How to Study for Exams - Spaced Repetition | Evidence-based revision tips

Summary

In this educational video, Ali, a final year medical student at Cambridge, introduces the concept of spaced repetition as a powerful study technique. He explains how it contrasts with cramming and leverages the forgetting curve to enhance long-term memory retention. Ali shares practical tips and his personal spaced repetition spreadsheet system, which aids in efficient studying and has contributed to his academic success. The video encourages viewers to adapt their revision strategies for better exam performance.

Takeaways

• 📚 The video emphasizes the importance of 'spaced repetition' as a study technique, which involves reviewing material at increasing intervals over time to enhance long-term retention.
• 📈 Spaced repetition is contrasted with 'cramming', which is less effective for long-term memory retention due to the rapid forgetting that occurs after intense but brief study sessions.
• 🔍 The concept is backed by the 'forgetting curve', a psychological principle that describes the rate at which information is forgotten over time without reinforcement.
• 🧠 The video suggests that actively recalling information, rather than passively rereading, strengthens memory encoding and helps in overcoming the forgetting curve.
• 📝 Ali, the speaker, shares personal evidence-based revision tips and introduces a structured approach to the video, including an explanation of spaced repetition and how to apply it.
• 🔑 The video provides a personal spaced repetition system using a spreadsheet that Ali has used successfully in his studies at Cambridge University, which includes color-coding topics based on recall proficiency.
• 🎓 Ali recommends starting with topics you don't know well and actively recalling information before marking the date in the spreadsheet, which helps in identifying weak and strong areas.
• 🛠️ The video mentions 'interleaved practice' as an effective method of studying, where you switch between different topics before fully mastering one, leading to better overall retention.
• 🎨 Ali discusses the use of flashcards, specifically the Anki app, for memorizing specific facts and quotes, integrating active recall and spaced repetition into the learning process.
• 🚀 The video encourages a mindset shift towards consistent, daily practice of a little bit of material over a long period, which is more effective than infrequent, intensive cramming sessions.
• 📅 Ali expresses a personal preference against rigid revision timetables, advocating for a more fluid approach that adapts to the individual's learning needs and pace, using the spreadsheet system for guidance.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is spaced repetition, its evidence-based benefits, and how to apply it to study routines effectively.

Who is the speaker in the video?

The speaker is Ali, a final year medical student at Cambridge University.

What is the significance of spaced repetition in studying according to the video?

Spaced repetition is significant because it helps in retaining information in long-term memory more effectively than cramming, by spreading out the review of topics over time.

What does the video suggest about the relationship between spaced repetition and the forgetting curve?

The video suggests that spaced repetition works by interrupting the forgetting curve, which means that by reviewing material at spaced intervals, we slow down the rate at which we forget information.

What is the 'magical spaced repetition spreadsheet system' mentioned in the video?

The 'magical spaced repetition spreadsheet system' is a personal method used by the speaker to organize and track his study sessions, topics, and review intervals, which he claims helped him achieve good marks in his exams.

How does the speaker use Anki in his study routine?

The speaker uses Anki, a flashcard app, for memorizing specific facts in subjects like anatomy and pharmacology, as well as quotes for essays, leveraging its active recall and spaced repetition features.

What is the importance of starting with topics you don't know well when using the spreadsheet system?

Starting with topics you don't know well focuses your study time on areas that need improvement, making your revision more efficient and ensuring that you're actively working on strengthening your weaker areas.

What is the concept of interleaved practice mentioned in the video?

Interleaved practice is a technique where you mix different topics or tasks in a single study session, switching between them before fully mastering one. It's believed to improve overall understanding and retention.

Why does the speaker prefer not to use a revision timetable?

The speaker prefers not to use a revision timetable because he finds it too rigid and not adaptable to the fluid nature of learning. He believes that a spreadsheet system allows for a more flexible and responsive approach to studying.

How does the speaker suggest incorporating spaced repetition into daily life for learning various skills?

The speaker suggests incorporating spaced repetition into daily life by practicing a little bit each day consistently. This approach is applicable to learning musical instruments, graphic design, web design, video editing, coding, and more.

What is the role of active recall in the context of the video?

Active recall is a critical component of the study techniques discussed in the video. It involves actively trying to remember information without looking at the material, which strengthens memory encoding and is integral to the effectiveness of spaced repetition.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Spaced Repetition

Ali, a final year medical student at Cambridge, introduces the concept of spaced repetition as an evidence-based revision technique. He contrasts it with cramming and explains that spaced repetition involves reviewing material at specific intervals over time, which is more effective for long-term retention. Ali references the forgetting curve and suggests that spaced repetition helps to counteract the exponential rate at which we forget information. He also mentions a personal spaced repetition spreadsheet system that has contributed to his academic success.

