with small, achievable goals such as completing one or two pomodoro sessions. This gradual approach helps build focus and prevents the feeling of being overwhelmed, which can lead to more effective studying over time.

What is the difference between a prospective and retrospective timetable as discussed in the script?

A prospective timetable is a plan looking forward, outlining what you intend to study on specific days. In contrast, a retrospective timetable reviews past study sessions, grades them by difficulty, and uses this information to plan future revision, focusing on areas of weakness.

Why is it essential to block out relaxation time and priorities during the weekend in a revision timetable?

Blocking out relaxation time and priorities during the weekend ensures a healthy work-life balance and prevents burnout. It allows for necessary rest and enjoyment, which can increase motivation and productivity during the upcoming week.

How should the revision timetable change during exam season according to the script?

During exam season, the timetable should be adjusted to reflect the actual exam conditions. This includes making revision sessions as long as the exam papers to simulate exam conditions and reallocating time based on performance in mock exams to focus on weaker areas.

What role does discipline play in following a revision timetable, as emphasized in the script?

Discipline is more critical than motivation when following a revision timetable. Even on days when motivation is low, maintaining discipline to adhere to the timetable ensures consistent study habits, which are crucial for exam success.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Effective Study Techniques and Planning

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of creating an effective revision timetable to excel in exams. It suggests evaluating one's study habits, especially for difficult subjects like math, and proposes consistent but small study sessions. The video offers a free template for a pre-exam and exam season timetable. It advises identifying whether one is a morning person or a night owl to schedule the most productive study times. The speaker also recommends blocking out time for non-academic activities and suggests starting with short study sessions to ease into a study routine.

05:02

🕒 Balancing Study and Relaxation

This paragraph discusses the importance of balancing study and relaxation, suggesting short bursts of study sessions to avoid burnout. It introduces the 'one subject rule' for focused study and recommends starting with easier tasks to ease into more intense revision. The speaker advises against long study marathons and emphasizes the importance of setting achievable goals. They also introduce the concept of a retrospective timetable for reviewing and planning future study sessions based on past performance.

10:02

📈 Adapting to Exam Season and Maintaining Discipline

The final paragraph focuses on adjusting one's study routine for exam season, suggesting longer study sessions that match the duration of exam papers. It advises reallocating study time based on mock exam results and covering all topics adequately. The speaker stresses the importance of discipline over motivation and maintaining a work-life balance. They recommend taking at least one day off to relax and reset for the upcoming week, ensuring a refreshed mindset for studying.

Keywords

💡Revision Timetable

A revision timetable is a schedule designed to help students allocate time for studying and reviewing material in preparation for exams. In the video, the creation of an effective revision timetable is emphasized as a key strategy for success in exams. The speaker discusses how to tailor this timetable to different times of the year, such as pre-exam season and exam season, to optimize study efficiency.

💡Morning Bird

A 'Morning Bird' refers to someone who is most productive and alert in the morning hours. The video suggests that understanding whether one is a morning bird or a night owl is crucial for scheduling revision sessions. The speaker recommends scheduling study times that align with one's natural productivity cycle to avoid burnout and ensure effective studying.

💡Night Owl

A 'Night Owl' is someone who is most productive and alert during the night. The video script mentions that night owls should schedule their revision sessions accordingly to match their peak energy times. This is part of the broader message about personalizing the revision timetable to fit individual preferences and routines.

💡Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law is a concept mentioned in the video that suggests that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion.' The speaker recommends using this law to one's advantage by setting shorter study sessions to increase focus and productivity, rather than allocating excessive time that may lead to procrastination and inefficiency.

💡One Subject Rule

The 'One Subject Rule' is a strategy highlighted in the video that advises students to focus on only one subject per study session to avoid multitasking and maintain focus. The speaker explains that jumping between subjects can be less effective than concentrating on a single topic, which helps in better understanding and retention of information.

💡Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that involves breaking work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. The video encourages using this technique to ease into revision sessions, setting achievable study goals and gradually increasing focus and productivity over time.

💡Retrospective Timetable

A retrospective timetable is a method of reviewing and planning based on past study sessions. It contrasts with a prospective timetable by focusing on past performance to inform future study plans. The video suggests using this approach during exam season to target weak areas and reinforce learning, by grading past revision sessions and scheduling future reviews accordingly.

💡Mock Exams

Mock exams are practice exams that simulate the conditions of actual exams. The video script emphasizes the importance of taking mock exams seriously as they can serve as indicators of potential performance in real exams. The speaker advises students to use their mock exam results to adjust their study focus and prioritize subjects that need improvement.

💡Burnout

Burnout refers to a state of physical or mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. The video warns against over-scheduling and the risk of burnout, advocating for a balanced approach to revision that includes relaxation and leisure time. The speaker stresses the importance of maintaining a work-life balance to prevent burnout and sustain motivation.

