Revision is on every students mind - 4 top tips.

At this time of year exams are looming and many students are thinking that they do not have enough hours in the day to revise.

I have been researching the revision mindset for a while and come up with a few golden rules for revision. Obviously, there is no 'one size fits all' however the basics are the same - prepare early - the more you do as you go through the course the easier the revision becomes and you are more likely to succeed.

Simple things to follow: 

1. Simple revision cards - make these are you go through the course and keep refining them. It is easier to keep reading a few things written on a card than pages and pages of text. The cards are a constant reminder of the text.

2. Prepare for notes well. Too many students rush their notes and they look a mess - you are the one who will be reading them so take a little extra care in preparing them. Put in extra little bits of detail and diagrams that will make learning easier (detail can be the difference of a pass and fail on a paper). Summarise notes as you go through the year. Being faced with a stack of notes at the start of a revision period is always daunting. Going over old stuff in advance, organising it and summarising takes the pressure off later.

3. Colours and mindmaps - not for everyone, however there are easy to do either by hand or there are a number of apps to help. If you are up to speed with the Apps use them, however do not get the app within 4 months of the exams as it will take too long to put all your notes on - plan ahead!

4. Past exam papers - do as many of them as you can. When they are marked as why you did not get an A* - and keep asking until you know exactly what the question was asking and where you did not quite get it right - by doing this you will firstly learn more about how to read a question and secondly, you will learn from your mistakes so that you do not make the same mistake again.