Leaving Cert 2025: How to approach revision ahead of the exams

One of the most challenging parts of preparing for an exam like the leaving cert is managing revision. The average student studies seven subjects and it can be hard to effectively revise such a wide number, each of which has a challenging curriculum.

We have natural biases towards certain subjects. It can be easy to spend a lot of time revising the subjects we enjoy. However, as the Leaving Cert tests students over a number of different subject areas, it’s important that they avoid the trap of concentrating on a few subjects they like, to the detriment of other subjects.

It can be very stressful to realise that you have neglected some subjects and fallen behind on where you should be when the exams are getting closer.

Many students may be feeling the pressure increase amid the looming deadlines for practical tests and orals and as the exams seem to be getting very close. It’s important to remember that there is a lot of time left and, if planned and managed properly, students can cover a lot of revision between now and the exams. When preparing for revision over the coming months, there are a few important things to keep in mind:

Consistency

We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a day or a week, and often underestimate what we can accomplish over a longer period of time.

Many students make the mistake of resolving to study harder and cram as much revision in as possible over a short space of time. Initially, it might seem that you are getting a lot of work done, but approaching any task with too much intensity can quickly lead to overwhelm and burnout. Revision can quickly become counterproductive, and frustration quickly increases as students find it difficult to retain information and become stressed about the lack of progress they are making.

Consistent and sustainable effort over the long term is a more productive approach that will allow students to retain more information, make slower but more meaningful progress and ultimately increase motivation as success can be measured as they improve.

At first, many students will be frustrated when taking a consistent approach, but over a few weeks, they will begin to realise that although it sometimes feels they could be doing more, they are making more progress than they had been before.

Quality over quantity

This is a similar concept to the idea of consistency. We often measure success through the metric of quantity. In this case how much time is spent studying. However, after a certain amount of time our brains are no longer capable of taking in information, resulting in a lot of time being wasted when trying to revise for long hours at a time.

It’s important to also remember that our best can be different on any given day. Some days we can perform at our best and achieve everything we set out to. Other days it can feel like a struggle to get anything done.

This is why focusing on quality revision will allow students to feel like they have achieved something, even on a bad day.

Understanding one new concept or learning how to answer one question that is challenging is much more productive than spending hours trying to study and not being able to remember much at the end.

Organisation and planning

Structuring revision to be as productive as possible is the key to sustainable progress over the coming months.

Many students might attempt to open a textbook and read as much material as possible with the hope that they will remember as much of it as possible. It quickly becomes evident that this does not work, and students can lose motivation quite quickly and become overwhelmed by the amount of work they need to do to achieve what they want in the exams.

Planning for effective and active revision will allow students to gain the most benefit from the effort and time they put into studying.

Effective revision is when students plan out exactly what they are going to revise i.e, subject, and specific topic within that subject. This will reduce the amount of time spent deciding where to start.

By using this method, students can look at specific areas in each subject, what they need to work on and prioritise in these areas.

Active revision is more than reading over the textbook and notes. Active revision is when students revise a specific topic and then test themselves by attempting to answer a question on that topic either from a textbook or past exam papers.

Students then know when they have studied a topic well enough, when they can answer the question to a high standard.

Mapping progress

To maintain motivation, it’s important that students reflect on the progress they have made.

This highlights the areas where they have improved and gives them motivation to continue working hard towards the ultimate goal of achieving what they want in the Leaving Cert.