REVISION TIME!

Top 3 Ultimate Revision Tips

My how to for effective and concise revision.

The common misconception is that revision is simply memorising what you have been taught, when in fact successful revision is a completely independent skill and one that must be learnt.

Poor revision techniques can leave you more confused and will only add to the pre-exam stress. We've all been there; sat, pouring over endless pages of notes, watching the exam date loom closer and desperately willing something, anything to stick. Only to find that the revision fog has descended and we can no longer even manage 2+2!

Look no further! Below are my top three tried and tested revision techniques that helped me every time. These strategies will have you revising more efficiently and more effectively.

Tip #1 - Make It Interesting!

This seems obvious, but... how do I make my algebra notes interesting to read!?

COLOURS and LAYOUT

For me this is crucial. There is no hope of remembering anything if all I have to revise from is page after page of monochrome text.

Make revision material multicoloured. Highlight, colourise or circle key information; make it stand out. If it is pleasing to look at, you will automatically remain engaged for longer.

Your notes should be well laid out ensuring there is plenty of blank space. Too much text too close together and your brain will never be able to retain the information. Pick out important sections by centralising, bolding or capitalising.

When setting out notes for revision, less really is more. A smaller amount of well laid out colour coordinated notes will be much easier to study from than a cramped page of black and white.

Tip #2 - Make It Spontaneous!

Remembering lots of information can be one of the hardest and lengthiest parts of revision, especially when you don't know exactly which parts will be required in the exam.

This is a revision/brain game that helped me no end and I used to play (with the help of my mum) all the time in the run up to exams. The goal here is to be able to recall information when your brain is preoccupied with other tasks.

Keep the information short, keep the timing random and repeat often.

Make your own or buy revision cards, these should have short snippets of key information on them. The aim is for you to be able to recall the information on the card at random moments. This will exercise your brain and help engage your memory, which is where you want the information to be.

The game is this...

you can get friends and family to help you or you can achieve the same by yourself.

Give family members or friends a selection of cards and task them with, at random intervals, asking you a question based on one of the cards they have. For example, you could be sitting down to dinner and your sister asks you, "what is Pythagoras' Theorem?" Hopefully you will be able to tell her, or if not, she can tell you part of or all of it to help trigger the memory.

Or if you wish to do this by yourself, hide the cards around and in your room, home etc (wherever it is safe and sensible to do so). Then, one morning, when you go to get socks out of the drawer, there is a card that reads "what is the difference between continuous data and discrete data?" Answer in your head or aloud and check to see if you are right.

Not only will this help you to commit key information to memory, but should also highlight areas in which you are confident or some that perhaps need a little more revising.

Continue this exercise all the way to exam day, even if you can reel off all the answers without a seconds pause. Don't stop practicing even with the answers you know, because as your brain fills with information, it will decide entirely subconsciously what to disregard in order to make room. Be sure that it retains all that you want it to by continuously and randomly calling upon it to remember the information.

"The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in." – Henry Green

Tip #3 - Make It Rhyme

My favourite way to remember information!

Making a rhyme or phrase to help remember more complex and otherwise difficult to retain information is a great tip.

These rhymes etc. are known as mnemonics and are a systematic procedure for enhancing memory. For example, 20 years later I can still remember the order of the planets in the solar system because I know that 'Many vile Earthlings munched jam sandwiches under newspaper piles.' (yes Pluto was still a planet when I was at school). It is a great rhyme and it has nothing to do with the Planets, but it works!

You can use the usual ones that are often taught in school, such as BIDMAS and SOHCAHTOA, or you can create your own. It doesn't matter what the word, rhyme or phrase is as long as it works for you.

This is such a great technique that I will be doing a blog post focusing solely on these mnemonics for GCSE maths. Be sure to check back for this.

Tip #4 - BONUS

Don't force it!

If you are having a particularly difficult revision session; concentration failing, confused, stressed... walk away.

Don't sit staring at your revision thinking 'I must revise for at least an hour or I will fail!' I have been there, done that and made my brain hurt in the process.

Taking a break for 20 minutes will help to reset your brain. Do something that will engage your brain away from whatever it is you are revising. Read a book, listen to a pod cast, take a walk, have a healthy snack or a drink.

The key feature of this break is that it needs to be a break. Many times I have 'taken a break' from revision, only to continue going over my notes in my head and achieve nothing but a headache. Be sure to occupy your mind away from your study, you will return to your revision with a clearer head.

If you can only manage 20 minute intervals, then 20 minutes of good revision is far better than an hour where nothing goes in.

Let's Revise...

Hopefully you are feeling more confident with how to approach your revision. It is a skill to be learnt and mastered just as you learnt and mastered reading and writing.

Be patient with yourself.

If these tips have helped you and you would like more, or if you are still struggling with your revision then Click Here, to book yourself in with me for a one to one revision session. We will look at your techniques and practises and work together to improve and build effective revision skills.