QuickNotes
A week is enough time to revise well if you use it deliberately. The plan below assumes you have recordings or notes from your lectures and around two to four hours a day to study. It is built on two ideas explained in our flashcards guide: active recall (testing yourself instead of re-reading) and spaced repetition (revisiting material over several days). Adjust the times to your own schedule and exam.
Before day 1: gather your lecture recordings, slides, past papers and any reading lists. If you have audio that has not been processed, transcribe it now. In QuickNotes you can import audio (MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, AIFF or FLAC), choose the language, and generate a summary for each recording.
Day 1: Map the syllabus and build your summaries
Time: 3 hours.
- List every topic the exam could cover, using the syllabus and lecture titles.
- Rate each topic red, amber or green based on how confident you feel. Be honest.
- For each lecture, get a summary. With recordings, transcribe and generate a concise summary for a quick overview, or a detailed one for dense topics.
- Read the summaries for the red and amber topics first and mark anything you do not understand.
The goal is not to learn everything today. It is to know where the week's effort should go.
Day 2: Fill the biggest gaps
Time: 3 to 4 hours.
- Tackle the red topics. Where a summary is unclear, search the transcript or replay just that part of the recording.
- Read the relevant textbook section if the lecture was not enough.
- Write a three-sentence explanation of each red topic from memory, then compare with your notes.
Resist the urge to work through your favourite topics. Comfortable revision feels good but changes little.
Day 3: Turn material into flashcards and quizzes
Time: 3 hours.
- Build flashcards for every lecture. In QuickNotes, Study mode makes 10 flashcards and a 5-question multiple-choice quiz from each recording's summary. Skim each set, and delete or reword anything unclear.
- Add your own cards for formulas, definitions and examples the lecturer stressed.
- Do a first pass through each set, answering out loud or on paper before flipping.
Mark the cards you got wrong. Those are tomorrow's priority.
Day 4: First spaced review and active recall
Time: 3 hours.
- Revisit the wrong cards from day 3, then the full sets for the red topics.
- Take the quizzes for two or three lectures, and record your scores. Because a fresh set can be regenerated, you can repeat a lecture with different questions.
- For each wrong answer, find the source in the transcript or textbook and fix the misunderstanding.
Notice that you are now spacing your review: material from day 3 returns on day 4, and material from day 1 and 2 will return on day 5 and 6.
Day 5: Practice under exam conditions
Time: 3 to 4 hours.
- Do a past paper, or make your own questions, under timed conditions. Do not check notes during it.
- Mark it strictly and list every topic where you lost marks.
- Revisit the flashcards for those topics, and generate a new set for any lecture where you need different questions.
Written exam practice matters because recognising an answer in a quiz is not the same as writing it out under time pressure.
Day 6: Second spaced review and weak spots
Time: 3 hours.
- Go through all your flashcards once more, focusing on ambers and reds. Retire cards you have answered correctly three times in a row.
- Retake quizzes on the topics where you scored lowest.
- Write a one-page summary of each major topic from memory, then compare with the lecture summary.
Keep this day slightly lighter if you need to. A tired brain learns less, and you have one more day.
Day 7: Light review and rest
Time: 1 to 2 hours.
- Skim your one-page summaries and the cards you have found hardest.
- Prepare practical things: exam location, materials, timing.
- Stop early. Sleep and a calm morning are worth more than a late cram.
The plan at a glance
| Day | Focus | Main activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Map | List topics, get summaries, rate confidence |
| 2 | Gaps | Study red topics, check transcripts |
| 3 | Cards | Build and first pass through flashcards and quizzes |
| 4 | Recall | Review wrong cards, quiz, fix errors |
| 5 | Practice | Timed past paper, list weak topics |
| 6 | Review | Second spaced pass, one-page summaries |
| 7 | Rest | Light skim and preparation |
Small habits that make the week easier
- Study at the same time each day. A fixed slot removes the daily decision about when to start.
- Take real breaks. Fifty minutes of focus followed by ten minutes away from the screen keeps quality high.
- Keep a list of wrong answers. Reviewing your mistakes is more efficient than re-reading what you already know.
- Sleep and eat properly. Memory consolidation happens overnight, so late nights work against you.
How to adapt the plan
- If you have more time: stretch each stage over two days and add an extra practice paper.
- If you have less: merge days 1 and 2, and prioritise red topics and past papers over polishing every card.
- If your exam is mostly essays or problem solving: spend more time on written practice than on quizzes.
- If your lectures were in another language: transcribe in the language used, and review the terms in both languages if your exam is in a different one.
What recordings can and cannot do
Recordings, transcripts and summaries make the input stage much faster, so you can spend the week on recall and practice. They will not replace your textbook, your slides or the exam board's requirements, and automatic transcripts can contain errors, so check key facts and figures. For more on the recording side, see the best way to study from lecture recordings, and for how Study mode works, visit flashcards from lectures.
Finally, be kind to yourself. A plan you follow at 80 percent beats a perfect plan you drop on day two. Good luck.
Turn your next lecture into notes you can study
QuickNotes records or imports audio, transcribes it in 14 languages, writes a summary, and builds flashcards and a quiz. Free to download on iPhone.
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