Revision homework tends to fail for one of three reasons. It's too big, so it doesn't get done. It's set once and never returned to, so it doesn't build anything. Or it produces a pile of paper on your desk, and you stop setting it by half term.
This page is the tasks themselves, plus the routine that holds them together. The reasoning behind setting revision as a link rather than a task is on revision homework that marks itself, so this page assumes you've already decided to.
What to set at fifteen minutes
Fifteen minutes is the weekly slot. It's short enough that students do it on the bus, and short enough that you can keep setting it in the week before a mock.
One module on one topic. The modules below are eleven to thirteen minutes each and mapped to a specification. Share the link, and the checking happens while the student works.
One module plus one line written down. Ask for the single thing they got wrong, written on their record sheet. That's what turns a score into something they can act on.
A topic they met three weeks ago, not last lesson. Setting last lesson's content tells you whether they were listening. Setting something from three weeks ago tells you whether they still know it, which is closer to what the exam asks.
What to set at thirty minutes
Thirty minutes is the fortnightly slot, or the replacement for a written task you'd otherwise mark.
Two modules on related topics, then one comparison. Two activities, then one sentence on how the two topics connect. The sentence is the part that needs thinking about.
One module, then the past paper question on the same content. Our past papers are the real thing, free and official. The module gets them ready and the question shows them the standard. Bring the mark scheme to the next lesson rather than taking the work in.
One module, then teach it to someone at home. Nobody marks it, and it works well.
Be honest with yourself about the arithmetic here. Two modules and a written comparison is more like thirty five minutes for a student who's finding it hard.
A fortnightly routine that lasts a term
The routine matters more than any individual task. This one has two features worth keeping: nothing is ever set only once, and every fortnight has a slot for going back.
| Week | Monday, 15 minutes | Thursday, 15 minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New topic from this week | Topic from three weeks ago |
| 2 | New topic from this week | Anything red or amber on the record sheet |
| 3 | New topic from this week | Topic from week 1 |
| 4 | New topic from this week | Anything red or amber on the record sheet |
The Thursday column is where most of the value is. Half of the homework you set is content the class has already met, chosen either by the calendar or by what students flagged as shaky.
Setting it for a class with a wide range
There are no difficulty tiers to choose from, so we can't offer differentiation by level. What you can vary is real enough:
Length. Set one module to everyone, and a second to the students who'll finish the first in eight minutes.
Topic. Give three linked topics and let students pick the one they're least sure about. Students often choose more honestly when nobody is watching them choose.
What happens after a wrong answer. Some students need "write down the one you got wrong". Others can handle "write down why you got it wrong". It's the same task with a different demand.
Whether it's on a screen at all. The off-screen activities on ready-to-run revision activities need no device, which matters more in some classes than others.
What to tell parents
You can't add a parent to a student's account, and neither can we on your behalf. A student adds a parent or carer themselves, that address gets an email asking it to confirm, and only then does a weekly summary start arriving. Nothing is sent to an unconfirmed address.
So the useful message home is about the routine rather than about signing anyone up. Copy and adjust:
Message to send home. Revision homework this term is short and weekly. It's fifteen minutes on a specific topic, set every Monday and Thursday, and it's checked automatically so there's nothing to hand in. Your child keeps a record sheet of what they revised and how it went. The most useful thing you can do is ask to see the sheet on a Sunday, and ask them what's on it in red.
Adjust the days to your own routine. That last sentence is the one that matters most.
The record students keep
Because a shared link reports nothing back, the record has to live with the student. The printable revision record is one week to a page: topic, minutes, a red, amber or green, and what they'll redo.
Print a term's worth and staple it into the back of an exercise book. Look at it in class rather than collecting it in. Two minutes at the start of a lesson reading four students' sheets tells you what they think they can't do, which is something marked homework rarely shows you.
What this toolkit does not do
It doesn't tell you who completed anything. That's a deliberate choice about children's data rather than a missing feature, and the record sheet exists because of it.
It doesn't tier the work by ability, because the content isn't tiered.
It doesn't replace the homework you set for the rest of the curriculum. This is the revision slot, running alongside the teaching.
Where to go next
To put a run of these in front of one class, build a sprint and share the link. To browse what's available by subject and exam board, use the revision pages.