Why the last fortnight matters

Very little revision happens in August, and that's fine. It's a holiday.

The last two weeks are different, and they are worth using lightly rather than either ignoring or panicking about.

There is a genuine effect at work here. Memory decays over a long gap without retrieval, and a student who has not thought about the subject since July will start September several steps behind where they finished. Not because they have lost the ability, but because retrieval takes practice and they have had a summer of none.

Twenty minutes, three times a week, is enough to change that. Not new content, but just pulling back what is already there. A few questions from last year's work or a topic recalled from memory before checking notes.

It's a small amount of effort for a noticeably easier first fortnight of term.