Revisions and Exams tips!

It's that time of year again, exam season is upon us and the pressure is real. But stay calm and follow these tips so you can be well prepared!

Revision 

1) Scheduling

Keeping the few weeks leading up to your exams organized is essential because if you don't then you will probably spend excessive hours on one subject and then insufficient on another.

So there are two ways of doing this: A pre-planned timetable or a to-do list.

The timetable will probably only specify up to which subject you will study and when rather than specifying which topic from a subject. However you won't need to create a new schedule everyday so if you like your revision to be a kind of routine this is probably better.

With a to-do list you will have to create one daily but this way you can tailor to any urgencies (like due dates) or topics rather than a general subject.

2) Environment 

It is important that when you go to study there isn't too much background noise. This includes anything from crying baby siblings to your favorite playlist on Spotify, they all just make you lose your focus no matter how many times you convince yourself you're fully concentrating. Take yourself to a library or if that's too far just stay in your room. Also you want to try to keep your notes and wherever you study organized, scattered piles of paper is literally the most annoying!  

3) Resources

There are so many different resources available nowadays that there's almost too many! Firstly, get a revision guide, exam boards sell specified guides and schools usually buy them for you. Then go on your exam board site and find the specification for your course (if you don't know the exam board then ask your teacher) and go through it. This is basically a check list of everything you need to know for your exam. Once you have gone through the specification go back to the exam board site and download every past paper for your course and do it then mark it and re-revise the bits where you went wrong! If you really want to go the extra mile then check out the examiners comments, this is where answers to that paper are collected from previous candidates so that you,future candidates, can see which mistakes to avoid. These are all free and for you, so why not use them!

Some examples of revision books

4) Know your most productive time. 

No one is motivated 24/7, everyone has that specific time period where nothing gets done. The hour after dinner or lunch is common because most people just feel sleepy after a full stomach, so be smart and use that time to have fun and relax. For me personally I also never get anything done in the morning (when I'm not at school), mornings just seem to be my relaxing hours and guiltily these lasts till like 12. But my point is that you need to recognize your productive times and plan to do most of your stuff then!

Exams

1) Don't compare exams

After the exam, no matter how tempting it may be try not to compare your answers. Especially if you have other exams in the coming days because it will unnecessarily break your confidence if someone didn't write the same thing as you. Just remember that just because someone had a different answer to you doesn't mean yours is wrong, you aren't right or wrong until the mark scheme says so! 

2) Don't look at notes 

This is a tricky one, we all want to fit in every bit of revision we can during the last few minutes but honestly this is a bad idea! So don't take your notes to school on the day of the exam hoping you will learn that last little bit during your 20 minute break, because chances are you aren't going to memorize anything under that much pressure.

3) Pack everything the night before 

Pack your pencil case the night before, make sure your pencil is sharp, your pen is black, and make sure you have other things too like a rubber,sharper,ruler and a calculator.

Then put it in your school bag there and then because it's a real pain trying to find your pencil case on the day of your exam. For my first biology exam last year I had my pencil packed and ready and I thought I had put it in my bag, until I went to muster for the exam and couldn't find it-The panic on top of my nervousness really didn't go down well!


So I hope you do as well as you wanted, try not to worry too much and make sure you get rest! Good luck :)



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