Revision methods wheel

Rereading notes with a highlighter feels productive, but it is one of the least effective ways to remember anything. Methods that force you to pull information out of your memory, such as testing yourself or explaining a topic, take more effort and leave far more lasting traces.

This wheel brings together fourteen methods, from the well known to the surprising. Each result explains how to do it step by step and which kind of material it suits: definitions, dates, problem solving, languages. Switching methods between sessions also helps you stay focused.

How to use it

1. Before you sit down, choose the topic to revise and how much time you have.
2. Spin the wheel and read the steps for the method it lands on.
3. If it does not suit the material (a timeline for algebra, for example), spin again.
4. End the session by noting what you do not know yet: that becomes the starting point for next time.

All the options

Pomodoro

25 minutes of uninterrupted work, then a 5-minute break; after four rounds, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. Set a timer and leave your phone in another room.

Flashcards

Question on the front, answer on the back. Sort cards into three piles (known, unsure, wrong) and review the wrong ones most often: that is the idea behind the Leitner box system.

Mind map

Topic in the centre of a landscape page, one branch per main section, keywords rather than sentences. A colour per branch helps visual memory.

Blurting

With your notes closed, write down everything you remember about the topic for ten minutes. Then compare with your notes and add what was missing in a different colour.

Homemade quiz

Write ten questions on the topic, with the answers on a separate sheet. Answer them the next day without notes and record your score.

Feynman technique

Explain the idea in writing using simple words, as if to a twelve-year-old. Wherever you get stuck or use a technical term you cannot explain, go back to your notes.

Spaced repetition

Review the same material at growing intervals, for example the next day, three days later, then a week later. Mark the review dates on a calendar.

One-page summary

Fit a whole topic on a single page: key definitions, formulas or dates, one example. Write it from memory, then correct it against your notes.

Teach someone

Explain the topic aloud to someone (a parent, a friend) and ask them to quiz you. Anything you cannot explain out loud is not fully understood yet.

Timed past paper

Sit a past exam paper under real conditions: full time limit, no notes, no phone. Mark it with the mark scheme and note what kind of mistakes you made.

Interleaving

Instead of doing ten questions from the same topic, mix questions from different topics. You learn to recognise which method applies, just as you will have to in the exam.

Memory palace

Pick a route you know by heart (your home, your walk to school) and mentally place each item to remember at a specific spot. To recall, walk the route again in your head.

Mnemonic sentence

Make up a sentence whose words start like the items on your list. For the planets: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).

Timeline

Draw a timeline to scale and place the dates from the topic on it, with one colour per theme. Ideal for history, but also for the development of a theory or an author’s work.

Frequently asked questions