The template
Set up one sheet (or one section) per subject, with these six columns:
| Date | Question / source | Your answer → correct answer | Why it went wrong | Type | Resolved? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Jul | 2023 HSC Adv. Maths, Q11(b) — photo saved | x = 3 only → x = 3, x = −5 | Divided both sides by x instead of factorising; lost the second root | Application | ☐ (re-test 21 Jul) |
| 15 Jul | Chem qbank set 4, Q9 | Chose B → D | Didn't know Le Chatelier applies to pressure change here — genuine gap | Knowledge | ☐ |
| 15 Jul | Physics past paper, Q3 | 9.8 → −9.8 m s⁻² | Knew it; dropped the sign rushing the last line | Execution | ☑ 22 Jul |
To use it: copy the header row into Google Sheets or Excel, or rule six columns across a double page. That's the whole setup. The value is in the columns you might be tempted to skip, so here's why each one exists.
Every column, justified
- Date — cheap to write, and it's what makes re-testing schedulable ("everything unresolved older than a week"). It also shows you later whether a mistake type is fading or persisting across the term.
- Question / source — enough to re-attempt the question cold: paper, year, question number, or a photo/screenshot filename. Do not copy the question out by hand. Transcription is the number-one killer of error logs; a photo takes four seconds and preserves the diagram too.
- Your answer → correct answer — both, not just the right one. The gap between them is often the diagnosis: seeing you wrote sin where cos belonged says more than the mark scheme alone.
- Why it went wrong — one honest sentence, written immediately while you still remember your reasoning. "Bad at trig" is a feeling; "used the sine rule with the non-included angle" is a fix waiting to happen. This column is the one that turns the log from a record into a plan.
- Type — Knowledge (didn't know it → revise that point), Application (knew it, misapplied it → drill that question type), or Execution (knew it, rushed it → fix checking routine). Only the first type is helped by more revision; the category column stops you treating all three the same way. The full argument for these categories is in the complete error log method.
- Resolved? — the column that separates a working log from a scrapbook of regrets. It only gets ticked after you re-attempt the question later, cold, and get it right without help. Reading your old mistake and nodding does not count.
The routine that makes it work
A template without a review routine becomes a graveyard of screenshots within a month. The minimum viable routine:
- Log immediately — the moment the mistake happens, under a minute per entry. Batching for "Sunday" fails because the why-it-went-wrong context is gone by Sunday.
- Review weekly, by re-attempting — 20–40 minutes, every unresolved entry, no notes open. Right → tick. Wrong again → it stays, now flagged as a genuine weak spot deserving study time. Re-attempting cold is the step that actually builds recall — the reason is in why you blank on questions you've revised.
- Before an exam, revise from the log first — every entry is a question that took marks off you specifically. No revision guide is that targeted.
Or skip the template entirely
Everything above — the capture, the photo, the why-it-went-wrong diagnosis, the category, the re-testing — is exactly the clerical loop errorboard runs for you. Make a mistake while studying and it's captured with a screenshot, analysed, categorised and filed into a per-topic error log automatically; the quiz then brings your old mistakes back until you stop getting them wrong. It works on Windows, on iPad with a pencil, and with a photo of your paper working from any phone — and it's free to start.
Template or app, the method is the same. Six columns, one honest sentence per mistake, and a weekly re-test. Start today; by your next exam the log will know your weaknesses better than you do.