How to study for exams - The Retrospective Revision Timetable
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, Ali, a junior doctor from Cambridge, shares his insights on effective study techniques, particularly focusing on the retrospective revision timetable method. He contrasts this approach with the traditional prospective revision timetable, highlighting its inefficiencies such as the need for future prediction and the tendency to focus on time rather than topics. Ali introduces the concept of a retrospective revision timetable, which involves reviewing topics based on their difficulty level and personal knowledge gaps, using active recall and spaced repetition. He demonstrates how to create this timetable using Google Sheets, emphasizing its simplicity and the ability to provide an overview of one's subjects without the need for advanced planning. Ali also credits his success in university to the aggressive use of efficient study techniques, including the retrospective revision timetable, which he believes is a more effective and efficient method for studying.
Takeaways
- 📅 The retrospective revision timetable is a more efficient study method compared to the traditional prospective method.
- 🔮 You don't need to predict the future with the retrospective method; it focuses on what you need to study now based on your past performance.
- 📝 Retrospective method involves listing topics and tracking your progress over time, encouraging study based on topics rather than time.
- 🟢🟠🔴 The use of color coding (green, yellow, red) in the retrospective method helps in identifying areas of strength and weakness for focused revision.
- 📈 Active recall and spaced repetition are key techniques used in conjunction with the retrospective revision timetable to enhance memory retention.
- 🚫 The prospective method can lead to inefficiencies such as studying less relevant topics early on or not focusing on areas of weakness.
- 📈 Spaced repetition ensures that topics are revisited with increasing intervals, which is beneficial for long-term memory.
- 🎯 The retrospective method allows for prioritization of topics based on urgency and difficulty, making study sessions more targeted and effective.
- 💡 Creating a retrospective revision timetable is straightforward and does not require significant upfront planning or effort.
- 🌟 Ali, the speaker, attributes his academic success to the aggressive use of efficient study techniques, including the retrospective revision timetable.
- 🌐 Squarespace is highlighted as a user-friendly platform for website creation, suitable for those with varying levels of web design experience.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is about revision timetables, specifically comparing the standard prospective revision timetable method to the retrospective revision timetable method.
What is the retrospective revision timetable method?
-The retrospective revision timetable method is a study technique where instead of planning out revisions in advance, you look back on what you've studied and decide what to study next based on what you haven't covered or what you feel you need to review more.
What are the four main problems Ali had with the standard prospective revision timetable?
-The four main problems were: 1) the need to predict future study needs, 2) the focus on time rather than topics, 3) the difficulty in getting an overview of subject knowledge, and 4) the effort required to create the timetable itself.
How does the retrospective revision timetable address the issue of predicting future study needs?
-The retrospective revision timetable addresses this issue by focusing on what has been studied and what remains to be studied, rather than trying to predict future needs in advance.
What is the traffic light method mentioned in the video?
-The traffic light method is a color-coding system used to indicate the level of understanding or confidence in a topic. It typically uses red for areas that need more work, yellow for areas that are moderately well understood, and green for areas that are well understood.
How does active recall fit into the retrospective revision timetable?
-Active recall is a study technique where you attempt to remember information without looking at the material. In the retrospective revision timetable, it is used to test your knowledge of a topic before looking at your notes or resources, which helps to reinforce learning.
What is spaced repetition and how is it used in the retrospective revision timetable?
-Spaced repetition is a learning technique where you review information at increasing intervals over time. In the retrospective revision timetable, it is used to revisit topics periodically to reinforce memory and understanding.
Why does Ali recommend using Google Sheets to create a retrospective revision timetable?
-Ali recommends using Google Sheets because it allows for easy organization and tracking of study topics and dates. It also enables the use of color coding and can be accessed and edited from anywhere.
What is the benefit of focusing on topics rather than time in the retrospective revision timetable?
-Focusing on topics rather than time allows for a more flexible and efficient study approach. It ensures that study time is dedicated to areas where understanding is weakest, rather than following a rigid schedule that may not align with actual learning needs.
How does the retrospective revision timetable help with the overall understanding of a subject?
-The retrospective revision timetable helps with overall understanding by ensuring that each topic is revisited and reviewed based on its difficulty and importance. This targeted approach allows for a comprehensive grasp of the subject matter.
What is the advantage of starting the retrospective revision timetable with a list of all topics?
-Starting with a list of all topics provides a clear overview of the subject and helps to break down what might seem like a daunting task into manageable parts. It also allows for better planning and repetition of topics.
