Revision is where a long preparation either holds together or fades. Two findings are worth building on, and your own session notes give you the material.
What the research says
A 2013 review by Dunlosky and colleagues rated ten study techniques. As the Association for Psychological Science reported it, practice testing and distributed practice (spreading study over time) received the highest overall utility rating. Five techniques were rated low, including summarization, highlighting and underlining, and rereading.
The review’s lead author said that replacing rereading with delayed retrieval practice would benefit students.
On timing, a 2006 meta-analysis by Cepeda and colleagues covered 839 assessments from 317 experiments in 184 articles. It found that the gap between study sessions that produces the best retention grows as the time until the test grows.
A 2008 study by Cepeda and colleagues put numbers on it. More than 1,350 people were taught a set of facts and, after a gap of up to 3.5 months, given a review. A final test followed at a further delay of up to a year. As a share of the delay before the test, the best gap fell from about 20 to 40% of a one-week delay to about 5 to 10% of a one-year delay.
What those percentages mean in days. This is a calculation from the 2008 figures, rounded. For a test about a week away, 20 to 40% of 7 days is roughly 1.5 to 3 days between a first study and a review. For a test about a year away, 5 to 10% of 365 days is roughly 18 to 37 days.
What these studies do not show
The people in the 2008 study learned a set of facts, and the test was recall of those facts. An exam covers more kinds of material, and the studies do not tell you the best schedule for a particular syllabus. Treat the numbers as a direction: the further away the exam, the longer the useful gap. They are not a rule.
Turn a note into a revision plan
- Take the prompt from each session note. The session notes guide ends each note with one question to answer from memory.
- Pick a first review gap. For a test about a week away, the 2008 figures point to a gap of a day or two. For one months away, they point to longer gaps. Adjust after you see what you could and could not recall.
- Answer the prompt without looking. Write or say the answer, then check the note. This is practice testing.
- Record what happened. If you answered well, lengthen the gap. If you did not, shorten it and add a line to the note.
- Repeat with longer gaps. Each pass is a round of the Revision stage, and you can count the rounds.
Put it on the calendar
Make room in Month and Week for revision, then add the exact topic to Today. Keep buffer for topics that take longer than you expected. The roadmap guide shows how the four levels fit together.
How AspirantGoal handles this
- Many packages include a Revision stage, and repeating a completed stage starts the next round: Revision round 2, then round 3.
- You choose what to revisit, why, and when. The app records and schedules the revision cycle you pick. It does not assume an automatic mastery score.
- Open a session in History or a topic in AG Vault to read your earlier note, then record a new session with its own note.
- Revision sessions are recorded like any other session. They add history and leave first-pass coverage unchanged.
See the Features page for the full list.
What this does not tell you
No schedule guarantees what you will remember or how you will do in an exam. The research says which habits help on average. Your own results from each revision pass are the better guide to your next gap.