In today’s post about revision tips I am going to be talking to you about the different methods you can use in order to revise for the upcoming exams. I find that that a lot of people including myself have not fully mastered the art of revision and are often stuck on effective ways to get information to stay in your head. I have come up with my top 3 ideas and hope that you find them helpful.
Method 1:
Cue Cards are a great way to simplify your notes and make you less reliant on big chunks of writing. You can purchase the cards shown in the picture from most supermarkets and stationery shops in varying different sizes. The way in which I use these is to write a key study, theory or term on one side and then a few bullets points on the other side explaining the study, theory or term. These can then be used to test yourself over and over again, until you know the answers off by heart. You can also use these to test your friends who take the same subjects as you and have mini discussions which help your understanding of the subject. You can make these cue cards as colourful and pretty as you want, but you don’t want to spend too long decorating as that won’t be helping with your revision at all.
Method 2:
Mind Maps are another way in which you can simplify your notes. Take an A4 piece of paper and draw out your mind map, but limit yourself to only 6 branches (you may be recommended more or less by your teachers depending on the subject you are taking. I am basing this on psychology) as this will allow you to have enough space to get the maximum details you would need for the high grades, but also stops you from crowding on lots of unnecessary information. When I do these mind maps I like to start by making one purely based on my current knowledge of the topic and fill in as much as I can before using my notes to fill in anything that’s missing as this allows me to see which areas I need to focus on more with other methods.
Method 3
Completing past exam papers and questions is a great way to revise for upcoming exams. Not only does it give you the opportunity to practice the topics you revising, but it also helps to improve your exam technique at the same time. If you ae tackling a topic you find particularly challenging I would recommend taking your time and using your notes to help you answer the questions as this would be more beneficial than missing it out under timed conditions. You can then compare the answer you came up with to the mark scheme and examiners reports to see the areas that you could improve on for next time. If you are confident with your topics then the best way to use exam papers is to sit them under timed conditions as it allows you to prepare fully for the exam and tailor your revision around how much you can write in the allocated time. Again you can use the examiners reports and mark schemes to mark your own paper, or a friends paper as these are really useful for pointing out mistakes that can easily be avoided and areas to focus on. Of course most teachers will be happy to go through and mark any extra exam papers and questions you have completed and offer you ways you can improve ready for the real deal in summer!
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