Give your revision a makeover!

Variety is key when it comes to revision. It's no wonder you're getting bored, if all you're doing is making pages and pages of notes, or hundreds of mind-maps. Of course, you may find some methods more useful than others and that's fine; just as long as you're using a few different techniques. Hopefully, you'll find that this variety not only breaks up the monotony, but also makes it easier to remember the things you're trying to learn. This is because you should be able to visualise the poster/flashcard/colours for that specific topic.  If you're not a visual learner, then you might remember making a poster better than writing a page of notes, just as long as you don't solely rely on posters! 

Here are a few examples of some of the different methods you could try: 

Simply just adding some highlighting to your notes will draw your attention to the important parts. It's so easy to end up highlighting the entire page though, so be selective!

Mind-maps are useful for lists of things, such as these key words for the French topic 'Science et Technologie'. You can use different branches for different sub-topics, which is a good way of getting quite a lot of information onto one page.

If you've got sheets from class that you want to use, instead of spending ages copying out whole chunks into your own notes, just highlight the useful bits. You could even pick out the really important parts and put them on a mind-map.

Flashcards are great if you want to condense lots of information. It feels a lot more manageable trying to learn something from a small card, rather than pages of notes!

Posters on coloured (or just white) card/paper are a good idea if you want to have each topic clearly presented on one side of A4- you can fit so much more on a poster than you can on a piece of lined notepaper. 

This is just another example of a mind-map. You might find this amount of information a bit overwhelming, but I personally like knowing it's all in one place!

If you have to learn case studies (Geography, for example), then making a poster for each one can be quite useful, especially if you use different colours and draw tables for facts or figures.

By the time I got to my final exam, I couldn't bear the thought of having to do any more writing, so I used the computer to type up my notes. This was good because I could quickly make tables and I could easily highlight things in different colours.

So, as you can see, there is quite a big variety of methods you can try in your revision. You probably won't want to do all of them, but using just a few different techniques might hold your interest and attention for a little bit longer! But not as long as this: 

(http://ilovefunnyanimal.blogspot.co.uk/)

 Harriet

 

To cram, or not to cram, that is the question

And this (in my opinion) is the answer...

There are a couple of hours left before the exam... If you're feeling well-prepared (or even if you're not), last-minute cramming probably isn't the most productive way to spend your time. Why not try some of these ideas instead?

• Have a look at the mark-scheme for a few past papers- This will remind you of what the examiners are looking for, but doesn't involve panicking and trying to remember loads of facts.
  
  
• If you're about to sit a language exam, do something to get your brain in the zone. For example, before a French listening test, find a French radio station, or even just a clip from a previous exam. This should help with that bit at the start when they might as well be speaking Chinese.
  
  
• For exams that involve learning specific facts/ quotes/ case studies, you could remind yourself of these by looking over some of your notes.  This will probably be most useful if you've got a list of equations (or something similar) that you know you're going to need- there probably isn't much point doing this with pages and pages of notes about the Cold War, for example.
  
  
• If there's a specific thing you're struggling with, you could always refresh your memory by looking over some of your revision notes or flashcards. But, don't try and do this for the entire syllabus- it might just about sink in if you focus your last-minute cramming on just a few targeted topics, but flicking through the whole textbook will probably just confuse you and stress you out.
  
  
• If you're reading this a couple of days/ weeks before an exam, you could start a list of things to look over on the morning of the test. This way, as you revise, you can add to it with facts/ figures/ points that you think will be crucial to remember just before you go in.  Make sure your list doesn't get too long though, otherwise there isn't really much point!
  
  
• For those of you who feel, by the time the exam comes around, you're completely ready to just go in there and get all the information you've learnt down on paper, it might be best just to relax and rest your brain.  You don't want to get yourself all worked up unnecessarily, because if you feel ready, then you probably are and there's no need to be taking notes right down to the last second.
  
  
• When you're waiting outside the exam room, don't be one of those annoying people who starts loudly going through everything they've learnt and all the questions that they think might come up.  This will not only cause everyone else to panic, but it will probably confuse you too, especially when other people join in with different things that they know and you don't.
  
  

Hopefully some of the above will help you in your final hours (!)Try and take comfort in the fact that it will all be over very soon and you'll feel a lot better if you know you did all you could to prepare yourself properly.

(http://www.sprichie.com/)

Harriet

A few last-minute exam tips!

I'm sure you've heard all of this before, but it's very possible that you've forgotten in a moment of pre-exam panic. Fear not! I am here to bring you gently back to sanity (and of course provide you with a customary funny animal pic).

