English

Alternative forms

• swotvac
• swot-vac

Noun

swot vac ‎(plural swot vacs)

1. (Australia, education, informal) In secondary and tertiary education, a period of non-teaching prior to examinations.
   • 1968 John Burville Biggs, Information and human learning, Cassell Australia

     This is clearly what happens in the "swot-vac" phenomenon: the student rote-learns his material for just long enough to see the exam through.

   • 2003 Frank William Coaldrake, Maida Coaldrake & William Howard Coaldrake, Japan from war to peace: the Coaldrake records 1939-1956, Routledge, p234

     In the old days it was probably quite a sound alternative to the "swot-vac" spent in cold towels and black coffee or benzedrine as done in Australia.

   • 2004 Joanne Horniman, Secret Scribbled Notebooks, Allen & Unwin, p28

     I reminded her that it was the September holidays, and after that I was off on swot vac until the exams started.

   • 2006 Vaughan Nikitin, Wurruk: Reflections in Black and White, p249

     She died during the swotvac before my third year exams.

Synonyms

• (period of no teaching before exams): dead week (North America, slang), reading week (North America), revision week (Commonwealth)

Translations