Outlines
📅 Introduction to Retrospective Revision Timetable
Ali, a junior doctor, introduces the retrospective revision timetable method he has been using for the past six years, contrasting it with the standard prospective method. He explains the inefficiencies of the latter, such as the need to predict future study topics and the tendency to focus on time rather than topics. Ali also discusses the challenges of creating and adhering to a prospective timetable and promises to demonstrate how to create a more efficient revision plan using Google Sheets, incorporating active recall and spaced repetition.
🔍 Active Recall and Spaced Repetition in Studying
Ali explains how he uses active recall and spaced repetition techniques within his retrospective revision timetable. He describes the process of studying topics by writing questions for himself and revisiting them at different intervals. He uses a traffic light color-coding system to mark his understanding of topics, which helps him prioritize and focus on areas that need more attention. Ali emphasizes the importance of focusing on the topics you are weakest at each day, rather than following a rigid schedule, which allows for more efficient studying.
🌟 Success with Retrospective Revision Timetable
Ali shares his personal experience using the retrospective revision timetable during his third year of university, which led to him winning a prize for best performance. He details how he used Google Sheets to organize his study topics and track his progress, highlighting the benefits of this method, such as not needing to predict the future, having an overview of all topics, focusing on topics rather than time, and the ease of creating the timetable. Ali also mentions other study techniques he used, such as spider diagrams and flashcards, and thanks Squarespace for sponsoring the video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Retrospective Revision Timetable
💡Active Recall
💡Spaced Repetition
💡Prospective Revision Timetable
💡Efficiency in Studying
💡Google Sheets
💡Color Coding
💡Spaced Repetition Software
💡Spider Diagrams
💡Flashcards
💡Controversial Topics
Highlights
Ali, a junior doctor, shares his experience with revision timetables and introduces the retrospective revision timetable method.
The standard prospective revision timetable method involves planning revision in advance but has several drawbacks.
Ali found the prospective method inefficient due to the need to predict future study needs and the potential for non-adherence.
The retrospective revision timetable focuses on revising topics based on difficulty and knowledge gaps rather than time.
This method avoids the need to predict future study topics and allows for a more flexible and efficient study schedule.
Ali uses Google Sheets to create and manage his retrospective revision timetable, incorporating active recall and spaced repetition.
Active recall involves testing oneself on material previously studied, which is a more effective learning technique.
Spaced repetition involves revisiting material at increasing intervals to reinforce memory.
Ali's retrospective method allows for a clear overview of subjects and identifies areas that need more focus.
The retrospective revision timetable is easy to create and does not require extensive planning or prediction.
Ali's use of color coding in his revision timetable helps to quickly identify topics that need further review.
Ali's method won him the prize for best performance in his third year of university, demonstrating its effectiveness.
The retrospective revision timetable is adaptable and can be used with various study techniques like flashcards and spider diagrams.
Ali emphasizes the importance of starting revision without being overwhelmed by creating a simple topic list.
The method helps to maximize study efficiency by targeting weak areas and ensuring comprehensive coverage of all topics.
Ali's personal website, aliabdul.com, is being redesigned using Squarespace, showcasing the platform's ease of use and customization options.
Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support and a free trial for users to start building their own websites.
