It is hard to know how to revise for exams. Even for seasoned uni students who have been taking exams for years, it can be hard to know where to begin. It stands to reason that the first time you do this, probably for your GCSE exams, it will be all the harder. As such, I hope that this guide will help you find a study method that works for you.
For time-management tips, see my previous post!
The method
I divide learning up into 4 parts:
- Understand
- Apply
- Memorise
- Practice
By going through each of these stages, you will gain confidence in your subjects, getting you closer and closer to the grades you want.
But first, how do you know what to study?
Very simply, you should study the things you find most difficult. This is how you will gain the most marks through your hard work.
For each subject, start by going through the lists of topics and identifying the 3 topics you find hardest. Create a list of these that you can easily access and keep track of.
For me this list could have looked like this:
Chemistry: balancing symbol equations, moles, electrolysis
French: irregular present tense verbs, prepositions, the conditional
Now we get to work.
Select 1 of the topics from above and decide how long you are going to revise for. If you have low energy, I’d recommend choosing a short amount of time – perhaps 20 minutes to start with. If you have more energy, you might choose 45 minutes. If, at the end of this period, you still have energy or motivation to continue, you can always add another 20 minutes and see how you go.
- Understand
The first step in our revision process is making sure that you understand the basics of the topic. To test this, you should take out your notes or your textbook, and try to explain the content to someone who doesn’t know it. For example, a sibling, parent, pet or childhood toy. If you find that you cannot explain the content to someone else, you probably don’t understand it too well.
If you do manage to explain it to someone else, scan throught he textbook page to ensure you explained correctly and got the important details. If so, move on to the next step.
If you cannot explain the topic to someone else or if you feel confused/ overwhelmed about the topic, we will start our revision by improving our understanding of the topic.
Method:
Here we are trying to understand the topic, not memorise it or do questions. As such, focus on making it make sense to you above anything else at this stage.
There are many ways you can improve your understanding by using textbooks, online resources, and by asking for support from teachers and tutors. What is crucial is for you to create notes on the topic that make sense to your brain. As such, you shouldn’t spend hours making them pretty, but you should use the design and colours if you want to aid your understanding.
For instance, I created a poster explaining the water cycle in Biology. I didn’t understand the textbook explanation but BBC bitesize and youtube science teachers explained it much better. Making these notes took about 20 minutes. I drew the cycle out rather than writing it using words, then labelled my diagram. This process helped me to understand what I was doing and by the end I could explain the topic to someone else confidently.
Hint: DO NOT simply read through the textbook in your head and assume you understand it. If you can’t explain it out-loud, or write a quick explanation out, it’s likely that you don’t actually understand. Likewise, watching revision content without taking notes to help you understand will likely result in you forgetting the material as soon as you turn the video off. Speaking and writing help you to remember the information you’re learning!
Hint: For subjects such as maths, you may choose to include some example questions that a revision guide takes you through in your notes. Make sure you understand how the person who did the example questions got to the answer.
2. Apply
Now that you understand the topic, we need to apply it to exam-style questions.
Find an exam question on the topic. I used to use past papers, revision workbooks (especially by CGP or Pearson), and BBC bitesize.
With your notes beside you, answer the question as best you can. If it is a long question (e.g. a 6-marker) you may only do one question. If it’s a short question, (e.g. 1-2 marks) you should do several. We haven’t memorised the content yet, so you don’t need to do questions from memory.
When you’re done with the questions, find the mark scheme.
Mark your answers harshly, being sure that you’ve used all required keywords and methods. Use another colour pen to write in corrections.
If you got the question mainly correct, congratulations!
If you got the question partly right but left out some information or got something wrong, re-write the answer correctly.
You should also rewrite your answer correctly if you got it completely wrong.
Hint: Create a document or choose a notebook. In this document or notebook you should write the correct answers to exam-style questions you get wrong over the course of your revision. Have a section for each subject. This document will be great on the morning of your exam, when you’ll be able to look at the correct answers for many questions you’ve found difficult in the past.
If you got 80% of the marks available, congratulations, you’re ready for the next stage.
If you got 60-80%, have another go at some more questions.
If you got less than 60% marks, go back to the understand stage and make sure you understand all the details well. Feel free to ask your teacher for help if you need it.
3. Memorise
Now that we understand the content and can use it in exam situations, we need to memorise it!
There are many ways of memorising it, but they all centre on the fact that your brain needs to be pushed and tested in order to remember things. After all, how does your brain know that something’s important if it is never asked to recall it?
Methods that you can try:
- Quizlet flashcards
- Anki flashcards
- the Blurt method
- paper flashcards
- having a family member/ friend test you
- many other methods
Hint: Be sceptical if you choose to have AI help you with this. AI can ‘hallucinate’ information. This means that AI can competely make up ideas and present them as true. As such, AI cannot be trusted to tell you if a fact is true or false, or if it’s on the exam syllabus. By using AI for revision, you therefore risk learning false information.
I personally have flashcards for all the important facts in each module. For example, equations I may need in Physics, symbol equations in chemistry, key dates in History. I do 5 minutes of these flashcards at the beginning of every revision session for that subject, before beginning my work on the module I’m working on that day.
4. Practice
Congratulations, you’ve nearly mastered your topic! The last step is to practice using the information you’ve learnt. This process is ongoing as you do past papers over the course of revision season.
- You can do more practice questions with your notes and without a timer.
- You can do more practice questions with your notes and with a timer.
- You can do practice questions without your notes and without a timer.
- You can do practice questions without your notes and with a timer.
You should also keep going with the ‘memorise’ step for all your topics to make sure your brain remembers the key information.
This should be all the information you need in order to plan your revision for ost subjects. Many apps and videos and textbooks are there to support you. However, it is how you use them that matters. I’m going to finish up with a list of revision techniques that are not time or energy efficient, and that are unlikely to get you the result you want:
- Reading the textbook like a novel
- Watching revision videos passively
- Only working on topics you’re already confident in.
- assuming that you know information without testing whether you do.
Lastly, for skill-based subjects like languages it may be helpful to have a more subject-specific guide. I will write this in the future.
Good luck!
Lively Words 