Your revision set-up, and page layout 1Name the five boxes on the page.

Your revision set-up

Learning by doing, for revision, means sitting down with your books and some paper and actively working. It isn't going out on the tools, but you're still doing.

Pick a lesson you didn't really understand, open it up again and work through it like this.

Page layout 1: main notes and summary

Split an A4 notebook page into sections. The big right-hand box is for main notes, with the topic title at the top. Below it is a summary box. Down the left is a narrow column for methods, key terminology and equations or formulas.

Worked example: using the page

1) Lesson playing · book open at that test · page divided up
2) Write the TITLE of the test at the top of Main notes
3) As the lesson plays, pause and bullet point:
     – what meter is used, and why the test is done
     – what setting the meter needs to be on
     – any safety points for the test
     – the process of the test
     – the expected result
4) Formulas or equations → left-hand column
   Key terminology (e.g. the meter) → left-hand column
5) Close the lesson. With the book open, read back over
   your main notes and write a brief SUMMARY in your own words.

• The layout is organic. It will change from subject to subject. This version is a good starting point, not a rule.
• Why compartments work: your brain likes dividing things into small, separate boxes. We've done it since we were little, fitting wooden shapes into the right holes. Dividing the page puts your brain into first gear. You're not coasting in neutral, and you haven't jumped straight into third.
• Ink on paper: writing it down is when your brain absorbs information best, even if you don't think so. "That's not how my brain works" doesn't hold up.
• Bad handwriting and bad spelling don't matter, as long as you can read it. If you'd rather type it, do that.

Worth tabbing · the continuity of protective conductors test is covered in the inspection and testing sections of the On-Site Guide and Guidance Note 3 · find it in your copy