Below you will find some fantastic revision tips to help you with your revising. You should be aiming to complete some revision every day, with increased focus during the run-up to your mock and real exams. The more hard work and time you put in now, the better your grades will be when you receive them in August.
- Tip 20: Stay calm and focused
- Focus on answering questions you’re confident with first. If your exam has different sections, do the section you are most confident with first.
- This will calm you down, as you know what you’re doing.
- Focus on answering questions you’re confident with first. If your exam has different sections, do the section you are most confident with first.
- Tip 19: Prepare the night before each exam
- Read through your subject-specific exam tips
- Read all your revision notes, focusing on everything you had to add in a different colour (last minute revision is the only time that you can remember what you read!)
- You may feel silly, but reading different sections in a different accent can actually help you remember!
- Write a ‘last-minute checklist’ with all the facts or information you still find hard to remember – a maximum of 20 facts
- Pack your revision notes (and your last-minute checklist!) to take to school for last-minute revision before you go in
- Get plenty of sleep! Go to bed (to sleep, not to watch TV or use your phone!) before 10 p.m. at the latest – you need 9 hours of sleep
- Tip 18: Prepare for your specific exams
- Make sure you know how to achieve maximum marks in each exam; read through the exam tips sheet and highlight your subjects
- Spend some time practising skills that are useful for all exams, e.g.:
- Reading the question properly and spotting key information
- Understanding command words
- Make sure you know what to expect in each exam – your subject teacher can help you
- Tip 17: Take ‘Active’ Breaks
- How often you need to take a break will vary for different people
- For example, take 5 minutes every 20 minutes of revision, or 15 minutes every 45 minutes
- Do something in your break – do not just use your phone! Being active will help boost your memory!
- Go for a run
- Play some football
- Use breathing techniques for focus and de-stressing
- Help with household chores
- Do 20 push-ups, squats and jumping jacks
- Try a full-body 5-minute workout
- Run up and down the stairs
- Play with your pets
- Go for a walk
Tip 16: Sleep and Eat Properly
- Sleep is more important than you’d imagine — it helps your brain store all the information you’ve learned throughout the day.
- Don’t stay up late revising; it’s counterproductive!
- Drink plenty of water
- A cup of water every few hours
- Eating healthy foods will also boost your concentration throughout the day. Choose:
- Oily fish (tuna, salmon)
- Nuts
- Eggs (also in quiche, omelette, pancakes, Yorkshire puddings and cake!)
- Fresh fruit and vegetables (especially strawberries and broccoli – but maybe not together!)
- Brown bread and wholegrain cereal
- Tomatoes (including ketchup)
- Tea or coffee (no more than 2-3 cups per day, and not after 6 p.m.) Do not drink energy drinks. They contain too much caffeine and don’t actually help long-term memory
- Dark chocolate, but not too much!
- Tip 15: Revisit past topics
- Revisiting topics regularly is key to building long-term memory
- Go back to topics you’ve already revised, to check that you still remember
- Make sure you pick topics you found difficult to remember
- If you’re struggling with something, add it to your timetable so you don’t forget to revisit it
- Tip 14: Take your revision with you
- Visiting friends or family over the weekend? Don’t leave your revision at home!
- Don’t take too much! Be realistic and stick to a couple of subjects
- Get them to help you by asking questions using flashcards or post-its
- Teach them something new (90% retention!)
- This applies for half-term too!
- Tip 13: Use post-its
- Write a question on the front of a post-it, and the answer on the back.
- Or a keyword on the front and definition on the back
- If you struggle to think of questions, use past exam papers and mark schemes
- Stick them around your bedroom, (on objects you use often, or just on your wall or door) or even around the house!
- Every time you walk past, read a post-it, and see if you know the answer on the back
- If you get the question correct, take the post-it down (move it to a ‘know’ pile, or donate it to a friend!)
- If you get it wrong, stick it back up until you know it!
