-Go straight to the library to write my notes- 2-3 hours .
-home around 6pm, I do a past paper or two for each subject.
-Revision in the morning, 5-7am.
-Grind on Saturday, 8-10hrs.
-Rest on Sunday.
find what works for you, I also watch lecture videos or read my textbook in my spare time if I feel like it.
This probably won't work for most people and will lead to burnout if not careful.
it is often recommended to revise content immediately after learning it. how can you have time to memorise and write up notes for every subject, every day?
and complete homework
and work on major works
and practice questions
every. day.
A couple of routine notes:
* Get to school early. I find school is a good conducive environment to study, and typically the school library is open at 8am; and before then, you can always find a cafe enroute to school or another environment that you can study for the extra hour. That window yes should be mainly for class preparations and readings. This way you can do your classwork well and reduce the amount of homework (which for some subjects is just whatever wasn't finished in class). Depending on the amount of homework for a subject, it may be better to do the homework in this window, especially if it is revision related.
* Study near to home or at home as much as possible. If you do have to travel, travel earlier then later, and where possible use public transport rather than driving. This is because you can either rest or do light revision work on the train, and especially if you have a laptop, for making revision notes.
* Limit paid/external tutoring to the subjects you actually need it for or if you are struggling. One hour a week for one or two subjects if you desire it, shouldn't affect your study though.
** Allocate time (both study and rest), that is away from a computer screen (at least 1 hour). You can probably use this time to grab food, to read.
I suggest this for at least 1 hour in the evening, and perhaps in the middle of the evening study block (say at 7/7:30pm).
** Get decent hours of sleep. You will be able to retain things better, if you rest especially the night before exams.
General rule: in bed by 11*, if you are getting up at 7. Some nights you may be able to push an extra hour or two (I've occasionally done the 2am stint for when I've had urgent stuff due), but don't do it every week or every day. *not including any wind down time.
* * Allocate time for exercise in the week, and factor in any community/religious/family commitments e.g. if there is a family dinner, try to make it; or if you have church to go to etc. I personally took all of Friday afternoon and evening off to cover all of this.
. These things are important wellbeing wise.
** Take regular breaks. Some of these breaks can just be changing the pace of what you are doing; but some need to be actual longer breaks (of 30 minutes, generally for meals).
* Decide on how you will approach note making and stick to it (this includes formatting and structure). I might write up a post on this.
** Take a rest day. This needs to be at least half a day per week where you don't do any school work; and should not just be sleep catchup all the time. You may have to take 2 half-days depending on schedule variations during the week.
** The grind on Saturday is probably not a bad idea for most Saturdays, I would suggest getting up the same time you do on weekdays with the same morning and bedtime routine. I would suggest intense study work starting around 10am (unless you are a morning person) and working 2 hours before lunch, and then in the afternoon, doing 2 blocks of 2 hours (with smaller breaks) with a larger break at dinner. Changing up the mode of study and the subject of focus will also help. I would suggest lighter study or even immediately after lunch, (or whenever that food coma usually settles in, for me it was always around 2:30pm).
Saturday is probably the time to schedule closed book exams, and perhaps even doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Increase this closer to trials and HSC on other days.
** Regarding past papers and practice. Don't try to do a past paper for each subject every week; as you can just practice individual questions; or writing paragraphs (for English). Ask your teacher for materials, and especially questions per topic stuff.
** I find it helpful to keep any study/revision work / homework / practice questions separate to classwork.
