The Student Room Group

Year 12 Revision

I do politics, history, and english language A-Levels. I've been told by my parents and sister that I need to revise a lot more because A-Levels are very demanding, which I understand. But during GCSEs, I was so burnt out, it was hard to revise because I always had my family on my case, telling me to revise as much as possible. When my sisters sat their GCSEs, they revised like 8-13 hours per day, and I really can't do that, it's so difficult. It's October half term right now and it's almost ending, I wasted most of my half term doing nothing due to the fact that I was out of habit and haven't revised for ages since GCSEs ended. I've started doing 2 hours of revision per day since 3 days ago, I asked my sister for advice and she says I have to do a lot more revision and that 2 hours is not enough. I would really appreciate some advice on how much revision I should be doing as I'm really confused, and honestly, still a little burnt out. I don't really trust my family's advice since they have way more motivation and concentration than I do. Also some tips on what revision websites, yt channels, and revision resources to use for my subjects would be much appreciated!!!!

Reply 1

Original post
by huripuri
I do politics, history, and english language A-Levels. I've been told by my parents and sister that I need to revise a lot more because A-Levels are very demanding, which I understand. But during GCSEs, I was so burnt out, it was hard to revise because I always had my family on my case, telling me to revise as much as possible. When my sisters sat their GCSEs, they revised like 8-13 hours per day, and I really can't do that, it's so difficult. It's October half term right now and it's almost ending, I wasted most of my half term doing nothing due to the fact that I was out of habit and haven't revised for ages since GCSEs ended. I've started doing 2 hours of revision per day since 3 days ago, I asked my sister for advice and she says I have to do a lot more revision and that 2 hours is not enough. I would really appreciate some advice on how much revision I should be doing as I'm really confused, and honestly, still a little burnt out. I don't really trust my family's advice since they have way more motivation and concentration than I do. Also some tips on what revision websites, yt channels, and revision resources to use for my subjects would be much appreciated!!!!

2 hours of revision per day can be fine if that's in addition to your normal school day/school work amount. You need to keep in mind that you need to balance revision and time off, because if you burn yourself out you won't be able to develop a consistent habit of revising each day. If you want to increase those revision hours you should do so incrementally. Getting revision done should ideally feel like an achievement, a step toward your goals, not something you should feel guilty about.

Also, instead of measuring revision by hours, it might be helpful to plan out what you need to cover by the end of each week. So decide which topics to cover, decide what revision technique/past papers etc you will do, and then plan out the number of hours required. You can spend ages "revising" but not getting anywhere because the tasks you are doing are not very effective.

Another idea is to go to a location suitable for revision (e.g. a library) and decide to do work there for a set amount of time. If you have spare time after your set revision work, then you pick something else you want to go over again. E.g. my friend at uni goes to the library every day from 9-5 (excluding lectures, seminars, etc.) and goes home afterwards. What this does is it means home is a space where you can relax, whereas the library is where you are in revision mode. This way you can 'compartmentalise' revision time and properly recover at home.

Reply 2

Original post
by Havermelkelite_
2 hours of revision per day can be fine if that's in addition to your normal school day/school work amount. You need to keep in mind that you need to balance revision and time off, because if you burn yourself out you won't be able to develop a consistent habit of revising each day. If you want to increase those revision hours you should do so incrementally. Getting revision done should ideally feel like an achievement, a step toward your goals, not something you should feel guilty about.
Also, instead of measuring revision by hours, it might be helpful to plan out what you need to cover by the end of each week. So decide which topics to cover, decide what revision technique/past papers etc you will do, and then plan out the number of hours required. You can spend ages "revising" but not getting anywhere because the tasks you are doing are not very effective.
Another idea is to go to a location suitable for revision (e.g. a library) and decide to do work there for a set amount of time. If you have spare time after your set revision work, then you pick something else you want to go over again. E.g. my friend at uni goes to the library every day from 9-5 (excluding lectures, seminars, etc.) and goes home afterwards. What this does is it means home is a space where you can relax, whereas the library is where you are in revision mode. This way you can 'compartmentalise' revision time and properly recover at home.

thank you smmmm

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