Volume of practice beats waiting to practise perfectly, and the ceramics experiment in Art and Fear is the cleanest proof. Half a class was graded purely on how many pots they made, the other half purely on the quality of one pot. The quantity group produced the better work, because they learned from every failed pot while the quality group theorised. Revision behaves the same way - start rough and often instead of waiting to feel ready.
Why quantity should be at the centre of your revision strategy?
The following story is an excerpt from the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups.
All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.
His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an “A”, 40 pounds a “B”, and so on.
Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”.
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.
It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work—and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
"This is a key lesson all students need to learn- quantity leads to quality. Don't wait around for the perfect moment, the time when you are at 100%, to start your revision. Don't overthink it.
Don't delay it. Put pen to paper and get on with it.
Drop the perfectionist mentality. Those notes don't have to be perfect, they have to be done. If something is worth doing it is worth doing badly. Your revision strategy should be geared around maximizing practice, not perfection. "
Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good"- Malcolm Gladwell
What else is worth reading?
- 🧠Why learn?
- You live in a pixel
- A Beginner's Guide to Adulting After Graduation
- A case for travelling
- A Student's Guide to Ramadan 2023 📝
What are the honest limits of this advice?
The evidence behind study methods is measured as an average across many students, not a promise about one. The EEF toolkit reports months of additional progress on average, with real variation underneath. What works also depends on the subject and where the gaps are.
The national picture, measured at the end of primary school:
“In 2025, 62% of pupils met the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths, up from 61% in 2024.” — DfE, Key stage 2 attainment
Where can you check this at source?
How much a study method is actually worth has been measured. These are the sources that measure it:
- EEF — Teaching and Learning Toolkit — what the evidence says each intervention is worth, in months of progress
- DfE — Key stage 2 attainment — how many pupils meet the expected standard, by year
- gov.uk — Qualification results in England — the headline GCSE and A-Level figures for the current series