05:01

🧠 The Science Behind Spaced Repetition

The script delves into the psychological basis of spaced repetition, discussing the forgetting curve and how spaced repetition interrupts this process, leading to longer retention of information. Ali explains that the harder the brain has to work to retrieve information, the stronger the encoding, which is why allowing some forgetting before复习ing the material again is beneficial. He also shares a study from 2011 that demonstrates the effectiveness of spacing out recall within a single study session, resulting in significantly better retention and exam performance.

10:01

🎼 Consistency Over Intensive Study Bursts

Ali emphasizes the importance of consistency in learning, drawing parallels with practicing a musical instrument. He suggests that daily practice, even if it's just for a short time, is more effective than longer, less frequent sessions. This mindset shift to embrace spaced repetition can be applied to various aspects of life, not just academic studies. Ali shares his personal experiences with applying this method to learn multiple skills, such as playing the piano, graphic design, and coding, highlighting the power of incremental daily improvement.

15:02

📈 Ali's Personal Spaced Repetition Spreadsheet System

The script introduces Ali's personal revision tool—a spaced repetition spreadsheet system. He explains how to set up a Google Sheets document with a separate sheet for each subject and lists topics down one column. After actively recalling information from a topic, the date is logged in the next column. Over time, this creates a visual record of revision intervals and progress. Ali also discusses the importance of scoping one's subject and understanding the syllabus thoroughly to effectively use the spreadsheet.

20:03

🚀 Effective Use of the Spaced Repetition Spreadsheet

Ali provides tips for using the spaced repetition spreadsheet effectively, such as starting with topics that are unfamiliar and using a 'scattergun' approach to cover as many topics as possible in a session. He explains that this method encourages active recall and interleaved practice, which can lead to better retention. The spreadsheet allows for a flexible revision approach, focusing on areas that need improvement rather than adhering to a rigid timetable.

25:04

📝 Reflections on Revision Timetables and Personal Preferences

Ali reflects on his personal dislike for revision timetables due to their rigidity and the difficulty of predicting how much time is needed to revise each topic effectively. He advocates for a more fluid revision process that adapts to individual learning needs and rates. Ali's spreadsheet system allows him to identify and prioritize topics that require more attention, making his revision sessions more dynamic and responsive to his current knowledge level.

🌟 Conclusion and Future Content Tease

In conclusion, Ali summarizes the key points discussed in the video about spaced repetition, emphasizing its importance over cramming and the benefits of incorporating it into daily life. He also hints at upcoming content on the channel, including videos on motivation, productivity, note-taking, and the use of technology in medical school. Ali thanks viewers for their support and encourages subscriptions for more content related to student life, medical school experiences, and advice for medical applicants.

Keywords

💡Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves revisiting and reviewing information at increasing intervals over time, which helps to move the information from short-term to long-term memory. In the video, Ali emphasizes spaced repetition as the second most important study technique after active recall, explaining that it is more effective than cramming for long-term retention. The concept is illustrated through the 'forgetting curve,' which shows how we naturally forget information over time unless we interrupt this process with spaced reviews.

💡Active Recall

Active recall is a learning method where learners actively attempt to retrieve information from memory, rather than passively rereading or reviewing notes. Ali mentions active recall as the most important study technique, which is foundational to the effectiveness of spaced repetition. The script provides the example of using active recall to test oneself on study material, which significantly enhances memory retention compared to simple restudying.

💡Forgetting Curve

The forgetting curve is a concept from psychology that describes the rate at which information is forgotten over time if there is no attempt to retain it. In the video, Ali discusses the forgetting curve to explain why spaced repetition is effective, stating that by revisiting material before we forget it, we can extend the time before we forget that information again. The script uses the forgetting curve to highlight the inefficiency of cramming and the benefits of spaced repetition.

💡Cramming

Cramming is the act of studying intensively for a short period of time before a test or exam, often resulting in short-term memory gains but poor long-term retention. The video script contrasts cramming with spaced repetition, noting that while cramming might help with immediate recall, the information is quickly forgotten, making it an inefficient study strategy in comparison to spaced repetition.

💡Evidence-Based Revision

Evidence-based revision refers to study techniques that are supported by scientific research and data. Ali introduces the video as part of a series on evidence-based revision tips, indicating that the methods discussed, such as active recall and spaced repetition, are grounded in psychological research and have been proven to be effective for enhancing learning and memory.

💡Anki

Anki is a flashcard application that employs active recall and spaced repetition to help users memorize information. In the script, Ali recommends Anki as his preferred app for using spaced repetition, noting that it can be used to memorize specific facts, quotes for essays, and other details, which is a practical application of the spaced repetition concept discussed in the video.

💡Interleaved Practice

Interleaved practice is a study technique where learners alternate between different topics or skills within a single study session, rather than focusing on one topic until mastery before moving on to the next. Ali mentions interleaved practice as a beneficial approach, suggesting that it can lead to better retention and understanding compared to focusing on one topic at a time.

💡Revision Timetable

A revision timetable is a structured plan outlining what topics to study and when. Ali discusses his personal dislike for revision timetables, arguing that they can be too rigid and may not cater to the individual's needs or pace of learning. Instead, he prefers a more fluid approach using a spreadsheet to track topics and repetitions, which allows for flexibility in study sessions.

