Top revision tips for exams this year- Emilia Zucchelli St Philomenas

1. Past papers

With such little time before exams, practising exam past papers is the best form of revision. You can concentrate on frequent test themes by using past papers. When you take the time to carefully review previous tests, you will be able to spot specific patterns or topics that can be covered in the actual test. They also allow you to develop time management skills which is crucial for succeeding in your exams. Many students find it challenging to pass tests because they often get stuck on one particularly challenging question and spend a lot of time there. Because they were unable to respond to the simple questions, they lost a lot of points and performed poorly.

Past exam questions are the real tests that previous students took, so you can use them as a guide to determine how much time to spend on each area of the exam and to get a sense of how the test will flow.

2. Talk to your teachers

Now is the perfect time to talk to your teachers on anything u dont understand when doing your own revision. Any last minute advice you can get is crucial and will serve you well. Any questions that are unanswered due to not wanting to ask in front of classmates can be answered and no information that you think you need can be explained. 

3. Balance your revision with chill time

Revision can get stressful, when either it is getting too hard or the information is not going in your brain. When revision starts to become a headache rather than a productive session there is no harm in stopping for a while to give yourself a break. After completing my GCSES i know what it is like to feel guilty when not revising, however, i have learnt that giving yourself a break and balancing revision with chill time, it leads me to be more productive next time. Exercise especially helped me during stressful times to clear my mind and focus on something else.

4. Blurting 

Everyone finds different ways when revising that works for them. However, blurting is a revision technique that I have found works for most people. This technique is perfect when revising a few days before exams. Reading notes or a chunk of a textbook then without notes, writing everything you know onto a whiteboard or piece of paper activates your strong recall muscle. You learn in an active approach that helps this muscle operate harder when you test yourself again! This makes it easier for you to retain the material so that it will be readily available to you throughout the exam.

5. Be consistent

Consistency is key in achieving good grades. The best way to be consistent is to create a revision timetable. When my teachers nagged me about creating one of these I thought it was silly and pointless, however after creating one, I found myself more motivated and I stayed consistent with my revision as I found myself wanting to stay on track and keep to it as ticking off a revision session on my timetable became a satisfying task. Using Google Sheets or Excel or even websites that create ones for you are great tools. 

And finally, one last small tip is REVISE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. This may seem silly to point out because of course the whole point of revising is revising what we don’t know, however often we find ourselves revising the things we find easy and know because it feels good. Little do we realise is this isn’t effective at all, what’s the point in revising something we find easy? Revising something difficult and something that you don’t know gets you further!

Exam season is here, these tips will get you that one step further. Good luck!