Revision tips and tricks

Plan out your revision

I always find that planning out revision is always so much more appealing than actually doing the work! If there was an exam in efficient planning, that would be great for me! Unfortunately, I won't be sitting that test but I do find that planning out what you want to revise is helpful! It gives me some daily goals and it keeps me more motivated as I like to tick off things once I do them! I have a weekly planner so I can see my revision on a wider scale.

Take regular breaks

I used to revise for about 2 hours without taking a break and this wasn't helping me at all. I'm not sure about others but I learn best in short snippets of time! If I revise intensely for 30mins, I will actually be able to memorise more things than if I was to revise for longer. Taking breaks gives your brain a chance to have a breather. I like to revise for 30mins and then have a 5minute break!

Don't over revise

This is similar to revising for long periods of time with no breaks. If you set yourself to much to do in a night, the likelihood of it is that you won't be able to complete everything. Learning something really well is much better than kind of understanding lots of topics. It may actually save you time in the future because you won't have to keep going over things that you've already revised - the information will be stuck in your head.

Make revision fun

This might sound strange to some as revision isn't typically what many people want to spend their time doing and it isn't always a fun exercise. However, making revision fun will make you more willing to spend time on it rather than procrastinating - my worst enemy! I like to do this by using sparkly pens, lighting a candle, listening to some gentle music and coming up with some weird revision techniques. My friend and I once came up with a rap for Chemistry and I can still remember it! Revision won't always be thrilling but it can become more bearable.

Mindmap and questions method

For me, this is how I best revise. I started using this strategy a couple of weeks ago and it's really been helping me retain information. What I do is draw out a mindmap for a specific topic and on that page I include everything that I need to remember. I will then write a question sheet in which the answers are on the mindmap. Next, I put together an answer sheet for these questions without looking at the mindmap so I'm answering the questions just from the knowledge that I have gained from completing the mindmap. Finally, I will check my answers with the ones on the mindmap and if I have missed out any key information, I will add it to the answer sheet. I then have a revision source that I can keep going back to. 

Stick important information all over your room

If you are seeing something everyday, you are more likely to remember it! I like to draw out important diagrams or equations that I need to revise and stick them on my wardrobe door, making sure that the writing/drawings are big enough that you can see them from a distance. I haven't been doing this long enough yet but in a couple of weeks, I will swap out the posters and put up some new ones.

Have the end result in mind

To put it simply the revision is for the exams that you will be sitting. For me, once these are over, I have the whole summer off where I can switch my mind off from school work. I hope that putting in all of the effort now will result in me being proud of the grades that I achieve. When I'm having a boring night revising, I think about all the fun that I can have once the exams are over!

Do you have any tips and tricks that you use for revision? I'd love to know! 

xox