💡Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet program that Ali recommends for creating his 'magical spaced repetition spreadsheet system.' It is highlighted for its convenience and accessibility, allowing users to update their revision progress from anywhere, which is an example of applying technology to enhance study techniques.

💡Consistency

Consistency in studying refers to the practice of studying a little bit each day over a longer period, rather than engaging in intense, infrequent study sessions. Ali suggests that consistency, combined with spaced repetition, is a powerful method for learning and retaining information, applicable not just to academic studies but to learning any new skill or subject.

Highlights

Ali, a final year medical student at Cambridge University, introduces the concept of spaced repetition as a key evidence-based revision technique.

Spaced repetition is positioned as the second most important study technique after active recall for improving efficiency.

The video provides a structured approach to understanding and applying spaced repetition in study routines.

Evidence behind spaced repetition is briefly discussed, emphasizing its intuitive nature and historical backing from the forgetting curve.

The forgetting curve is explained as a psychological concept that shows we forget information at an exponential rate, which spaced repetition aims to counteract.

Ali shares personal tips on incorporating spaced repetition, including using flashcards and the mindset of consistent daily practice.

Anki, a flashcard app, is recommended for memorizing specific facts and quotes, integrating active recall and spaced repetition.

The importance of scoping subjects and knowing the syllabus inside out for effective revision is highlighted.

Ali introduces his personal spaced repetition spreadsheet system used for effective revision and exam preparation.

The spreadsheet system allows for a visual representation of one's progress and knowledge retention across various subjects.

A scattergun approach to revision is suggested, focusing on quantity over quality to enhance long-term memory encoding.

Interleaved practice is discussed as an effective method for improving understanding and retention by combining different topics.

Ali explains why he prefers not to use a revision timetable, advocating for a more fluid and adaptive revision process.

The video concludes with a reminder of the importance of active recall and the potential benefits of spaced repetition for long-term learning.

A call to action for subscribers and an invitation for new viewers to join the channel for more study tips and medical student life vlogs.

Ali expresses gratitude for the channel's growth and the support from the audience, promising more content on various topics.