• Before you go in, make sure you know how long the exam is, as well as how much time you should be spending on each question. You don't want to waste time figuring out 75 marks divided by 90 minutes once the clock has started ticking...
• If you do find yourself running out of time, bullet point any key points you can remember, as you may be able to salvage some marks.
  
• If you finish with time to spare, don't sit there feeling smug; go through the paper and edit your answers to try and squeeze out every possible point.
  
• Check that you haven't missed out any pages, especially the back page- some papers seem to have been designed just to catch you out (as though the questions aren't hard enough...)
  
• If you experience The Dreaded Mind-Blank, don't freak out. Remind yourself calmly that if you were sitting at home answering this question, there wouldn't be a problem- it's just the stress of the situation.  Maybe move on to another question and come back to it later.
  
• Read the questions VERY carefully- this is pretty self-explanatory and probably not even worth saying, but you never know.
  
• Make sure you have all the equipment you need with you e.g. pens, pencils, ruler, rubber, calculator, protractor etc. Don't just rely on the invigilators having spares.
  
• Take some tissues with you even if you don't have a cold!!!- Not really a game-changer, but leaning over a desk for 45 minutes or more will probably make your nose run and no one likes a sniffer!
  
• REMEMBER THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN EXAMS! At the time, I know that this couldn't feel less true, but just trust me on this one. Even if you don't get the grades you need to get into university, so what? There's always next year and there are ALWAYS other options for you.

I hope at least one of these points has been vaguely helpful for you! Here's your funny animal, as promised...

(http://ilovefunnyanimal.blogspot.co.uk/)

Six Revision Tips to Release Your Inner-Geek

Just thinking about revision probably makes you want to crawl into a dark hole and stay there.  Hold off on that for just a moment.  Take a look at these tried and tested practical (if a little geeky) revision tips to help you make the most of your time during the exam season.

1) Make a timetable.  Probably one of the most over-used pieces of revision advice out there, but possibly a game-changer.  And no, ‘a timetable’ doesn't mean scribbling out which subjects you’re going to do each day; I promise you that you’ll feel better if you allocate topics too. This will leave you with a clear goal for each day and gives every revision slot an obvious end-point, meaning you don’t have to feel guilty about stopping and relaxing.  Better still, you’ll be confident that you’re going to cover everything in time.  Be flexible though; one topic might take longer than you thought, or you might need to spend longer getting to grips with something.  Don’t worry about this; just do a bit of rearranging.

2) Make flashcards.  These are useful for those annoying 45 minute slots between lessons or before dinner.  When you have such little time, you really don’t want to be making notes, or doing some random highlighting, because chances are, nothing will go in.  Instead, have some pre-prepared cards ready to pick up as and when.  If you study Geography, for example, you may have key terms on one side and the definitions on the other.  Or for Psychology, you could do the same with case studies.  Then, just settle down with a cup of tea and test yourself!

3) Keep your notes organised.  The thought of revision is much worse when you've got twenty things to learn, all on different pieces of paper, all in different folders.  Having one piece of paper entitled ‘Quotes to learn to show the supernatural in Macbeth’, for example, will make your life a lot easier.  At first, all this labelling and listing may seem like a waste of time; but I guarantee that this keen organisation will be worth it in the long run.

4) Plan revision breaks.  Not even the geekiest geek can study continuously from the moment they wake to the moment they flop back into bed.  Sadly, there will always be those who love to brag about the endless number of hours they spent at their desk last night, revising solidly.  I can tell you now, it’s pretty much certain that their stint of ‘solid’ slogging went something like this: open a textbook, check Facebook, make some notes, send a text, highlight a couple of pages, make a coffee, flick through a past paper, and so on.  In other words, an hour or two of concentrated, uninterrupted revision will be more productive.

5) Put your phone/ Ipod/ Ipad in another room.  As tempting as it is to ‘just quickly check Twitter’, it will be far more enjoyable in a planned revision break, as you won’t need to feel guilty for procrastinating.   

6) Use past papers wisely.  For essay-based exams, don’t try and write full answers for every single past paper you can find: there just isn't time.  Instead, plan your answers to the longer essay questions, trying to include only very key points.  It is unlikely that the same question will come up again, so there isn't much point spending hours writing endless essays on topics that might not even be in your paper.  Of course, essay practice is crucial, but just do a select few and make sure you've planned a wide range of answers so you've got every base covered in the exam.


And now that's all sorted, let this owl lighten the mood:

 (http://funnyanimalz.com/)