Every so often, a comment really sticks with you – especially when it reveals something important about how students experience learning.
An Assistant Head Teacher recently shared our “5 simple ways to help students start tasks with less stress” slides in a sixth-form assembly. The assemblies were built around one simple question, asked again and again across year groups:
What do I need to do to do well in a test?
It’s a familiar question. And it stayed with me because it points to something many educators and student support teams will recognise. Students often reach exam season having worked hard, yet still unsure what effective preparation actually looks like.
For many learners, revision ends up happening late and under pressure. This is especially true for students who find recall difficult, need more time to get started, or feel overwhelmed by open-ended tasks. By that point, the problem usually isn’t the amount of content. It’s the lack of a clear plan.
Revision feels reactive, rather than intentional.
For neurodivergent students in particular, this can be even more challenging. Planning, prioritising and holding multiple steps in mind already take effort. When revision suddenly becomes important right at the end of a course, it places extra demands on skills that may already be stretched.
What’s striking is that this uncertainty is rarely about ability or motivation. More often, students just haven’t been supported to learn how to plan, practise and review their learning over time. When revision is treated as a year-round skill rather than a last-minute response to exams, it becomes more predictable. And that predictability makes it more manageable.
Thinking about revision in this way shifts the focus away from one-off strategies and towards everyday habits. Small, repeatable actions – breaking work into manageable steps, practising recall little and often, keeping track of what still needs attention – help reduce cognitive load and make it easier to know where to start.
In other words, how students learn matters just as much as what they learn.
Making the learning process visible can make a real difference here. When students can see what they are working towards, what they already understand and what still needs practice, learning becomes easier to organise. Planning and review stop feeling like extra tasks and start to feel like part of learning itself.
One way to support this is by coming back to a simple, shared framework. This helps students understand not just what to revise, but how to approach revision over time.
Understanding the goal
Knowing what they are being tested on
Becoming familiar with assessment formats
Practising effectively
Practising recall rather than only re-reading notes
Testing understanding in short, focused bursts
Using spaced practice rather than cramming
Managing the process
Breaking topics into smaller, manageable parts
Keeping a clear record of what still needs to be learned
Asking for help early when something is unclear
None of these ideas are new. Their value is in consistency.
When these behaviours are revisited throughout the year, revision no longer feels like a high-stakes event that arrives suddenly. It becomes part of a routine – something students recognise and know how to approach.
For neurodivergent learners in particular, that predictability really matters. Clear structures, visible plans and regular opportunities to check understanding can reduce anxiety and support independence. While these approaches are particularly supportive for neurodivergent students, they tend to benefit everyone.
Revision, in this context, is not about doing more at the last minute, but about building habits that make learning feel more manageable over time.
When we treat revision as a skill that needs to be taught, modelled and revisited – rather than assumed – we give students a clearer route through learning.
For many, that clarity is what turns effort into progress.