Revision timer

How to use the online timer

Twenty minutes suits a revision block on one topic rather than a whole subject: the causes of a single event, one set of equations, a page of vocabulary. Revision responds far better to several short sessions spread across days than to one long evening, because the forgetting that happens between sessions is what makes the next attempt worth anything. Cramming produces recognition, which lasts until roughly the moment the paper is turned over.

Inside the twenty minutes, testing beats reviewing. Cover the notes and write down what you can, work a past-paper question under something like real conditions, or use cards where the answer stays hidden until you have committed to one. Rereading a page for the fourth time feels productive precisely because it has become easy, and that ease is a poor guide to whether the material could be retrieved in an exam hall.

Space the blocks out. A topic revised today, again in three days, and again a fortnight later sticks far better than the same total time spent in one sitting, and it is the single easiest change to make to a GCSE or A-level timetable. Finish each block by writing down what came out wrong, because that list is a better starting point for the next session than the syllabus is.