My Top 5 Favourite Revision Techniques

It’s always useful to hear the techniques other people use for exam-prep, especially if you’re not so sure what techniques work best for you!

It’s important to keep in mind that different revision techniques work best for different types of exam. For instance, revising for a multiple-choice exam would differ to studying for an essay-based exam. Check out my top 5 favourite revision techniques below:

• Draw up a revision plan – I can’t emphasis enough how important it is to create a revision plan before delving into your revision. Make sure you write down how long you’d estimate it will take to cover each topic thoroughly, dividing your remaining time carefully before your exams.

• Make notes from your lecture and reading notes – Personally, I find that re-writing my notes helps me to memorise them better. Your new notes shouldn’t be as thorough as your originals, instead make them concise and easy to read.

• Make flashcards – Flashcards are my favourite method to revise key points, key individuals and dates. I tend to write the name, event or subject on one side of the flashcard, and on the other side, I write the relevant information that needs to be memorised. Just to give an example, if I were making a flashcard to remember information about Albert Einstein, I would write his name on one side of the card, and on the other side I would write what he’s achieved as a scientist, important dates in his career, etc.

• Read widely to understand the topic – I find that reading over the books on your module’s reading list as part of your revision can really help to re-enforce the overall gist of the topic in your mind. If you have time, especially if you’re a university student, remember to read outside of the reading list provided to you by your tutors/lecturers, as this can really give you an edge during your exams!

• Practice past exam papers and questions – It doesn’t matter what type of exam you’re doing, whether it be multiple-choice or essay-based, it’s very important to do a good few past exam papers before going into your exam. If you go into your exams without having covered any past papers, you’ll be technically doing your exam for the first time! However, if you cover some past exam papers as part of you revision, you’ll have already been through similar questions to what you’ll face in your exams! Remember, it’s also a good idea to time yourself when you’re working through past papers as it will give you a more realistic exam experience.

I hope these revision techniques have helped you figure out how you’d like to revise for your exams! List your favourite methods in the comment section below! And most importantly, be confident, get plenty of sleep, don’t stress yourself out too much, and do your best!