Transcripts
this video is sponsored by Squarespace
whether you need a domain website or
online store make it with Squarespace
hey guys welcome back to the channel if
you new here my name is Ali I'm a junior
doctor working in Cambridge and in this
video we're talking about revision
timetables isn't that exciting now back
in the day when I was in secondary
school I used to use the standard
prospective revision timetable method
you know where you plan out your
revision in advance like 6 weeks in
advance but for the last six years or so
I've been using the patented
retrospective revision timetable method
and I've never looked back anyone else
find that funny no just me nevermind
this video is gonna be split up into
three parts firstly I'll talk about what
a standard prospective revision
timetable looks like for most people and
explain some of the problems that I used
to have with this method when I used it
back in my secondary school days
secondly I'll introduce the idea of the
retrospective revision timetable and
explain why I think it solves all of the
problems that the prospective revision
timetable does this really needs in your
name and finally I'll show you using
Google sheets exactly how I create my
own retrospective revision timetable and
why I think that makes your studying
more efficient by incorporating active
recall and spaced repetition so yeah
let's just get started
okay so prospective means looking
forward and retrospective means looking
back and what most people think of as a
revision timetable tends to be
prospective so it tends to look
something like this you've got your
dates down one column and then you've
got the topics that you're going to
revise each day in your kind of rows and
the idea is when you're making these
you'd predict in advance what kind of
topics you want to be doing but this
method has some problems and I used to
use this when I was kind of pre GCSE but
I recognized quite early on that it was
I was being quite inefficient and
there's four main problems that I used
to have with this method so firstly this
method requires us to in a way
prophesize look into the future and work
out and at six weeks in advance what
sort of topics we're gonna be struggling
most with six weeks from now and this
for me was always tricky because there
were always random days where something
would pop up and I'd be going out with
some friends or you know sitting at home
doing a raid on World of Warcraft and
you know I just wouldn't follow my study
timetable or if I did follow it to a tee
I'd realize that actually I'm repeating
subjects pointlessly or you know more
often than not I just won't end up
following it at all secondly I think a
problem with this method is that it
encourages us implicitly to think of
revision as something that is a function
of time rather than a funk
of topics so we've got the time access
down on our kind of main access and
therefore every day we think okay it's a
7th of April I'd I'm gonna consult my
revision timetable and I'm gonna
therefore revise these three topics and
that's not really how studying should be
done and I realized this later that I
think is better to think of it in terms
of topics rather than in terms of time
so instead of thinking that each day I
need to get three topics done instead
I'll be thinking in terms of subjects
and in terms of topics and thinking by
the end of the exam period I want to
know everything about every topic
therefore what do I need to do for that
to take place and this is gonna sound a
bit abstract but I explain it in more
detail when we explain the retrospective
timetable and you'll hopefully see that
that method solves this particular
problem thirdly with this standard
prospective revision timetable there's
no real way of seeing how much of each
subject you know pondering past papers
and apart from having your own separate
record like if I were to the glance down
this list and it's that say the 10th of
April I can see that okay well I studied
physics electricity on the 4th but I
mean do I know the topic are there any
other topics in physics there's no easy
way of me seeing an overview of the
subject and therefore working out
exactly what I need to learn and finally
there's the whole thing of actually
creating one of these time tables in the
first place I always used to view this
as an activity in procrastination I'd be
like okay I need to get some work done
you know what I've not made my revision
timetable for the year yet I'm gonna sit
down and get all my pretty colors out
back in the day before the iPad pro
existed in the Apple pencil wasn't a
thing yeah my pretty color to
highlighters out my felt-tip pens and
make this fancy big ass revision
timetable and I would never follow it
equally I had some friends who would
regard the revision timetable as such an
insurmountable thing that they had to do
before they started studying that it put
them off studying for like you know a
period of weeks two months because they
had to sit down and make this timetable
it was just couldn't get around to you
know overcoming the activation energy
required to make one of these so those
are just some problems with the
prospective revision timetable these are
all just my thoughts maybe it works for
you but I'll explain what the
retrospective revision timetable looks
like now and hopefully you might be able
to take something away from that to make
your own studying a little bit more
efficient okay so a retrospective
revision timetable looks something like
this
so as you can see we've got the topics
within physiology the six different
topics we've got those down the main
axis of our spreadsheet and this is the
exact opposite to how it is with the
prospective revision timetable where we
had the dates down the front so let's
say it's the fourth of April and I've
arbitrarily studied the heart and the
kidneys using my retrospective revision
timetable I'm gonna note to the fact
that I studied the heart and the kidneys
on the fourth of April then let's say
it's the fifth of April I look at my
retrospective sheet and I see oh I
haven't revised the lungs yet why don't
I do that so I do that and then on the
sixth and the seventh I do the rest of
the topics because I see that they're
