What you do (is greater than) How you do it
The crucial difference between effective & efficient revision
When most people think about revision,
They think about the how.
Should I be doing flash cards?
Mind maps?
Active recall?
Teaching my teddies?
Or just a complex cacophony off all of these techniques jumbled together.
And then we wonder why nothing seems to be working.
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In my opinion,
And I think quite a few parents will agree with me,
The amount of information about revision available on social media,
The online psychological tests judging whether you are an audible, verbal or kinetic learner,
And the constant feeling of needing to keep up with the Jones’,
Has often led to more confusion than clarity.
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Effectiveness Vs Efficiency
I often use these two words fairly interchangeably in my everyday life.
And whilst I know the difference,
I can definitely see where the confusion comes from.
But having clarity over the difference is central to successful revision,
And general productivity in life.
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Efficiency = Doing something well
Whereas,
Effectiveness = Doing the right thing.
Let me give you an example.
If someone is trying to learn a new language,
They would have more success,
Learning the best set of vocabulary to a B+ level,
Then learning a less useful set of vocabulary to an A+ level.
The WHAT is more important than the HOW.
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So what can we learn from this about revision?
When it comes to revision,
A lot of students,
Once they actually get revising,
Are more interested in looking and feeling productive,
To satisfy both themselves and their parents,
Then actually being productive.
Now trust me,
It is really quite difficult to navigate the complex education system,
Figuring out what effective revision actually looks like.
If it was easy there would be no need for my business.
However, being intentional about trying to be as effective as possible will put any student in the top 10% straight away,
As most people just don’t think about it.
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I want parents to encourage this type of conscious revision in any way you can.
Whether it is agreeing they can revise for less time if they plan out what they are going to do and explain why they believe it will push them forward the most,
Or something else,
Concentrating on the what rather than the how is the most simplistic yet effective revision tip I can think of.
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Finally,
And if you have read this far thank you,
I wanted to mention Tim Ferris who has inspired a lot of these ideas,
As well as more of my life than I probably realise.
I read his best-selling book The 4 Hour Work Week when I was about 16/17,
And it really did impact me tremendously.
(And I wasn’t even a ‘reader’ at the time!).
If you fancy getting your teenager a present,
I highly recommend this book (which you can also get on audible if that means they are more likely to take it in!).
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I hope you have a great week ahead,
Best wishes,
Joel