DOVER GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR BOYS

HOW DO I ORGANISE MY TIME

Make a revision timetable that starts with today and takes you up to the end of the examinations. The problem with many revision timetables is that they go wrong right at the beginning because you try to get too much in.

Have a trial period of a week or so to see if you are being realistic. Be flexible so that you can vary what you revise if necessary.

Be realistic about what you can do. You must allow some spare time for recreation.

Prepare a time chart so that you can see how your day is spent like the one shown on Page 2.

Make sure that your revision timetable includes any schoolwork that you still have to do. Don’t think that this is extra to revision – it is a part of it.

Make sure that your revision timetable is shared with other family members – you need their support – sometimes just to nag!

For ordinary revision, work on something for about twenty minutes to half an hour before you change what you are doing. Sometimes you will need to spend longer – perhaps an hour so that you can practice exam questions. Do take a short break between sessions and a short break is 5 minutes – not half an hour!! (Unless you have planned for it – ‘I’ll do an hour’s maths, then watch Eastenders, then do an hour’s work on Seamus Heaney, have a cup of tea and revise the halogens on the Periodic Table’)

Do set a time limit on your work, especially if it is an exam problem. Say things like, ‘I will spend 45 minutes on these three maths problems.’ This is all part of your preparation for getting things done in exam times.