blank and I haven't done them yet
so now let's say it's the 8th of April
and I know that I need to revise
physiology I look down my list and think
huh so it's been about four days since
I've done the heart and the kidneys and
I vaguely reckoned that kidneys are a
little bit harder so I'm gonna go for
the kidneys and then I revised the
kidneys on the 8th of April but because
I'm a good student and I'm using
effective study techniques I'm not just
gonna read my notes on the kidneys cuz
that would be a complete waste of time
instead I'm gonna be using active recall
and hopefully when I studied the kidneys
on the 4th of April I wrote down a long
list of questions for myself that I
could answer or I got some passed papers
from somewhere all right found an essay
plan with essay questions there's sort
of stuff either way I'm using active
recall I am I've got the book closed and
I'm trying to answer all the questions
that I previously wrote for myself about
the kidneys and then you know I get some
stuff wrong so I look it up and I'd say
overall I judged that I'm reasonably
okay at the kidneys but not perfect so
I'm gonna highlight that in yellow this
is the classic traffic light method of
you know color coding now let's say it's
a 9th of April and I think you know what
why don't I do the heart because it's
been a while since I've done that it's
in the heart on the 9th of April and
then having answered the active recall
questions that I set for myself on the
previous time I studied it on the 4th I
think you know what I'm actually pretty
good at the heart so I'm gonna color
that in green antastic
and I'm just gonna fill in some random
bits
so hopefully you can see how I've done
that here now let's say it's the 13th of
April and I'm thinking you know what I
should revise some physiology I look
down this list and I see that ok well
it's been a while since I studied the
kidneys but the kidney is a yellow and
actually even though I studied the lungs
on the 10th of April they were red at
the time so you know what I'm gonna
prioritize the lungs because the
question I'm gonna be asking myself each
day is if the exam were tomorrow which
topic would I be least happy about
and currently I'm least happy about the
lungs which is why I'm gonna revise them
on the April the 13th and I'm gonna
color code those in yellow afterwards
because I think ok I'm now at a yellow
level when it comes to the lungs so now
let's say it's April the 14th and I'm
thinking great I don't have any Reds
left on this list so why don't I revise
the kidneys because it's been the
longest time since I've done that this
is space - repetition in action and you
know otherwise the kidneys that I'm
pretty good at the kidneys are there
then that becomes a green and as you can
see over time we develop this
understanding of every single topic
within our subject because each day we
are tackling the thing that we find most
difficult we're not doing that thing
with the prospect of revision timetable
where we're studying a topic because we
told ourselves we'd studied that topic 6
weeks ago we're studying the topic that
we have decided we are weakest on and
therefore every time we have a study
session we are working on a weakest
point and therefore getting the most
bang for our buck in terms of revising
efficiently and trying to maximize our
marks in the exam and on knowledge for
day-to-day life and the idea is that
hopefully by the end of it as the exam
approaches you look at physiology and
you think you know what everything is a
green on this I know
physiology you look at anatomy and think
oh I still got a few areas of yellow so
I'm gonna screw physiology for today I
don't care about it I'm gonna focus on
anatomy because those are my weak areas
this gives you a very easy way of seeing
a whole overview of your subject without
having to predict anything in advance
because we are terribly bad at
predicting the future and finally one
great thing about this is that it
doesn't really take any effort to get
started beyond initially scoping the
subject and just writing down the list
of every single topic in your
spreadsheet and I think that in itself
is an incredibly valuable exercise
because a subject can often seem very
daunting until you write down all the
topics that are in it and then you think
oh wow you know physiology seems
complicated but actually there's only
really six topics so great I can do six
topics that's like one topic a day I've
got eight weeks until my exams I can
repeat every single topic eight times
that's pretty incredible I can learn all
of human
geology and that's a nice attitude to
have rather than kind of being in the
dark could be like oh I need to revise
some chemistry but I'm not really sure
what to revise cuz I don't really know
what's in it and the specification has
85 different points of it and yeah
whatever so this is the retrospective
revision timetable now let's jump into
Google sheets and I will show you how
that works in real life by using an
example from my third year of university
all right so this here is the
retrospective revision timetable that I
used in my third year of university that
was the year that I did by far the best
in I won the prize for the best example
formance that year when I was studying
psychology which was pretty awesome and
I think the reason that that happened
was because I very aggressively used all
of the most efficient study techniques
active recall spaced repetition spider
diagrams flashcards I'll be making a
video at a later date about exactly how
I mer eyes 250 different essays too you
know absolutely smash those exams if I
can say so myself anyway this is the
Google sheet and as you can see I've got
it split up into section a section B
section C which corresponds to our three
papers within psychology and as you can
see I've got a list of all the topics
down one end and the dates in the other
one so taking a look at this we can see
that on the 20th of April I did these
four topics I did implicit versus
explicit memory recollection versus
familiarity semantics with episodic
memory memory and short-term memory
versus long-term memory and these are
kind of essay based things but I'll talk
more about exactly how I studied these
