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Studying and exams are a part of school. They aren’t anyone’s favourite thing to do, but they can be made less scary by revising effectively and having good exam techniques. Use the advice here to get the best possible preparation for your prelim and exam revision.
Revision Timetables
Revision Timetables
Creating a revision timetable helps you use your revision time effectively. You can make it on paper and stick it somewhere you will see it every day, like above your desk, or create a digital calendar that you can easily refer to on your phone.
Start your revision early and cover all the weeks until your assessments so that you aren’t just cramming at the last minute.
Use the assessment calendar to help you plan your revision.
Importance of checking
Importance of checking
Do you know the difference between being busy and thinking?
Examples of being busy include reading notes, re-writing notes, highlighting chunks of your notes with nice colours. They are all examples of being busy and giving the appearance of studying. But are these activities making you think?
If you are not thinking you are not learning.
It is really important when revising that you are doing things that help you think. Activities that encourage you to recall information, or fill in the blanks, make you think. Flash cards are great for this, as long as you hide the answers when reading back through them. Or by asking a friend to test your knowledge.
Active Revision Techniques
Active Revision Techniques
Below are some revision techniques that encourage you to think. Thinking helps you recall information from your long term memory to bring it back to your working memory. The more often you recall information, the easier you will find recalling it is. Try them out for yourself.
Flash cards
Flash cards
Flash cards allow you to practice summarizing information and can help you identify any gaps in your learning. You can use them in a variety of different ways:
condense notes about a specific topic on to a card
write a term on one side and a definition the other
write a question on one side and answer on the other
The most important part of flashcards is to test yourself! Don’t just read them, actively hide the answers so you are practising recall. Ask your friends and flatmates to test you.
Include colours and images to improve your memory, but don’t spend more time making them pretty than testing your recall of the information. There are also lots of apps available to create flashcards.
Rhymes or stories or mnemonics
Rhymes or stories or mnemonics
Use songs, rhymes or stories to learn facts - e.g. ‘Horace fell down a well and started laughing'. (Horace Wells was an American dentist and one of the first to routinely use nitrous oxide/laughing gas on his patients)
Mnemonics can also be a helpful way to memorise facts. Use the first letter of a series of words to create a phrase that is easy to remember. For example, emergency responders remember the symptoms of a heart attack through the mnemonic PULSE:
Persistent chest pains, Upset stomach, Light-headedness, Shortness of breath, Excessive sweating.
Post-it notes
Post-it notes
Post-it notes allow you to summarise information and are a great way to remember key details. Use colours to identify themes and stick them around your house - but move them regularly so you don't get used to having them in a specific place.
Practice questions
Practice questions
If you can access past papers or practice questions, working through these is a great way to test your knowledge, either by writing plans or full answers, First, try answering the questions without looking at your notes, to get an idea of which areas need more work. Then, with your notes, practise planning the framework for your answers. Use lists to compare points for and against a statement. Finally, come back and answer the question again without your notes.
You can search for previous examination papers from your subject area using the SQA past papers site.
Study groups
Study groups
Revising as a group can gives you an opportunity to quiz and test each other and share example answers. Have a go at explaining topics to others without referring to your notes. It’s a great way to aid your own memory and understanding,
Mind maps and other notes
Mind maps and other notes
Mind maps can be a great way to identify connections between ideas. They don't need to be dull, you can use colours and images, which will help to aid memory. You may also find drawing diagrams useful to remember processes or cycles. However, do not just create a mind-map from your notes and look at it. Do something with it. Test what you can remember from the mindmap. Can you recreate it without looking at? Can you reduce the concepts down even further to help you memorise them? Can you add remember examples for each of the nodes?
Spread out your tests
Spread out your tests
Test yourself on the same material at the end of the day, the next day and the week. Change up the order of what you test yourself on so that you don’t get used to the same pattern.
Keeping Motivated while Revising
Keeping Motivated while Revising
Revision is not the most exciting part of studying but it is important. Here are some tips to keep you going!
Keep in mind throughout the year that what you learn, you will need to revise later. Make sure your notes are clear and memorable. Make flashcards as you go rather than just the revision period. The earlier you start, the less you will have to do later.
Build up how many hours you spend revising in a day.
Vary the material you revise from the difficult to the more familiar. This makes it more interesting, and small chunks are easier to remember.
Vary your methods of revision. Making endless flashcards can be disheartening and overwhelming.
Aim to revise for short 45-minute sessions followed by a 15-minute break. Reward yourself with fun stuff in your break so you will be more likely to stick to your schedule!
Be strict about returning to your revision. Even when you are on a break, your mind will keep working - often sorting out complex ideas!
If you're revising independently at home, it can be a struggle to remain productive. It is important to establish a routine - set an alarm, get dressed and eat breakfast as you normally would to prepare for the day.
Studying with people can really help keep up motivation. Just be sure to stick to revision and not distract each other!
Keep notes and flashcards with you at all times, so in short moments at the bus stop or waiting in line you can test yourself for a minute or two.
Challenge yourself to remember 10 facts from your revision session yesterday. Build this number up over time.
Make sure you are sleeping and eating well and getting time away from revision so that you are stronger and more motivated when you return.
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