Too many courses to review: where to start?

How do you take stock of what is left to review?

Put everything on a single page: each exam, its date, its format and what it covers. Start from the course documents (outline, syllabus, teacher's instructions, past papers) rather than from memory: a chapter forgotten in the list will be forgotten in the schedule.

For each chapter, note your current state in one word: never opened, read, understood or known. Be honest, because “read” does not mean “understood”. Limit this inventory to about half an hour: you will plan in the next step.

Also check that you have all your materials: PDFs, photos of the board, handwritten notes, handouts. Missing course notes discovered the night before the exam cost far more than a document picked up today.

• Exam and date
• Expected format: multiple-choice quiz, exercises, writing or oral
• Weight: coefficient, credits or share of the final grade
• Chapters involved
• Current state: never opened, read, understood or known

Which chapters should you review first?

Sort with three criteria: the deadline (the closest exam), the weight (what counts most in the grade) and the gap between your current state and what the exam demands. A heavy, close chapter you have never opened goes first; a light, distant chapter you already understand goes last.

Beware of two reflexes. Starting with the chapter you like or already know is reassuring, but brings little progress. Following the order of the course is not mandatory either: chapter 1 is not always the most important.

The only exception is prerequisites. In math, physics or economics, some chapters build on others. Put the basic chapter before the one that depends on it, even if it weighs less in the grade.

How do you break a big chapter into blocks?

“Review chapter 4” is too vague a task, so it is easy to put off. Break each chapter into blocks that fit in a session: one concept, one method, one series of definitions. A good block has a verifiable end, for example “I can explain the concept without my notes” or “I can redo the typical exercise on my own”.

Start from the headings in the course notes as a first breakdown, then group the small parts together and cut the longest ones. A forty-page handout will give several blocks; a short chapter can fit in a single one.

Write the blocks as a checklist, subject by subject. Every evening you will see what really remains, instead of a mass of course notes that always looks just as big.

• Define the five concepts of the first part without looking
• Redo the typical exercise on geometric sequences on your own
• Explain the causes of the 1929 crisis in three minutes
• Place the ten dates of the chapter's timeline

Why start with a test rather than a reread?

Before rereading a block, answer five or ten questions on that block, without notes. Your mistakes and blanks show you what to work on again; what you get right can wait. That way you avoid spending an hour rereading what you already knew.

Research points in this direction. In a study by Roediger and Karpicke (2006), students who had tested themselves on a text remembered it better two days and a week later than those who had reread it, even though rereading gave them more confidence. The review by Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) also ranks practice tests among the most useful techniques, and rereading among the least useful.

To build this test, write a few questions from the headings in the course notes, or use a generator. Fichea can create a corrected quiz from a chapter imported as a PDF, or as a photo depending on your plan: from 1 to 24 questions, with an explanation for each. Check doubtful questions against your course notes, because a generated question can contain a mistake.

How do you spread the blocks over the remaining days?

First place the blocks where you made the most mistakes, for the closest exam. In a single day, move two subjects forward rather than one: a demanding block when you are in good shape, a lighter block afterwards. Keep a free slot every two or three days to absorb delays.

Plan reviews: a missed block comes back one or two days later, as questions rather than rereading. Spaced practice is, along with testing, one of the two best-rated techniques in Dunlosky and colleagues' review. The day before each exam, do not open a new chapter: go back over the fragile blocks and keep time to sleep.

As a guide, a fifty-minute session on a block can follow this outline:

• 10 minutes: test on the block, without notes
• 25 minutes: go over the mistakes, notes open
• 10 minutes: new attempt at the missed questions, notes closed
• 5 minutes: tick off the block and choose the next one

Frequently asked questions