The Student Room Group

How many hours of revision do I need to do to get decent grades?

As far as I'm concerned, I need to revise a lot. When I ask some people, they don't give me an exact amount of how much I should revise a day or a week. Although I appreciate that some say that it's more to do with how effective that revision is rather than how much you should revise (i.e so much). So my question is, say if I want to do really well at the end of my A2 exams, how many hours of revision do I need to roughly do to get decent grades?
It's impossible to give a number of hours required answer. If you understood all the material, then you won't need a massive amount of revision. If you didn't fully understand it, and need to 'learn' it, then it will take a lot more time.

My approach is to go through the material to revise and make notes that omit everything that is obvious to me. If there is too much, then I'd go back and cover the applicable areas in depth - it's a sign that I didn't fully understand it IMO. If you manage to finish everything before the exam, then you have good notes to go over closer to it, and some free time that I would spend doing past papers.
an hour per lesson they usually say but it depends on the students and teaching so I cannot quantify anything
Reply 3
Original post by RogerOxon
It's impossible to give a number of hours required answer. If you understood all the material, then you won't need a massive amount of revision. If you didn't fully understand it, and need to 'learn' it, then it will take a lot more time.

My approach is to go through the material to revise and make notes that omit everything that is obvious to me. If there is too much, then I'd go back and cover the applicable areas in depth - it's a sign that I didn't fully understand it IMO. If you manage to finish everything before the exam, then you have good notes to go over closer to it, and some free time that I would spend doing past papers.


Thank you for your advise. I appreciate it.
Reply 4
Original post by TheRealLifeBane
an hour per lesson they usually say but it depends on the students and teaching so I cannot quantify anything


That's what they say at my college, but I'm not sure if that's enough to secure me decent grades.
Original post by AM-BI-TIOUS
That's what they say at my college, but I'm not sure if that's enough to secure me decent grades.


Well, then if you feel that's enough than just increase it. It is just the way it is so don't feel disheartened.

Like I said, everyone is different and so is the standard of "decent" to each person, which is why it is up to you to figure out by trial and error what amount of time you should spend. As in to say, the 1 hour of private study to accompany each lesson was mere a guideline so don't be unwilling to veer from it but fortunately your in the more than an hour side so dw u will get more than decent grades XD
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by TheRealLifeBane
Well, then if you feel that's enough than just increase it. It is just the way it is so don't feel disheartened.

Like I said, everyone is different and so is the standard of "decent" to each person, which is why it is up to you to figure out by trial and error what amount of time you should spend. As in to say, the 1 hour of private study to accompany each lesson was mere a guideline so don't be unwilling to veer from it but fortunately your in the more than an hour side so dw u will get more than decent grades XD


Thank you for your kind words, I guess it's down to me what I do after this whether I take the advice on board or not but I'm sure I'll get there :smile:
Reply 7
usually revised for a couple weeks before each exam... but I'm aware I do less than recommended so more than that xD
Something I've noticed is guided learning hours. An A level operates on the assumption that over two years you will have had 360 guided learning hours. This obviously means lesson not private study time, but you could maybe figure out how much your school is already doing? Like is you have 190 school days and have 40 minutes a day and it works out to 130 hours per year so you have 100 hours left? Sounds like a lot but obviously it depends on your school.

Quick Reply

Latest