Transcripts

hey guys welcome back to the channel if

you're new here my name is Ali I'm a

final year medical student at Cambridge

University and this is the second in our

video about evidence-based revision tips

and today we're going to be talking

about spaced repetition and how you can

apply to your own study routine if you

haven't seen the previous video which

will be linked up there and here and

everywhere else please do watch that

first that is about active recall and

active recall is by far the most

important thing you can be doing right

now to make your studying much more

efficient this video is gonna be about

spaced repetition which is probably the

second most important thing you could be

doing I've put timestamps to everything

we're going to talk about in the

description below along with a load of

links so you can follow those as you

like and now here's the structure of the

video because everyone loves a well

structured video firstly we're gonna

introduce this concept of spaced

repetition and I'll be sharing with you

a little bit of the evidence behind it

we're not gonna go overboard on the

evidence because to be honest a lot of

the stuff around spaced repetition is

quite intuitive secondly I'm gonna be

giving you some tips as to how you can

incorporate spaced repetition into your

study techniques and into your life

generally and thirdly I'm gonna be

talking to you about my own personal

magical spaced repetition spreadsheet

system that I've been using for the past

few years and that when I was using like

properly and got me really really good

marks in my Cambridge exams so yeah

that's the structure the video feel free

to jump around with the timestamps let's

start by talking about spaced repetition

and the evidence behind it

what is spaced repetition spaced

repetition is as the name suggests where

you spaced your repetition of particular

subjects over a period of time it is in

contrast to cramming which is a very

popular revision strategy but as we all

probably intuitively know when you cram

for a test the next day you can probably

remember quite a lot of it because it's

like in your short-term memory but by

you know maybe the next day or the

following day you've completely

forgotten all of it

so cramming is sort of not ideal if

we're talking about retaining stuff in a

long-term memory the idea behind spaced

repetition is that instead of cramming

things into a single day we spread out

our vision over time and we review

topics ideally by active recall at

particular intervals basically the

reason why it works is because of

something called the forgetting curve

and that's something that's been around

in the psychology literature since the

1800s and that's something that we can

all probably intuitively experience for

ourselves you've probably had that

feeling whereby you know you revise a

fit something and then you look at it a

week later and it's like you've just

forgotten all of it like what was the

point of arising that and you have to

repeat it repeat repeat again that's the

forgetting curve in action it's the idea

that over time we forget things at an

exponential rate sort of like you know

radioactive decay and half-life if you

if you're into a-level physics or

chemistry the important thing about the

forgetting curve and how we can take

advantage of it is that every time we

interrupt

forgetting curve it then takes longer

for us to forget something so let's say

today I studied the anatomy of the upper

limb and then I reviewed it again

tomorrow I have interrupted the

forgetting curve so while previously I

might have forgotten a half of it by

tomorrow now I'm only going to forget

25% of it by the following day and if I

then review it again three days later

and go back to a hundred percent now

it's gonna take me even longer to forget

it and the idea is that the more times

we do this the more spaced out our

repetition becomes the more likely we

are to encode all of this information

into a long-term memory so now we're

never going to forget that the radial

nerve supplies the posterior compartment

of the arm because we've repeated it so

many times over such a spaced interval

that the forgetting curve no longer

applies to that piece of uh knowledge or

understanding so yeah that's no

particular on breaking a lot of us

already do this anyway we know that we

won't just remember something if we

study at once so we kind of make a

revision timetable and we think right

I'm gonna revise topic one in chemistry

a s on that day and then I'll revise

again a week later and then a week later

that's not / - you can't reverse shell

obviously spacing your repetition is

better than cramming the thing that I

personally take home from the forgetting

curve is is actually that you know the

intervals at which we space things apart

there is a phenomenon in the Sequoia

ecology psychology literature I'll link

some studies below but I won't bother

explaining it in depth basically it's

it's the idea that the harder your brain

has to work to retrieve something from

it the more stronger that information

gets encoded so the idea behind spaced

repetition is that you allow your brain

to forget some of the information such

that when you revise it again it's not

mindless repetition it's actually taking

you some brain power and the more brain

power it takes the more we've forgotten

the harder your brain has to work at and

therefore the more strongly that

information gets encoded why this is

relevant to our own studies it's

relevant because it means that we have

this kind of idea of starting off

spacing things at like a narrow interval

and then spreading the interval out over

time so like I said in my example and

ask me the upper limb let's do it today

let's do it tomorrow

three days later a week later and then a

month later we've repeated at five times

we've spaced these repetition sessions

we've allowed ourselves to forget a

little bit of the information in between

the intervals such that when we revise

the topic ideally with active recall

rather than just rereading it takes

brain power to recall this information

therefore by the end of it we have

retain so much more than if we'd spent

five times you know as much time on the

first stages trying to cram the anatomy

of the upper limb so that's one point

about spaced repetition I think a more

interesting point that I've been using a

lot in my own study

is that actually the evidence suggests

that even if even if in the same study

session like in the same day of work you

space stuff out rather than kind of do

it in chunks the evidence suggests that

that's probably a more efficient

technique in terms of retaining

information there's an interesting study

from 2011 where they got four groups of

students to try and learn words and the

translations in Swahili one group of

them only studied the words once and

these were their results and as you can

see they didn't do very well that's kind

of what you'd expect if you saw like a

vocab list of French words and image

translations you probably wouldn't

remember much of it if you just saw it

once the second group saw each word once

and then had to recall each word once

and then were tested and this is their

performance so as you can see no just

recalling a word once as we've already

