Revision Tips

The S-cool Guide to Better Revision

Everyone dreads revision. It exists to be despised. But there comes a time (or several times) in everyone's life when you have to do it to get where you want to in life.

Motivating yourself to revise is one of the toughest things you have to do at school. To make it worse, there is no immediate benefit: You have to sit there for hours on end, going through endless, illegible notes (most of which are probably incomplete) for an exam that is still some time away, and to get results that won't matter until months after you have sat the exam.

The fact is, though, that the exams do matter. The results do matter. Revision does matter. Now, we don't want to scare you (as one of the best ways to revise is to relax). But at least if you really put your mind to the revision, and then don't do as well as you expected, at least you will know you have given it your best. Otherwise, you may regret it for the rest of your life!

Remember also that everyone is on your side. If you need help, ask a teacher, ask your friends or your parents. It is also good to go to all the revision classes at school, even if you think you know it already!

Plan Ahead

Before you do any work, sit down and plan what you are going to do between now and the exams. It is often a good idea to revise the areas you find most difficult first - get them out of the way and build your confidence in the subject. Creating a timetable is always useful, as your time is now previous, so make it work for you. Starting early will give you the stress free 'little and often' approach. In other words, planning not cramming.

Make Summary Notes

Gather all your material for the topic area and reduce them into brief, clear notes.

Then summarise those, and then again and again until you only need a few keywords to remind you of the whole topic!

You can carry around a sheet with all the keywords wherever you go.

Tip: An effective way to make sure you remember certain things is to invent mnemonics. For example, Never Eat Shredded Wheat (North East South West)

Understand How Your Memory Works

Some of us are better at remembering things than others. However, here is a trick that should help...

If you learn something new, in general it will already start fading in your mind after a few hours (unless it is particularly exciting). However, if you revise it again in the next four hours, it will take about 24 hours before it starts to fade. Revise it in the 24 hour period and it will last for four days, then one and a half weeks, then one month, and so on.

By setting out your revision schedule to make the most of this (learn something, revise it again after a few hours, revise it again in the next couple of days, and so on) you will be using the way your memory works to your advantage!

Put aside specific hours in the day for revision

If you set aside the hours in the day you are going to revise, and let everyone else know what these are, you can make sure you are not disturbed. You can then get into a 'revision pattern' - where your mind expects to be revising and is therefore more receptive to the material.

Try not to revise more than two subjects a day

Don't feel that you need to revise a whole topic in one go. As well as keeping a fresh head, going back the next day to finish revising the topic will renew your knowledge and hopefully help you retain the information for longer.

Eat Properly

While you are using up energy revising it is important to eat properly so that your body and your mind are fit and ready for the exams

Fish, eggs and milk are high in protein which is used by your brain. But you will need energy as well.

Nuts and bananas are good sources for this (chocolate is another good source of energy, but the effects of eating a bar of chocolate lasts for far less than eating, for instance, a banana).

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