Prepare your students for external exams with Atomi Study Timetables

Looking for our 2022 study plans and timetables? You can find them here!

It’s been another twelve months of patience, dedication and mountainous piles of marking. And just like clockwork, those final exams have rolled around once more as the home stretch appears on the horizon. All that’s left is for your students to double down, and we’ve laid down the groundwork to help them do just that with our study timetables. If you're familiar with our timetables, you might notice that we're doing things a little differently in 2020.

Designed by our expert content team, our subject-specific timetables come with study plans that will get your students on the right track leading into their external exams. You’ll have access too, meaning you can both use them to help direct their study, make sure they understand all their material and prepare them for any exam question that might come their way.

The study plans focus on how to revise and practise answering questions in the six weeks before their final exams. We haven't allocated time to learn the content or write notes—we're assuming they’ve got that under their belt by now thanks to your guidance 😉. If you notice that a few students are still lagging, encourage them to rally by taking a weekend to go through their notes and make sure they're complete.

Using these subject-specific study plans, your students can then create their own custom timetable or use one of our ready-made samples. So let's take a closer look at how this works.

Overview

Zooming out, your students should aim to cover all of the content in each subject every fortnight for the six weeks leading up to their exam. To make this achievable, we’ve broken down each subject into eight study sessions per fortnight which they can pull together into a final study timetable that works for them.

The first question your students will ask: What’s actually in each of these study sessions? The answer depends on two things:

1. The subject itself.
2. And, how long we have until the exam.

We’ve broken down the topics in each subject so that there's about an equal amount of work in each session. You can find what’s in these sessions below, but let’s go through the general idea of what the sessions will look like based on how long we have until the exam first.

Revision block: 5-6 weeks out from exams

By this point, your students should be familiar with the content and it’s time to start revising.

Your joint goal here is to find gaps in their knowledge.

1. Have them begin by looking over your subjects’ syllabus for the topics prescribed by the study plan.
2. They should then read through their notes on these topics.
3. And next, the important part: complete the Atomi multiple-choice quizzes to test their knowledge as they go along.

Once they complete those quizzes you’ll have better insights into which topics they’re excelling in, and which they need to dedicate more time revising. If they’re struggling with one topic, encourage them to take the 3 Before Me approach by rewatching our videos and adding more information to their notes, or comparing their notes with their friends. On the other hand: if they’re getting through all of the topics in the study session quickly, push them to spend some extra time on the key study areas we’ve identified in our plans!

Practice block: 3-4 weeks out from exams

A month out from the exam means that it’s time to practice answering exam-style questions.

1. Again, have them begin by looking over the syllabus for the topics prescribed by your subjects’ study plan.
2. Then, get them stuck into answering some short-answer questions. Depending on your subject, they should use Atomi short-answer questions as well as those you set them up with from textbooks or class. It’s also a great idea to have them review their school assessments and send answers and drafts to you for feedback. Make sure you set expectations around just how many rounds of review you’re willing to do.

Remind your students that during this time, they should be testing their ability to interpret questions and recall content. Encourage them to only be watching videos and fixing notes on topics that they don’t do as well on.

Past paper practise: 1-2 weeks out from exams

As I’m sure you’d agree, the most important thing in the last couple of weeks before exams is to complete practice papers.

The goal here is to strengthen your students memory, fine-tune their exam skills and increase their confidence before going into the exam. Whether you mark their papers yourself or encourage your students to self-assess, set them up with enough past papers to sink their teeth into.

Then word them up on how to complete them properly.

Get familiar with your students’ Atomi Study Timetables

Just like your students, you'll get access to the study plans for Atomi subjects that align to the syllabus and include the breakdown of the study sessions as outlined above. You’ll also find suggested timetables for each subject, plus a blank timetable template. You could use this template to tailor a timetable you think will work best for your class, or even allocate class time to map it out together. Remember, our study plans are only a guide, as their teacher you’re the best person to gauge just how much study your students need to be putting in.

Click the links below to download the syllabus-specific stusy plans and timetables for your students:

• Atomi HSC Study Plans and Timetables (New South Wales)
• Atomi QCE Study Plans and Timetables (Queensland)
• Atomi WACE Study Plans and Timetables (Western Australia)
• Atomi SACE Study Plans and Timetables (South Australia)
• Atomi VCE Study Plans and Timetables (Victoria)

Additional teaching resources for final exam prep

Along with our study timetables and plans, we’ve developed even more resources to help get your students on track to the best exam prep of their schooling careers, no meltdowns in sight. You could run through these in year group meetings, roll calls or even assign them as tasks to break up revision.

Good luck getting your students over the line, and remember if you have any questions don't hesitate to get in touch through your Atomi account.

For when they need to brush up on their study skills:

• Using the syllabus for enhanced notes
• Cognitive verbs: How to read the syllabus and score marks

For when they’re lacking drive & focus:

• Finding the motivation to study in 2020
• Strategies for smashing procrastination

For when they’re stressed and overwhelmed:

• Keeping things in perspective
• The importance of sleep for memory and focus