established in the previous video active

recall is pretty great increases your

performance massively compared to you

know just studying it but the third

group also recalled the words that they

they knew but immediately after each

recalled they had the recall of the same

word so they record the same words kind

of multiple times before moving on and

these are their results so as you can

see not much difference there between

just the guys that recalled it once the

most interesting ly the final group that

saw each word and then recalled it but

then had a gap of a few words before

recalling it again so you know they they

repeated their recall of it but they

spaced their repeated recall of it in

the same study session these are their

results that these guys did exactly the

same amount of work they did exactly the

same thing

they studied for the same amount of time

as the people in group 3 the guys that

kind of recalled in her in a group and

then found another word and recall to

integrate but they've got a staggering

improvement in this score up to 80

percent it's exactly the same work like

literally exactly the same work the only

difference is that it was spaced out

relative to group 3 and that gives you a

difference of an extra 50% in exam

performance and like I don't know about

you but like if if I could restructure

my revision in a way that I was doing

the same thing as I've always done but

just kind of doing it in a slightly

different order and I could get such a

massive performance boost I would be

doing it all day and I'd be shouting it

from the rooftops

personally so what does this experiment

actually tell us firstly I think it

tells us about the power of active

recall but hopefully we already knew

that cuz we'd seen the previous video

about active recall the conclusion I

draw from this is that in a given day

let's say I've done five topics of you

know four praying for my or skis or

whatever five topics what I previously

would have done is I think what a lot of

us do when it comes to revision is that

we do one topic in the morning flows

like two hours that we're done and then

the next one and then in the third one

the fourth on the fifth one and we were

and we might use space repeated

repetition to repeat it like a day later

a week later a month later but the point

is within that study session within that

day we've kind of just done the topic

once and I think the thing that I take

from from this particular study and from

similar ones like it is that there is a

lot to be gained by just going over the

stuff like testing yourself on it maybe

like two hours later let's say you've

done topic 1 in topic 2 just before

starting topic 3 you know just ask

yourself I wonder how much I can write

down of what I remember from topic 1 or

I wonder if I can answer the could the

recall questions that I wrote for myself

for topic 1

I know I'm gonna be doing it tomorrow

anyway because you know part of my space

repetition method and three days later

and a week later but you know let me

just see at the end of the day what I

can recall and the results of this study

and similar ones seem to suggest that if

even doing that in the same day the same

study session really boosts your marks

so yeah that's pretty much spaced

repetition in a nutshell firstly it's

the idea that obviously you know spacing

your repetition over a period of time is

better than cramming that's

uncontroversial it's no particular

breaking but secondly it's this idea

that even like spacing stuff out within

the same day within the same study

session has the potential to really

really boost your marks and if it does

have that potential even if it ends up

not being a 50% improvement because to

be honest that's it's pretty you know

pretty amazing even if it ends up not

being that great it still has the

potential to improve our scores and it

improves our long-term understanding and

retention of the topic so I think it's

something that maybe we should be

practicing to do so practical advice

maybe at the end of the day ask yourself

whatever I learned today you know go

over your quote your active recall

questions like write down on one page

you know what is everything I can

remember in the form of a spider diagram

from this subject with the book closed

and I think that might be a really

efficient way to get a lot more

information into your brain in a shorter

space of time

so that's a quick introduction to

spatial position let's not go into the

meat of this video and that's what a lot

of you guys have been requesting in the

comments and that's tips on how to apply

spaced repetition to your own studies

and you know a lot of you are asking how

I built my own

spaced repetition spreadsheet that you

might have seen in the observer video

at this point I'm not gonna be citing

any studies or any evidence what I'm

saying this is purely my own opinion

this is purely the stuff that's worked

for me in my second and third year at

university I really actively

specifically applied active recall and

spaced repetition and it was only those

two years that I did it like really

really well like really anally kind of

just focusing my revision technique

around that and those were the two years

that I redid really really well in my

Cambridge exams in other years I've cut

I fell by the wayside a bit it was like

off whatever I'm quite tempted to just

kind of reread my textbook or highlight

stuff because it's less cognitively

demanding and like I still passed my

exams I did all right but I didn't do

amazingly and obviously my N equals one

personal experience is not a legit

scientific study so I think my advice to

you guys would be that don't take my

word for this as being gospel maybe try

these techniques in your own in your own

studies in your own life if they work

for you then fantastic and if they don't

work for you then you've just wasted 20

minutes watching a video I apologize

that's time you're never gonna get back

but yeah cool let's talk about specific

techniques things that you can do to

apply spaced repetition to your own

studies and to your own life first thing

to mention is flashcards and Anki is the

app that I personally prefer to use and

as I mentioned the previous video I've

used this to memorize specific facts

like stuff like in anatomy and

pharmacology but also quotes for essays

and I busted out like you know quotes

from john paul ii in st. Augustine in my

in my ethics essays and the examiners

seem to love that sort of thing it's

quite nice when you can like you know

put a few fancy quotes into an essay and

I use danke to memorize those I won't

talk about it in depth I've talked about

in the previous video it's just a

flashcard app that does active recall

and spaced repetition it kind of

incorporates this into the software

point number two isn't really a

practical technique it's more of a

mindset shift and it's something that

I've applied to my own life ever since I

discovered this power of spaced

repetition and you can use it to to

learn a lot of things in quite a small

amount of time and overall and the

technique is simply that all you have to

do is practice a little bit each day for

ages and then you just get really good

at something and everyone who's done a

musical instrument knows this they know