- These can also be used to get others to help you revise – give them your pack of post-its and get them to test you
- Tip 12: Don’t just do the ‘easy’
- It’s tempting to focus on topics you like, but now is the time to ensure you are covering what you don’t like
- Don’t leave tricky topics too late! You need time to process the information and revisit it again
- Add the most difficult topics to your revision timetable to make sure you don’t miss them
- Don’t forget, keep doing 45 minutes per subject, per week
- Tip 11: Use diagrams to show information
- Diagrams are a great way to simplify complicated information
- These work best when you create them yourself
- Try turning information into:
- Flow charts
- Tables
- Venn diagrams
- Timelines
- Visual organisers
- You can then use them to revise before an exam
- Tip 10: It’s not too late to make a difference
- Most people have been revising, but, if you haven’t, then it isn’t too late to start
- 45 minutes per subject, per week
- If you’ve been revising, are you doing what is most effective? Remember:
- Write specific topics on your revision timetable, and stick to it!
- Don’t just read notes, make notes!
- Use recall strategies to test yourself (past questions, using flash cards with answers on the back, reading a page then writing bullet points of what you remember…)
- Tip 9: Use a variety of revision strategies
- Don’t just stick to the ones that you like. You may find something new works even better!
- Try:
- Teaching somebody else (90% retention!)
- Your grandma or little brother would love to learn about what an atom is…!
- Create mnemonics
- It’s best to come up with your own (80% retention!)
- You can make these on flash cards
- Tip 8: Create flash cards
- These work best when you create them yourself
- You can write a question on the front, and key points to include on the back
- This way, other people can help you revise really easily, as the answers are on the back!
- Don’t just copy information onto them; use your memory
- Write a keyword or topic title (using your revision book for help as to what to choose)
- Read the relevant part of your revision book
- Go back to the card and write notes from memory about the keyword on it
- Check it’s correct, and add missing information in another colour
- You can then find the relevant topic card for help when you come across the word again
- Tip 7: : Complete past exam papers and questions
- You’ll find it far easier to answer questions in the exam if you’ve tried similar ones at home beforehand
- Treat past questions and papers like an exam:
- Time yourself
- Attempt all questions
- Work in silence
- No cheating!
- Mark the paper yourself, adding corrections in a different colour
- Ask your teacher which exam board and specification you are doing – you will find lots of past papers and mark schemes online
- Tip 6: Test yourself
- Trying to retrieve information from your brain can double the amount you remember
- This can be achieved by any sort of recall activity (it doesn’t have to be exam questions):
- List all the keywords you can remember for a topic, and write the meaning of each one
- Answer questions without looking at your book for help
- Write about a topic from memory
- Create a mind map linking topics together
- Ask a friend to ask you questions
- Don’t forget to check if you were correct, and add anything you missed (using a different colour really helps!)
- If you’re struggling to remember a topic, add it to your revision timetable to cover again
- Chunk your revision
- You need to revise for 45 minutes per subject, per week
- But study little bits of topics regularly
- For example, you could spread your 45 minutes of revision for each subject every week into 3 lots of 15-minute revision sessions on different days
- Spacing out each topic will help you remember it
- Tip 4: Don’t just read your revision book!
- You will only remember around 10% of what you read!
- You need to write things down (but do not copy out large amounts of text)
- Instead of reading, try summarising key points from the revision book, by
- Writing up to 5 key bullet points on each topic and underlining or highlighting key words
- Creating diagrams or flow charts to represent information
- Tip 3: Avoid distractions
- Revise somewhere with good lighting, with your pens close by, your phone out of sight and your TV and music off
- Music does not help people learn new or complex material. You learn better in a quiet environment (music takes up space in your brain that you could be filling with information!)
- If you must, reward yourself by checking your phone after a block of revision, at least 20 minutes! (You could even ask someone to look after it for you to avoid temptation!)
- Tip 2: Plan your revision using a timetable
- Planning your revision means that you can spend more time revising and less time worrying that you’ve forgotten something.
- Spread your subjects out during the week
- Be specific – say which topic you will revise. Have a list of topics, and tick them off when you’ve added them to your revision timetable
- Use your revision book or exam board specification to help you know which specific topics you need to cover
- Don’t spend hours making a beautifully drawn, colour-coded timetable – you may end up spending longer planning than actually revising!
- Tip 1: Start now! (if you haven’t already)
- The earlier revision starts, the easier it is for your brain to remember more information
- Decide to do 45 minutes tonight (not homework, but extra revision of your choice!)
- If that seems like a lot, do 20 minutes, have a 5-minute break, and do another 20 minutes.