💡Discipline

Discipline is the ability to control one's actions and emotions and to follow a set of rules or a plan. In the context of the video, discipline is presented as more critical than motivation for sticking to a study timetable. The speaker encourages students to rely on discipline to ensure consistent study habits, even when they may not feel motivated.

Highlights

The importance of reevaluating your study habits if you find a subject difficult.

Creating a revision timetable to improve exam performance.

The significance of scheduling revision sessions based on whether you're a night owl or an early bird.

Blocking out times for school, clubs, and other priorities to optimize your timetable.

The necessity of scheduling downtime after school to prevent burnout.

Easing into revision by starting with less intense tasks like homework.

Applying Parkinson's law to manage study time effectively.

Ranking subjects by difficulty to allocate study time efficiently.

The recommendation to revise difficult subjects like math every day, even if it's for a short time.

Avoiding long revision sessions to prevent burnout and maintain consistency.

The one subject rule for focused revision and avoiding multitasking.

Setting small, achievable goals for revision sessions to build focus gradually.

The concept of a retrospective timetable for reviewing past revision sessions.

The importance of weekends for relaxation and maintaining a work-life balance.

Adjusting your timetable during exam season to match the length of exam papers.

Prioritizing subjects based on mock exam performance.

The necessity of discipline over motivation for sticking to your revision timetable.

The video's conclusion with a reminder to use the provided timetable template.

Transcripts

so this rule is very very important and

I found that this really helps me in my

GCS season a levels if you find maths

the hardest thing ever and you're only

doing it once a week reevaluate what

you're doing and think about it because

if something's the hardest subject for

you and you're always avoiding it how do

you think it will get any easier one

thing that I'm going to say that's going

to be very controversial

is hey guys and welcome back to another

video it's been highly requested for a

long time now and I finally decided to

make this video here's how you make the

best revision timetable so you can Ace

your exams through consistent but small

sessions of revision and end up getting

an amazing grade at the end of it I'm

going to be talking about how you can

plan your time effectively for different

points of the year including pre-exam

season so this is the bulk of the Year

majority of your working time and then

I'm going to also explain how you can

organize your time for exam season

because these differ drastically before

we get into it you guys know the drill

be sure to like comment and subscribe

for more content like this and let's get

straight into it the free template that

I will be using throughout this video

will be linked down in the description

be sure to check it out because it's

going to really help you and you can

basically customize it as you watch this

video and it will have two tabs which

will both have timetables on it one will

be for the pre-exam season timetable and

the other one will be for the exam

season so let's jump straight into it

the first thing you need to think about

is whether you are night hour or an

early bird this will really determine

how productive you are and when you

should schedule your revision sessions

if you're a Morning Bird you don't want

to be doing your work at like 11:00 p.m.