that you know practicing for 10 minutes

a day for a week it's far better than

practicing an hour on the weekend or two

hours on the weekend but the way our

brain works the way we encode

information it tends to be people say

when we sleep so we kind of do a little

better we get a bit of muscle memory and

then when we sleep these connections get

solidified and then we do it again we

find a little bit better so my point is

that once you appreciate the power of

spaced repetition you can apply to

everything in your life not just to to

your studies or to your revision I've

personally applied this to piano get

graphic design web design video editing

coding like quite a few different things

in addition to like my academic work and

I find it's really really useful because

it makes the amount of improvement you

get for every unit of time much greater

than it would be with other methods

where you kind of spend ages doing one

thing or spend ages doing another thing

and that's what I previously used to do

so yeah point number two is is simply

about you know appreciating the power of

spaced repetition consistency and

patience effectively doing a little bit

each day and improving it's no

particular and breaking I know everyone

who's tried to learn a musical

instrument probably knows this but I

just thought I'd share it with you guys

because I've had a lot of messages like

YouTube comments and Instagram DMS

people being like oh how do you do so

much stuff what's your secret

the secret is you know just a little bit

each day and being consistent has a

staggering potential to just let you let

you gain so many skills that you would

be so glad for in the long term and

finally let's get to the meat of this

let me talk to you about my magical

spaced repetition spreadsheet system so

I used this in second and third year did

really well in my exams and I'm using it

in my final year and I hope that I told

you quite well in my exams using this

method basically the way you do it is

that you make a spreadsheet I prefer

using Google sheets rather than Excel

Google sheets is easy to load you can

download the app on your phone that

means anywhere you are whether you're

like on the bus or on the toilet or in

the library you can update your magical

spreadsheet if it's a dot XLS file on

your desktop and you double click here

and it takes an agonising amount of time

to load that just adds too much friction

to this so I prefer to use Google sheets

so that's my that's my advice use Google

sheets for this so what do you actually

do with a spreadsheet so what you do is

is that you make a different sheet for

each of your subjects so it might be

biology chemistry physics maths English

Lit if you're doing a level or it might

be like anatomy biochemistry physiology

pathology my prepare all other stuff if

you're a medical student or you know

apply this to your own life obviously

and the idea is within each kind of

broad subject in the a column of the

spreadsheet you're writing down a list

of every single topic in that in that

subject now at this point I just want to

talk about the importance of scoping

your subject is how a friend put it to

me recently and like like actually

knowing what's on your syllabus I've

spoken to a lot of students students

over the past few years you know helping

them prepare for their medicine exams

and all of the stuff and it's pretty

astounding how few students like know

their course inside out like know what

topics there are in their AAAS na to

chemistry or know exactly what topics

are

I think that's that's one thing that if

you haven't done already that you

definitely should be doing like spend as

long as it takes like even if it takes a

whole day just like you know writing

down a list of all of the different

topics and like don't follow the

specification the specification I

absolutely hate specifications they're

just like verbose ly word is like you

know one point one point zero zero three

to be able to appreciate the importance

of the nitrogen cycle you know really

the topic is just at the nitrogen cycle

but I've seen that a lot of people kind

of like you used the specification as

we're revising personally I've never

found that particular helpful my

personal tactic is to look through exam

papers because while you can't really

trust a specification you can absolutely

trust the past papers and if the past

papers you know if you can categorize

things into for example physics if you

can categorize them into electricity

mechanics nuclear waves and you realize

that that's all that comes up which is

pretty much all that comes up in physics

for the B map and that's how I kind of

categorized it I just looked at all the

past papers and realized oh wow there's

only four categories that's how I

personally like to structure my own my

subjects rather than relying on

specification but anyway however you do

it however you scope your subject the

point is you now have a list of all the

topics that you need to revise down one

column dissolve the spreadsheet

basically the way the system works it's

it's very simple every time you study a

topic and you actively recall stuff from

that topic then you're allowed to write

the current date in the in the next

column along in the spreadsheet so in

this example today I did the abdominal

exam and therefore I'm gonna write

today's date in the box now let's say

tomorrow I do the above abdominal exam

again I you know we reread my notes on

it if I if I'm feeling particularly lazy

if I'm feeling efficient I would

actively recall I would be using my own

questions and then once I've done that

then I put tomorrow's date in the box so

the idea is that over time I'm kind of

building up this list of repetitions of

my subject so I'm going to show you an

example of the spreadsheet that I used

in my third year when I was doing

psychology I referenced this in the hips

more video the collaboration that we did

which is really good fun and that you

should watch if you haven't seen and

loads of people asked you know can you

tell us specifically about how you made

the spreadsheet this is how it world

I've got a list of essays that I want to

learn down one side for each of the

three different like papers within

psychology and over time I built up this

this kind of repetition dates so like

once I've read the essay and kind of

like draw my spot a diagram for it I'd

write the date and I think something

really useful is to color code each box

based on how good you recall

of that subject so for example if I knew

it very very very well I would color it

green if I do if I just didn't really

know it at all I'll color it red if I

sort of knew it maybe 50% I color it

yellow and the nice thing about Google

sheets is that you've got like you know

creations of red orange yellow like

halfway through so it gives you a very

visual representation of what are my

weak areas what are my strong areas and

that's the system it's it's it's simple

but it works really well the idea is

just that you know over time you mark

these down and then as as time

progresses you start of red and then

they go be yellow and then this target

in green and even less oh wow I know

everything in the subject because

they've all been mark green and I know I

