Apr 3, 2014 02:08 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 21, 2016 08:07 AM by Rivalry.)
Exam season is fast approaching (at least for those in the UK) and so I thought I'd try to help other people out, who maybe aren't too sure of how to revise or prepare effectively for exams. If you have any questions, post them below or send me a message :)
1) Focus (or remove anything that could be distracting at all). I have the willpower to not be distracted, but if you don't, just remove your laptop etc from wherever you're revising. Listening to music does NOT help you concentrate; it reduces the amount of information your brain retains and is distracting. Don't do it.
2) Start early. I started in March, for my GCSEs. You don't even need to do much; little and often is the best bet at that early stage. I would do about an hour a night until Easter, at which point I stepped it up.
3) Use memrise.com where possible to learn quotes for subjects like RS, History and English, or just vocabulary in your MFL or other subjects. Brilliant website, and it will drag up your grade if you use it properly regularly. I guarantee it.
4) Stay motivated. There will be days when you don't want to study. The body does what the mind tells it to do; tell yourself to study. The next 3 years will be the hardest in terms of workload and academic pressure of your life, but bear in mind that working your ass off now will pay off in dividends later, and will open tons of doors for you for university.
5) Revise in 1 hour slots. Never go over by much, never go under. After an hour, you start to get diminishing returns for your effort level, so stop.
6) Make a timetable, and stick to it. Self explanatory.
7) Pin notes around the house. I found that when there was something I had to remember, like dates in History, or a case study for Geography, just writing it on some A4 in big letters and then sticking it somewhere that I regularly walked past was useful. The back of the toilet door was always good!
8) Past papers, all the time. Learn/revise something, and then do a past question on it. It cements your knowledge and allows you to see what kind of thing you'd write in the exam, allowing you to refine your revision process. I did about 30 past papers for Maths, and about 15 for History. It pays off, big time. Do them to time, too!
9) Beat the nerves. If you've prepared properly, an exam is just regurgitating knowledge you already know. It's nothing to be scared of, so don't let being anxious ruin your preparation and cause you to fail.
10) Avoid gimmicks. Don't take 'mascots' or water into the exam hall with you. Take what you need to do the exam, and nothing more. Water will not cause you to perform better. It will simply distract you and waste your time during an exam.
11) Make notes multiple times over. Revise a topic thoroughly once, go and do another subject and come back in a few days. Try to remember as much of what you did originally as possible, and then refer to your first notes and re-write them. This strengthens your long-term memory and hastens your factual recall (by doing this I got my factual recall down to an average of 0.8 seconds on topics I was solid at, which gives you an unassailable advantage in the exam hall).
12) Learn everything. Do NOT make the mistake of thinking 'well, this barely comes up so I'll not do it'. That is the single biggest failing you can make. Revise EVERYTHING. If you know everything, the exam cannot surprise you, which will allow you to keep mentally calm and do as well as possible.
Good luck to everyone taking exams this summer, and I hope that I helped you to learn something new today, even if it was just a little.
-Rivalry
1) Focus (or remove anything that could be distracting at all). I have the willpower to not be distracted, but if you don't, just remove your laptop etc from wherever you're revising. Listening to music does NOT help you concentrate; it reduces the amount of information your brain retains and is distracting. Don't do it.
2) Start early. I started in March, for my GCSEs. You don't even need to do much; little and often is the best bet at that early stage. I would do about an hour a night until Easter, at which point I stepped it up.
3) Use memrise.com where possible to learn quotes for subjects like RS, History and English, or just vocabulary in your MFL or other subjects. Brilliant website, and it will drag up your grade if you use it properly regularly. I guarantee it.
4) Stay motivated. There will be days when you don't want to study. The body does what the mind tells it to do; tell yourself to study. The next 3 years will be the hardest in terms of workload and academic pressure of your life, but bear in mind that working your ass off now will pay off in dividends later, and will open tons of doors for you for university.
5) Revise in 1 hour slots. Never go over by much, never go under. After an hour, you start to get diminishing returns for your effort level, so stop.
6) Make a timetable, and stick to it. Self explanatory.
7) Pin notes around the house. I found that when there was something I had to remember, like dates in History, or a case study for Geography, just writing it on some A4 in big letters and then sticking it somewhere that I regularly walked past was useful. The back of the toilet door was always good!
8) Past papers, all the time. Learn/revise something, and then do a past question on it. It cements your knowledge and allows you to see what kind of thing you'd write in the exam, allowing you to refine your revision process. I did about 30 past papers for Maths, and about 15 for History. It pays off, big time. Do them to time, too!
9) Beat the nerves. If you've prepared properly, an exam is just regurgitating knowledge you already know. It's nothing to be scared of, so don't let being anxious ruin your preparation and cause you to fail.
10) Avoid gimmicks. Don't take 'mascots' or water into the exam hall with you. Take what you need to do the exam, and nothing more. Water will not cause you to perform better. It will simply distract you and waste your time during an exam.
11) Make notes multiple times over. Revise a topic thoroughly once, go and do another subject and come back in a few days. Try to remember as much of what you did originally as possible, and then refer to your first notes and re-write them. This strengthens your long-term memory and hastens your factual recall (by doing this I got my factual recall down to an average of 0.8 seconds on topics I was solid at, which gives you an unassailable advantage in the exam hall).
12) Learn everything. Do NOT make the mistake of thinking 'well, this barely comes up so I'll not do it'. That is the single biggest failing you can make. Revise EVERYTHING. If you know everything, the exam cannot surprise you, which will allow you to keep mentally calm and do as well as possible.
Good luck to everyone taking exams this summer, and I hope that I helped you to learn something new today, even if it was just a little.
-Rivalry
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