and vice versa if you're night hour

you'd only be doing your work at 6:00

a.m. 5:00 a.m. and being tired and not

even getting anything is very important

that you schedule your work to frame how

you are as a person and you don't do the

opposite cuz you will notice that you

will burn out a lot more quicker and

you're just going to not enjoy studying

because you're not doing it at times

which are optimal for you so this is

something that you definitely have to

bear in mind when you're making your Tim

table and if you don't know what kind of

person you are whether you're a night

hour or an early bird the best way to

check is to basically spend a week being

IA whatever you find out is the most

effective follow that for the time table

that work we're about to plan now when

you get your everyday timetable and

you're ready to start planning out block

out times blck out times we at school

you have a club you have a priority such

as babysitting doing some chores look

out the things that you know you have to

do so that you can work around this you

don't want to be adding in revision at

times that you're not going to be able

to revise because that just defeats the

purpose of having a timetable studying

is important getting good grades is nice

but it's not more important than things

that are Central to you so you have to

make sure you have good priorities at

the start once you finally block these

times out you can start to add in your

subjects add in when you want to revise

and that's what we're going to do now

and ideally after you come back from

school University College you want to

make sure you schedule down time you

can't just go straight from one place of

education and then go home and start

revising immediately I mean if you can

then kudos to you but me personally I

need a downtime I need time to relax do

something not academically related and I

recommend scheduling this for like 30

minutes to 1 hour the most important

thing is do a time that you can stick to

if you know you're someone who you need

more than 10 minutes to relax don't

schedule it for 10 minutes schedule it

for 50 minutes minutes for 1 hour get

yourself a time which is enough for you

to get into relaxation but not too much

for you to be like slouching around and

you don't want to do anything for rest a

day so it's all about balance and this

might take you a couple of weeks to

figure out what works for you and one

thing I really recommend for easing

yourself into revision because it can

often be really really hard to get back

relaxed and then straight up do it and

exam people for your hours so I really

recommend that you ease Yourself by

doing homework by doing something that

is required for you to do but it may not

be as high intensity as actual revision

or actual active Reco

and this basically gets you in the mood

for being productive so what I recommend

is following something called

Parkinson's law so Parkinson's law is

basically a way of saying that an

activity will expand to the time that

you set it so let's say you have a

really CH homework it's literally like a

worksheet and you could probably do it

in 15 minutes but for some reason you

give yourself 1 hour cuz your timetable

says 1 hour you actually probably spend

majority of that hour doing that

worksheet getting distracted doing all

sorts of things and you'll probably get

the same amount of work and the same

quality of work as if you just focused

and spent the 15 minutes minutes so if

you know it's homework and you know that

you can do it like you actually have the

power in you to complete it quickly get

yourself less time than what you want to

give yourself after that you can

allocate certain amount of hours to

certain subjects and the way you want to

do this is as I've been saying on all of

my videos rank your subjects rank your

subjects based on difficulty if you find

maths the hardest thing ever and you're

only doing it once a week reevaluate

what you're doing and think about it

because if something's the hardest

subject for you and you're always

avoiding it how do you think it will get

any easier like it literally won't you

need to make sure you allocate the most

amount of time to these subjects that

you may dislike that you get the worst

grades in because ultimately that is how

you'll do better that's how you'll

improve and let's say I'm struggling

with maths maths is one of the subjects

you can Implement in every single day of

your rision like even if it's 10 minutes

solving one question that one question

is basically one step closer to getting

the grade that you want I really

recommend doing Corbit math five a day

or just like a simple quick worksheet

you can do in the morning or in the

afternoon something that's really chill

and it's like it will take you about 10

20 minutes because implementing this

throughout your days will basically set

up that consistency and also help you to

start to recognize these questions more

and you'll actually improve so much over

time so subjects like that that you can

do something quick whether it's write a

little paragraph whether it's also a few

questions quickly even if it's not the

whole paper or the booklet that will be

more effective than if you just leave

everything to the end and leave it to

one big revision session on like a

Saturday or Sunday because you're never

going to want to do it at the same time

be realistic don't set yourself like 10

hours of mass revision it's not going to

happen and maass is not one of those

subjects that you can rise for hours on

end you will burn out and you're going

to feel tired and then you won't do it

again so just make sure you set short

and little bursts or revision that will

work out a lot more in the long run and

now I'm going to be introducing you to

the one subject rule so this rule is

very very important and I found that

this really helps me in my GCS SE and a

levels so when you get home you don't

want to be revising about seven

different subjects because let's be for

real once you get into that one subject

it will be time for the next subject and

you're just jumping around multitasking

and all of this is less effective than

just focusing on one subject in that one

Daye so when you get home you should

ideally do a subject which is different

to your last period so let's say you had

biology for your last period me

personally I probably wouldn't revise

biology for the rest of the day because

I feel like too much biology it'll just

get too much I'll get overwhelmed and I

won't focus so I would recommend doing

something completely different so if you

haven't done chemistry for the whole day

then do chemistry because this just

introduces your brain to something new

you're not bored and it's also new

information for you to learn so

especially at the start of the year I

recommend easing yourself slowly into

revision sessions don't just say I'm

going to do 3 hours I want to do 4 hours

cuz I want to get all n that's not how

it works that yourself small but

achievable goals so you can say I want

to do at least one pomodora session I

want to do at least two pomodora

sessions set yourself something that you

can do and you'll actually be happy once

you've achieved it so 1 hour 50 minutes

of revision and slowly build yourself up

to increase these hours and as you get

better at focusing you can start to add

another subject so you can do two

subjects in one day but I would say two

is probably the maximum if you want to

be effective in these revision sessions

and you can slowly build this up it's

not something that you will immediately

be able to do okay so now let's talk

about the retrospective type timetable