know it because the only reason I'm

allowed to mark a date on it is if I've

actively recalled information from this

topic it's not just have a read the top

chapter in the textbook have I read over

my notes that is a total waste of time

the important thing is have I recalled

it have I tried to write down as much as

I know about the topic have I answered

my active recall questions for that

particular topic so yeah that's the

system it's quite simple you know topics

on one side and then all the times you

revise the topic and actively recall it

please along along the rest of it and

then you color code it based on how good

you were actively recalling the

information here are some more tips on

how to use it effectively firstly please

start with the stuff that you don't know

I think a very common thing is that

you're you know it's time for me to

study maths I'm gonna open chapter one

of my textbook and read and do problems

that I know I already can do I used to

do this with chemistry uh-huh you know I

want to revise chemistry like open the

CGP revision guide fundamentals of

chemistry the periodic table oh yes you

know I know the periodic table song why

don't I sing the song in my head in

trying to take of that you know it was

all stuff that I knew I already knew and

yet I was doing it because it was like

right it's time to revise chemistry I

want to do what's easy please that's

that's a bad thing to do and these days

if I ever find myself doing that I like

mentally kicked myself in the head and

say to myself no I'm gonna do a topic

that I know I don't know one thing I

like to do is that I like to start from

the final topic in the textbook and work

my way back up to the first this is

especially true of lecture notes at

university you find that you know you

become very very familiar with the

contents of like lecture one two and

three but like lecture 13 14 15 out of

like maybe 18 you like a bit like a

little bit shaky on those and it's so

tempting when thinking I'm gonna revise

an athame just open the book to the

first page I think that's a terrible

idea in fact I think it's a better idea

just open the book at a random page or

the last page and work you and work your

way back because that encourages you to

tackle topics that you already don't

know and as we've established the more

but it takes you to learn a topic the

more effort it takes you to actively

recall the stronger that information is

going to get encoded over time so that's

tip number one don't study topics you

already know like focus on the stuff

that you've marked as a redwood that you

haven't done at all secondly I think

it's the mindset that works for for this

kind of spreadsheet system at least for

me is that I take a very sort of

scattershot approach for it

each day I try to fill in as many books

as I possibly can

because my reasoning is it's far better

for me to blitz through a topic and then

try and actively recall questions and

then do that same thing for like ten

different topics over time then it is

for me to kind of spend 10 hours focused

on a single topic which I might have

been more tempted to do in previous days

and I think that's something that a lot

of us do we we we focus on like I want

to get really good at this topic before

moving on whereas I think this kind of

the scattergun approach with the

spreadsheet is that you know I know that

I'm not gonna get good at this topic but

that's not the point the point is I'm

gonna be repeating this topic like eight

times before my exam comes around I want

to just kind of kind of blitz it like

write my recall questions like actively

recall make my brain work and then move

on to the next thing and then move with

the next thing after that and this is

actually another technique it's sort of

in the literature as sort of with

evidence it's called interleaved

practice you do a little bit of one

thing and then you know before you quite

have mastery of it you switch tasks or

something else and then you switch to us

toss with something else and they've got

a lot of evidence from like sporting

studies where they've like analyzed

hockey players and like coaching methods

and stuff and they do practice at one

thing and then like the players get

slightly annoyed because they were just

getting good at that particular move

before the coach movement moved them on

to something completely different but

you realize over time that you result

improved so much more if you take this

approach where you kind of do it a bit

recall it a bit move on do it a bit

recall a bit move on do it a bit recall

a bit move on rather than right I'm

gonna do and I'm gonna get really good

at the fundamentals of chemistry before

moving on to the next topic instead

maybe more like right I'm gonna spend 20

minutes in fundamentals of chemistry I'm

just gonna write down a list of all the

questions I can think of I'm gonna go

through them through the questions in my

head

with a book close trine on to the

questions right let's move on to topic

two and in fact to be honest at GCSE in

it and a level you can pretty much go

through the entire the entire textbook

/cg P revision guide / let's revision

guide or whatever you're using you can

do that in the matter of a few hours if

you take a very sort of scattergun like

I don't care about the detail I just

want to make my brain work to recall

information

so yeah I've wanted a bit about this

I feel quite strongly about this about

this I think that it's more efficient

for us if we don't like focusing on mind

with you on particular topics and if we

don't treat our vision as a block of

chemistry and then a block of this other

talking chemistry than a block of that

instead kind of do more of a sort of

combining everything together like a bit

of this bit of that bit of this bit of

that and then repeat the next day and I

think over time that builds up a

stronger knowledge base and an

understanding Basin this is not quite

evidence-based obviously this is my own

personal opinion please take it with a

pinch of salt but you know maybe try it

out for a few days you know doing this

thing of I'm just gonna blitz through a

lot of topics quantity rather than

quality in a way and I find actually

yeah that's quite a good buzzword

quantity rather than quality it's more

important to get through a large number

of topics then to get through a small

number to a lot of topics in a lot of

detail because often that detail doesn't

really help us and it's the active

active recalling that's really building

the connections in our brain but yeah I

think it's all about scattergun approach

with the spreadsheet method try and fill

in as many books as you can in a given

day rather than I really want to get

that book screen before moving on so

yeah that is effectively how I do my

revision I use my magical spaced

repetition spreadsheet system I have it

on Google sheet so I can fill it out

wherever I am I use active recall after

you know I answer my list of questions

I've written for each topic in my head

or out loud or on paper or whatever I'm

feeling like and then once I've actively

recalled it I mark the date and I color

code how easy it was to recall and this

gives me a nice kind of pictorial

representation of each of my subjects

each of the topics within those subjects

