Core Revision
Revising for the AKT when you’re dyslexic: seven techniques that actually work
Dr Victoria HammondCo-Founder & Lead for Educational Design · 5 min read
Published 31 May 2026 · Reviewed 31 May 2026
Most revision advice carries a hidden assumption: that you read quickly, hold what you read, and find it easy to sit still with a textbook. If you’re dyslexic, none of that is a given — and the standard “just do more questions and re-read your notes” plan can quietly punish you for how your brain is wired rather than what you know.
You don’t need to read more slowly and try harder. You need a method that plays to dyslexic strengths — reasoning, pattern-spotting, big-picture thinking — and stops leaning on the things that cost you most: dense reading and rote verbatim recall. Here are seven concrete swaps I come back to again and again.
Lead with the spoken word, not the written one
Reading a guideline summary three times is slow and tiring. Hearing it is not. Use text-to-speech to listen to CKS summaries, your own notes, or guideline updates while you follow along on screen — the dual channel (seeing + hearing) anchors information far better than reading alone.
Turn lists into pictures
A differential or a management ladder written as a wall of bullet points is exactly the format dyslexia finds hardest to retain. The same information as a sketch — a branching diagram, a quick flowchart, a drawing with arrows — sticks, because it recruits the visual-spatial reasoning that’s often a genuine strength.
Sitting the AKT? Try twenty questions free.
Twenty original AKT questions in the exam's 80/10/10 split: sixteen clinical, two on evidence-based practice and two on organisation and management, with the reasoning after every one and a marked report. Free, no card and the first five are open to all.
Use colour and structure deliberately, not decoratively
Consistent colour-coding (e.g. red = red-flag/safety, teal = first-line management, amber = “refer”) turns your notes into something you can navigate by sight. Pair it with generous whitespace and a readable sans-serif font — cramped, justified text is far harder to track.
Do questions out loud — explain, don’t just click
The single highest-yield activity for the AKT is question practice, but for a dyslexic brain the value isn’t in the clicking — it’s in the reasoning. Say out loud why the right answer is right and why each wrong one is wrong. Verbalising forces the logic into a channel that doesn’t depend on re-reading.
Build rules and stories, not facts in isolation
Dyslexic memory tends to hold meaning and narrative well and isolated detail poorly. So stop trying to memorise free-floating numbers. Wrap each one in a reason or a tiny story: a threshold becomes “we wait for the ABPM because a one-off reading lies to you,” not just “135/85.”
Sit mocks under real conditions — including extra time
If you’re entitled to access arrangements in the real exam, practise with them. Sitting timed mocks at the wrong time pressure trains the wrong reflexes. Equally, do full mocks rather than endless single questions, so you rehearse the stamina and on-screen reading load of the real thing.
Protect energy: short, frequent, kind
Reading-heavy work is more tiring when reading is effortful, so long marathon sessions cost you more and return less. Short, frequent blocks with real breaks beat one heroic three-hour slog — and they leave you something in the tank for clinic and life.
Listen instead of only reading · draw instead of listing · colour by meaning · say the reasoning out loud · attach every fact to a reason · rehearse mocks under real conditions · work in short kind blocks. Seven swaps — not seven more things to read.
None of these techniques are “dyslexia accommodations” in some lesser sense — they’re simply better-evidenced learning. Active recall, dual coding (words plus images) and spaced practice help everyone; they just help a dyslexic learner disproportionately, because they route around the bottleneck of effortful reading. If a method feels like it’s working, trust that over what a generic study guide tells you “should” work.
Dr Laura Young · Educational Psychologist. Laura’s role is advisory and educational; she does not provide therapy or individual psychological treatment.
The thing I most want you to hear: a slower reading speed is not a smaller brain. The trainees I’ve supported who revise with their dyslexia rather than against it consistently surprise themselves — because the AKT rewards clinical reasoning and pattern recognition, which is often exactly where you’re strong. Build the method around that, and let go of the guilt about not doing it “the normal way”.
Dr Victoria Hammond · MBBS, BSc (Hons)
A note on support. If revision is consistently overwhelming, it’s worth a conversation with your educational supervisor about assessment and exam access arrangements — these exist precisely so the exam measures your clinical knowledge, not your reading speed. A revision aid, not a substitute for individual educational or clinical advice.