if you're someone who likes to watch

study videos you probably already heard

of this term but this is basically a

timetable which is in contrast to a

prospective timetable so what we're

making now is a prospective timetable so

we're looking at the timetable and we're

saying on Monday I'm going to revise

chemistry on Tuesday I'm going to revise

maths and on Thursday I'm going to

revise history and this is basically us

looking in the future and thinking okay

on these days I'm going to revise this a

retrospective timetable basically looks

at the topics you revised and grades

them based on the difficulty of that

session and then you can basically use

that to to determine when your next

revise that topic and I find that this

is very effective especially when it

comes to exam season and you've already

learned all the content but now you just

need to go over it so once you've come

to this point where you're not self-

teing you're not learning anything new

you're trying to revise then definitely

try to implement this retrospective

timetable it's not going to be on the

same sheet as your normal timetable but

it will basically be a thing of let's

say you get to chemistry on Monday and

you're not sure what you're going to

revise you go on this retrospective

timetable it has all the topics listed

and then you just pick a topic based on

which is the hardest at that point you

do that topic and let's say you find it

medium difficulty like you understand

some things but you're losing some marks

on something and you can then say you

can revise that topic again in a week or

in like 3 to 5 days and that basically

sets yourself up so that you're never

just randomly doing something in a

revision session so you want to make

sure that you're always ranking these

topics that you do so that in the future

when you're looking back on your weak

spots you can easily Target those

instead of just doing random topics

every day so this is something I really

recommend for studying for exam season

and then after the session write down

the date that you want to revise the

next time you can highlight the session

you can make it green if it was easy

orange if it was medium and red if it

was like really really bad so that means

you should probably look at it the next

day or the day after okay so now let's

talk about weekends so weekends are very

important as I said before block out

your priorities block out your

relaxation time because weekends are

still to be enjoyed even if you're

revising you don't need to be like

depressed on your weekends you can have

a good work life balance so lock those

times out so at least you can say okay I

finished revision for the day and I can

do this you want to have the whole

weekend through to revision because

you're going to burn out and you're not

going to feel refresh for the next week

so be realistic don't be set in like 7

hours 10 hours because I'm telling you

you're going to hate weekend like you

might even hate weekends more than you

hate weekdays so be realistic and be

kind to yourself and always give

yourself a bit of leeway don't beat

yourself up if you can't do what you set

yourself for the weekend so when you

build your focus you'll be able to study

for these longer periods of time without

having to stop or like be burnt out and

it's much better to ease yourself into

it slowly and then one thing that I'm

going to say that's going to be very

Rial is set at least one day completely

off and I said it completely off so for

me in secondary school and college this

was Sunday because you need one day

where you can completely chill and reset

for the next week when you're in exam

season you may not have this one day

completely free at the start when you

want to prevent burnout and you want to

still enjoy yourself try to keep one day

almost completely free and just enjoy

that one day because at least you can

say okay I relax and now I can go back

to school on Monday if you didn't

refresh and this is coming from a grade

n a star student like I find that when

you actually enjoy yourself in the week

when you actually spend time for

yourself you'll feel so much more

motivated to study when it's time to

study and you have this distinction

between study and relaxing and that

basically ties into work life balance

and you'll feel better in the long run

so now let's talk about exam season so

exam season is very important that you

change your timetable because some

things that may have been a priority to

you at the start are no longer a

priority you want to make sure that your

timetable sessions are as long as the

paper that you're going to have in that

subject so let's say you want to study

chemistry a chemistry paper is like 1

hour 45 minutes you need to make sure

your your revision session is now long

enough that you can do an entire paper

and Mark it this basically makes sure

that you have enough time to constantly

do these exam papers and you finish all

of them before your exam comes and also

reallocate your subject based on how you

did in your mock so if you actually

advis for your mocks and you took them

seriously your mocks are basically a

representative of what you're going to

get in the exam if you don't do anything

if you just leave it like that so

obviously you want to do better so look

at the subjects that you did the worst

in and spend the most time doing the

those obviously prioritize everything at

least one paper for each subject every

week or every two weeks and that will

just make sure that you cover everything

in time but guys look at your Mock and

see what you did wrong see what topics

you need to cover and then also add

those to your retrospective timetable so

you can highlight those topics and say

you need to cover these before this exam

comes and it basically just sets you up

so that you don't miss your weak spots

before the exam finally let's talk about

discipline because you can make the

prettiest perfect aesthetic timetable

that you want to but if you don't stick

to it you just wait fed your time like

you might as well have not made a

timetable so guys discipline is greater

than motivation always because there's

going to be times where you look at this

timable of Hate in Your Eyes like your

eyes are red you're tired you don't want

to do it but at the end of the day if

you set up a realistic timetable that

you're able to stick to even when you're

feeling like a bit low then you are

going to do better in your exams and I'm

not saying that you need to follow your

timetable strictly every single day cuz

I know there's times that I didn't like

I had a whole block of revision set for

me and I didn't do it and I was fine but

just make sure that consistently you are

actually adhering to discipline and not

motivation you're not waiting to be

struck by this feeling of motivation

when you look at your timetable you're

just looking at the timetable and you're

like okay today I'm going to do some

chemistry okay today I'm going to do

some Physics even if I don't do the most

productive session and I only do one

page of physics I'm going to do some

physics and that sense of discipline and

consistency will follow you to your exam

and to your exam season so guys we're

coming to the end of the video I know

this was a very detailed video and I

really hope you found it useful and also

be sure to edit the free timetable in

the description and basically add on

everything that we've been talking about

in this video and I hope you guys find

this really useful for your exams and

for your general studying I'll see you

guys next time be sure to like comment

and subscribe

[Music]

bye

[Music]