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A-Levels in 7 weeks - Easter revision

Hi there, currently in Y13 doing A-Levels in Modern History (Edexcel), English Literature (OCR) and Philosophy/Ethics (AQA). I thought I’d share what my revision timetable has been like over Easter and what it will look like in these final weeks at college. This might not work for you, but if it helps someone else then that’s a job well done.

I’ve never really gone above 4-5 hours a day. If I do more than that I feel like I’m overworking myself. I often have one morning session of just under 2 hours, then I enjoy a lunch break, then have a slightly longer session in the afternoon, finishing for the day by about 5pm. Another thing that I think’s worked quite well is that I will never revise more than 2 subjects per day. If I do all 3 I feel like I’m cramming too much information in - spreading it out is really helping with testing my memory recall.

For English, mindmaps are literally my best friend. I’ll brainstorm ideas relating to key themes, then add quotes and context as I go. I’ve also prioritised practising exam questions and testing myself on exam structure. I am good at English Lit but my mock results have been quite inconsistent so staying on top of it is a necessity for me. I’ve been working my way back through all of my texts as well, to have one last refresh of them.

Flashcards are my favourite thing to do for History. I divide them up into key topic areas (I normally have about four sets for each key topic) and then I revise them every few days to make sure I retain the knowledge. For some of the less discussed topics there are still a few blanks but I’m working on it.

With Philosophy I’ve actually found Cornell notes surprisingly useful for condensing topics and questions down into more manageable chunks. It makes the information simpler to digest and revise but still gives enough detail to get higher marks.

My college schedule is quite good, in the fact that even on my busiest day I have at least 2 hours free, so when I go back I’m going to be using those free periods to try more timed essays and practise questions, using the knowledge I’ve been recalling over the Easter break. I’ll also be using the information we go over in lessons to make any other resources.
I don’t know about anyone else but I always feel worn out when I get home from college which can mean I’m not in the headspace to do revision. That’s way I always get as much done in college as I can so I can use the evenings to relax.

I don’t know why I felt the need to share all of that, but I feel like for me this gives me the perfect balance between focused consistent revision while prioritising my mental health and avoiding burnout.