Why I don't like the Pomodoro Method of Revising
The Reason why 25-minute sessions don’t work for most students
A lot of students struggle to stay focused.
There are so many distractions,
So many other things they would rather be doing,
And ultimately,
It is often difficult for a student to see how the revision they are doing is going to make a difference in the bigger picture.
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The Pomodoro Method
The Pomodoro method suggests that the most effective way of revising for most students is 25 minutes on,
A short break,
Often 5 minutes,
And then 25 minutes on again.
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This method is often championed by teachers, students and parents as it is,
Backed by science so it has to be effective right?
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My issue with the Pomodoro Method
My problem with the Pomodoro method stems from a couple different issues.
Firstly,
I think it is very difficult for a student to get any real work done in 25 minutes,
As it almost always is not actually 25 minutes.
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Instead of starting on the first second,
Students often need to pull up their preferred website,
Find their login details,
Find their favourite pen,
Their books,
Actually decide what they want to do in the session!
Beyond this,
Mum might come in mid-session with some tea and biscuits,
And then what happens nearing the end of the session.
Well with a couple minutes to go,
Many students are going to think,
I’ve worked hard,
I can’t possibly start a new question/paragraph/page,
I’ll just ‘check’ instead,
Or just stare out the window.
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Therefore, instead of 25 minutes of revision,
These sessions are usually 15 or so minutes.
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My second problem relates to the first problem,
In that I think it is very difficult to accomplish much skill-based revision in 15 or so minutes.
You certainly can do some memorisation,
But we want to be moving beyond memorisation to application in our revision.
And I don’t believe 15 minutes is long enough to make a dent in this respect.
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However …
I should say,
This doesn’t apply to everyone,
There are many students,
Many of whom may be on the neuro-diverse spectrum,
Whose absolute optimal revision duration is 20 or so minutes.
If this is your teenager,
Absolutely, please keep doing what you are doing.
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But …
In my opinion,
I think a lot of students think,
And rightly so in many cases,
That they cannot do longer sessions,
Because they don’t know how to revise effectively,
Rather than they being completely unable to focus for a longer period of time.
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I believe this is the real issue.
So many students are just given a textbook,
A website,
And they are expected to get on with it.
This is why strategic and effective revision is so important.
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My aim, is through these newsletters and our programmes we can help students to address this issue.
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I hope you all have a great week and year ahead,
Best wishes,
Joel