Being a student, having a social life, keeping up with content and revising all at the same time is a big task. You’ll most likely need to revisit all the content from your course, understand it all and be able to apply it to exam questions. There’s no way to make exams easy, but we’re here to share our top revision tips to make the process a little less daunting.
1 - Break it up
Unfortunately, cramming doesn’t work for most people. If you don’t know what cramming is, it means leaving everything until the last minute and… you guessed it, cramming all the content into a short space of time! Studies have, unsurprisingly, found that revision is most effective when it is spaced out. This allows the brain to process what you have revised, but most importantly allows you to better gauge a healthy balance between revision and relaxation.
A popular method for this is to take a 15 minute break for every hour of revision you have completed. Not only will it help you remember and retain what you have revised, but it’ll stop you from burning out!
2 - Make your brain work hard:
To better remember something, you have to really think about it. A lot of students tend to complete passive activities while revising as it’s often easier and doesn’t require as much effort. Passive activities include things like reading, watching videos and rewriting notes.
For the information and content to stick better, you need to complete an active activity to stimulate your brain more - essentially this means turning the information that you’ve read, watched, heard into something different! Mind maps, spider diagrams, posters and flashcards are great examples of how to do this. Taking information from a source, processing it and creating something new from it will help you recall it better in your exam. After a full on 45 minute session you’ll feel exhausted from all the work, and you’ll be even more grateful for that 15 minute break!
3 - Practice makes perfect:
It’s all well and good revising the content that you’ve been given, but how are they going to ask the questions in the exam? Is it going to be case studies, multiple choice, essay questions? Practice questions (without the aid of your notes) with the same time restraints as the exam - this will sharpen your technique and also allow you to recall the content better in the real exam.
Good Luck!
If you’re well-prepared, have revised ahead of time and have some good exam practice from step 3 up your sleeve, we’re sure you’ll ace your exams!