The Tech Tools That Actually Help DSE Revision (And the Ones Students Use to Procrastinate)

I teach computing. I've built my own study tools for fun. I have strong opinions about what technology actually does for learning versus what it feels like it does. Let me give you the honest version.

The first thing to know is that the relationship between technology and study outcomes is not what either the enthusiasts or the sceptics claim. Technology does not automatically improve learning. It also does not automatically undermine it. What matters is what cognitive activity the technology is directing.

Good study is cognitively uncomfortable. Retrieval practice — trying to remember something without looking it up — is uncomfortable because it requires effort and produces failures. Spaced repetition is uncomfortable because it forces you to return to things you've moved on from. Writing out explanations in your own words is uncomfortable because it surfaces gaps in your understanding.

Bad study is comfortable. Reading notes is comfortable. Watching explanations is comfortable. Having an AI generate a summary is comfortable. None of these feel like wasted time — they feel like learning. But the research on memory and understanding consistently shows that comfort is the wrong signal for whether learning is happening.

Technology is very good at making comfortable activities feel like studying. That's the core problem.

Tools That Actually Help

Anki (and similar spaced repetition software)

This is the strongest evidence-based tool in the category. Spaced repetition systematically schedules cards based on how recently and how reliably you recalled them, forcing you to review material at the exact intervals that maximise retention. The science behind it is not contested.

The caveat: making cards is useful; downloading pre-made decks is much less useful. The act of creating a card — deciding what's important, writing a question from memory, formulating an answer — is itself a learning act. A downloaded deck of Chinese Literature vocabulary is better than nothing but significantly worse than making your own cards while studying. If your student is using Anki with pre-made decks and calling it studying, they are doing something valuable but less than half as valuable as it could be.

AI tutoring tools used for retrieval practice

Here is a genuinely useful application of large language models for DSE revision: use them to generate questions on content you've just studied, then answer the questions without looking at your notes, then ask the AI to evaluate your answer.

This works because it's retrieval practice — you're generating content from memory under examination-like conditions. The AI is useful here because it can generate varied questions on demand and provide immediate feedback on answers.

This is different from: asking an AI to summarise a topic, asking an AI to write notes for you, asking an AI to explain something you don't understand without then trying to reproduce the explanation yourself. Those activities have their place but they are not retrieval practice.

Past papers, used correctly

This sounds obvious but most students use past papers incorrectly. The correct use is: attempt under time pressure without notes, mark against the mark scheme, identify specifically where points were lost, practise specifically on those categories. Incorrect use: look through past papers to see what kinds of questions come up, or attempt questions while looking at notes to check. One is practice; the other is a comfort activity.

YouTube for concept explanations — as a first step only

Video explanations are excellent for getting initial understanding of a concept. Science concepts in particular benefit from visual explanation. For DSE Physics, Chemistry, Biology — there is genuinely good YouTube content that explains concepts more clearly than some textbooks.

The problem is the step everyone skips: after watching the explanation, close the tab and write out what you just learned in your own words. Without that step, the understanding lives in the video and not in you. With that step, the video is excellent.

Tools That Are Sophisticated Procrastination

Notion / elaborate note-taking and organisation systems

I will get messages about this. Notion is a useful tool. Elaborate colour-coded, cross-linked, beautifully formatted study systems are not the same as studying. The DSE student who has spent four hours building a perfectly structured Notion database of Biology topics has done four hours of satisfying organisational work and no retrieval practice. The formatting can always be improved. This is a trap.

If your study system takes more than twenty minutes to set up, it is probably a procrastination mechanism. Simple beats elaborate for revision.

AI-generated summaries and notes

If an AI writes a summary of a topic and you read it, you have learned approximately as much as you would learn reading any summary. This is useful for initial orientation and completely useless as revision. Revision requires you to generate content from your own memory, which AI-generated notes actively prevent.

There is a specific version of this I see frequently: students ask an AI to explain a topic, then copy the explanation into their notes. They have typed words they did not generate. This is transcription, not learning.

Group chats about revision

Not group study — group chats about revision. The conversation about what chapters to cover, whose notes are better, what topics are likely to come up, whether practice question X was unfair. This generates a feeling of productive engagement with the DSE while not requiring any contact with actual content. Identifiable in students by the number of notifications on their screen during "study time."

Khan Academy in passive mode

Watching Khan Academy videos without pausing to attempt problems is the same category as watching any educational video without the retrieval step. Khan Academy is excellent when used with the practice exercises and terrible when used as a streaming service.

The Practical Recommendation

For DSE students, the technology portfolio that actually produces results is simple: Anki for vocabulary and fact-dense content (self-made cards), past papers worked under exam conditions, AI tools used specifically for question generation, and video explanations as a first step with a mandatory self-explanation step immediately after.

Everything else should be evaluated by the question: is this requiring me to generate content from my own memory, or is it providing me with content to consume? If the latter, be suspicious of how much learning is actually happening.

The sophisticated-looking tool that keeps you comfortable is worse than the simple tool that makes you uncomfortable in the right ways.