and how well I know those things so I

know exactly what to focus my attention

on in in future revision session finally

I'm going to talk about why I personally

don't like the idea of a revision

timetable I know this is blasphemy I

know a lot of other revision youtubers

who are doing absolutely smashing it and

doing really really well

fully endorse the idea of revision

timetables what I'd say to that is if it

works for you then that's absolutely

fantastic I don't think it works for me

I've tried it basically my issue with

revision timetables is that you're

expecting yourself to know how much you

need to revise a particular topic so I

like back in the day when I used to make

a rigid timetables I should be like

right on

on this day I'm gonna do that that and

that topic on the next I'm gonna do that

and that'll blah blah blah

I've been cooperating special petition

into this like obviously repeat topics

but you know my problem was that I'd I'd

be repeating topics that I didn't need

to repeat or I wouldn't be spending as

much time on topics that I didn't need

to repeat so ultimately I realized that

actually revision is is a very fluid

process we all find different things

difficult we all progress at slightly

different rates so if we make a

timetable two months before our exam

where we're telling ourselves right each

day I want to stick to this topic that

topic and kind of regiment it like that

I don't think that works for me instead

as I said I prefer to see revision is

more of a fluid thing and that's why I

really like my spreadsheet system

because it doesn't give me any

compulsion to do particular topically

today

all I have to do is each morning I'm

right right I'm gonna do some revision

for section a or my paper one in

psychology let me look through my list

and see which of these essays have the

red mark by them let me do those okay

perfect those are done now let's look at

the yellows yeah let's pen deployment

those and you know let's just make sure

I still know the greens let me look at

one of the greens that sort of thing I

wouldn't have been able to plan that in

advance and I think if I had tried in my

30 to plan out my revision in advance

like that I wouldn't have done nearly so

well as I ended up doing so yeah that's

why I don't like revision timetables

that's why these days I never make a

revision timetable I use my spreadsheet

and each day I decide ok what is the

stuff that needs working on what's the

stuff that's gonna make my brain work

the hardest because that's what's gonna

get me the biggest improvement in my

mark rather than you know my timetable

but hey everyone has their own thing if

you like timetables then by all means go

for it I personally don't if you're

finding that your timetable doesn't

really help or that you've not really

sticking to it as was the case for me

when I was in secondary school then

maybe try out this method use the

spreadsheet system use whatever system

you like but don't feel like you have to

structure your revision in a regimented

fashion around a timetable it doesn't

work for everyone

okay that brings us to the end of the

video I really hope this has been useful

we've talked less about the evidence in

this video than we did in the previous

video the previous video like

objectively I think is really really

really good if you want to learn how to

revise effectively because active recall

is the most important things and because

there are a lot of interesting studies

around it and because activerecord is

semi unintuitive like we all prefer to

reread highlight underline make notes

with spaced repetition is a bit it's a

bit different it's a bit harder to make

like a video on this saying that oh this

is gonna change this is gonna blow your

mind completely because we all sort of

know that spaced repetition works we

know that cramming doesn't really work

very well we know that it's good to

repeat stuff and I guess it's reasonable

to say that yeah I'll repeat it a week

later and then a month later and then

I'll kind of know it better but I hope

that either way you know if you've got

to this point this videos giving you

some value what have we talked about

we've talked about firstly an

introduction to spaced repetition we've

said that obviously spacing repetition

is better than cramming but we've said

that importantly as well within a single

study session maybe spacing your

repetition might be a good idea as well

because that improves your recall

according to the studies secondly we

talked about some ways in which you can

incorporate spaced repetition into your

study routine and your life we talked

about and keep very briefly I'll link it

down below if you want to check it out

and we talked about this kind of mindset

the mindset shift that is a good way of

learning anything not just like academic

stuff that you know just a little bit

each day is far better than focused

massed crammed practice which a lot of

us are very kind of inclined to do

including myself and every time I catch

myself doing that I think No it's all

about spaced repetition you know I just

need to do 10 minutes of slight reading

practice a day and that's so much better

than doing two hours on the weekend and

finally I shared with you my own

personal spreadsheet magical spaced

repetition system I call it magical it's

not that magical it's really really

simple but like it gives you a really

nice pictorial representation of where

you are for each of your subjects I

think that's really really important and

it works very well for me obviously this

particular spreadsheet system is not

based on evidence there's no one has

done a study on you know whether a

revision timetable works better than

having the spreadsheet system it just

works for me and if it works for you

then fantastic if it doesn't then I'm

sorry you've wasted your time please go

back to your time table and hopefully

you'll smash your exam I wish you the

very best of luck so yeah thank you so

much for watching this video if you need

to the channel thank you very much for

subscribing as well this channel seems

to have been sort of growing at an

alarmingly amazing rate like these past

few days ever since the previous

revision video

and of course since the ipsum of

collaboration Thank You Apes for that so

yeah thank you so much for subscribing

if you hear if you haven't subscribed to

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doing so we've got a couple more more

videos coming about about like

motivation productivity how I make notes

and I don't like making notes sort of

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medical school that sort of stuff aimed

at students I do vlogs regularly about

life as a medical student and we also do

a lot of videos about sort of very

specifically aimed at medicine

applicants so be Matt you get interviews

and that sort of stuff if you're into

that kind of thing

and very very soon we'll also be having

some videos of my friends singing songs

so this channel is becoming kind of like

a mishmash of lots of stuff but I hope

it's still enjoyable I hope it's still

relevant to some of you guys and yeah

thank you so much watching the video if

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evening I'll see you in the next video

goodnight