Etymology
From swot + vac (“vacation”).
Noun
swot vac (plural swot vacs)
- (Australia, education, informal) In secondary and tertiary education, a period of non-teaching prior to examinations.
- Synonyms: (North America, slang) dead week, (North America) reading week, (Commonwealth) revision week
1968, John Burville Biggs, Information and human learning, Australia: Cassell: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, page 234: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, page 28: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, page 249:She died during the swotvac before my third year exams.
Translations
period of no teaching before exams