particular topics in that video that I
mentioned a little bit earlier anyway
the point is I've done all these on the
20th of April and then I repeated the
top one implicit versus explicit on the
22nd and then I had a bit of a gap and
then on the 12th of May I repeated it
again and then I started color coding it
because I was like right I'm getting
close to the exam now I should start
color coding my stuff and you can see
that over time everything has become
green and Saturday was like the Saturday
before the exam Tuesday was the Tuesday
before I think the examples on a
Wednesday or a Thursday something like
that and yeah over time I've repeated
this topic so like the top essay one two
three four five six seven
I'd repeated it seven times this was all
active recall based repetition it was me
drawing out my spider diagram over and
over again until I could do it from
memory until I could basically write out
any essay you gave me on implicit versus
explicit memory could cite ten papers in
that essay and all because I used active
recall in spaced repetition to repeat it
seven times until the point where it was
green before the exam and we can see
I've done the same thing for Section B
this was all about
animal cognition comparative cognition
how the thinking of animals defers to
the thinking of humans it's a theory of
mind future planning metacognition do
animals navigate using cognitive maps do
animals understand causality do animal
like what's the difference between human
and animal language and finally Section
C which is my personal favorite was all
the various things about intelligence
and IQ and for example sex differences
in IQ very controversial even race
differences in IQ even more
controversial very exciting topic and
then a little bit of stuff about
personality whether there are any genes
that influence personality but you know
who cares that's all psychology the
point is you know 21st of April 2nd of
May 12th of May 13th of May the Saturday
before the Friday before that sort of
stuff and over time the stuff has become
green because it means I know all of it
so this is the retrospective revision
timetable created in Google sheets it's
very straightforward
list of topics down the a column and
then the date that you revise the topic
ideally color coded based on how well
you knew it before you looked at your
book on along the rows and that's really
all the rest to it so hopefully this
video has explained why I think that the
retrospective revision timetable is a
better in my opinion more effective more
efficient way of studying than the
prospective revision timetable the book
standard revision timetable that we all
implicitly get taught from a young age
just to summarize the main reasons why I
think it's good are firstly it means you
don't have to prophesize into the future
because that is impossible secondly it
means that you see an overview of all
your topics thirdly it encourages you to
think of your studying in terms of
topics rather than in terms of time
because it doesn't really matter how
long something takes all that matters is
that by the end you know everything
rather than you know I'm gonna do my
three topics a day for 20 days and it
doesn't matter what what happens by the
end of it you know focusing on it in
terms of topics helps understand stuff
and fourthly it's so easy to make one of
these spreadsheets you don't have to
spend the cognitive effort of thinking
six weeks into the future and trying to
imagine yourself at that point and how
many subjects you need to do instead all
you have to do is to write down the
topics and you can just get cracking
with your revision so thank you very
much for watching before we go I just
want to say a massive thank you to
Squarespace for sponsoring this video
Squarespace are absolutely fantastic
website design a hosting content
platform that you can use to make a
website a blog an ecommerce store
anything like that they've got really
nice designer templates to choose from
so you know if you don't know anything
about web design or even if you do you
can just get one of those template
to get started with them and then you
can customize them and listening if you
want they've got 24/7 customer support
and actually I'm redesigning my own
personal website ali abdul comm using
Squarespace and it makes it so easy to
do and because I know a little bit about
coding I'm also able to tweak it to my
liking and if I run into any problems
I'll just message there to support team
and they just get back to you
practically immediately and if you want
you can even hop on a phone call with
them and they'll like talk you through
stuff and explain how stuff works so if
you fancy giving Squarespace a try you
can sign up for a free trial by
following the link in the video
description and then if you do decide to
upgrade to a paid subscription like I've
done you can also get 10% off by using
my special code so thank you very much
Squarespace for sponsoring this video
and thank you for watching the video I
hope you gained something from me I hope
you've you know gleamed some kind of
insight as to my personal method for the
retrospective revision timetable if you
can think of a better name for that
please let me know in the comments down
below equally if you have any questions
about it or any questions about anything
else study related drop a comment down
below and I'll be more than happy to
make videos about this sort of stuff in
the upcoming exam season if people are
following them helpful so thanks for
watching if you liked the video please
give it a thumbs up if you haven't
subscribed to the channel then please
consider doing so have a lovely day and
I'll see you in the next video goodbye
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
How I Ranked 1st at Cambridge University - 20 Study Tips
How to Study for Exams - Spaced Repetition | Evidence-based revision tips
HOW I SCORED TOP 2% in GCSE UK EXAMS - GRADE 9 IN EVERY SUBJECT (and how you can too!)
7 Mistakes Students Make Every Year
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST STUDY TIMETABLE (that you'll actually stick to!) ✨📚
How to Make the PERFECT Revision Timetable with Spaced Repetition
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)