What is exam revision?
Revision is a process of revisiting your course materials in preparation for a test or exam. If approached in the right way, exam revision can be one of the best ways to gather together all your knowledge on a subject and consolidate your learning.
The more interesting, effective and enjoyable you make revision, the better your chances of exam success.
When should I start revising for my exams?
As soon as possible. The sooner you can start revising the more time you have to embed the information. Ideally by rereading notes before classes revision can take place throughout the course of the semester.
How can I revise?
Adapting to the individual exam, rather than using the same method universally, puts you at an advantage and means that any time spent revising is more effective. Targeted revision techniques create a variation between assessments meaning that revision for each exam is different and is more engaging. After reading this section, use the tabs above to see our guidance on specific exam types.
Knowing your learning style is also crucial to successful revision. What works for one student may not work for another. Finding your preferred learning style and finding ways of revising that fit that style can help make revision easier and help knowledge and information sink in.
If you have more than one exam in the space of a few days, target your time proportionately depending on the marks available.
Making a revision timetable can be effective if you stick to it. Plan breaks and time to socialise. Make the timetable flexible so that if you can adapt it if you have to miss one session.
Revision works best as an ongoing process throughout your studies. One way to do this is through making exam friendly notes and reading them before the next class.
Breaking down your revision into separate areas is an effective way of revising. One way to do this is by trying to fit all the information in a topic into a set of key cards, learning these cards and then refining the information down into one summary card for each area.
By teaching others your revision topics, you should start understanding the information. Teaching others highlights areas of weakness and can be used to target further revision.
Find spaces where you can beat procrastination, whether this means revising in the library, finding ways to avoid distractions or revising with ‘study buddies’. If working in a study group, make ground rules and work out what you want to cover before each meeting.
Varying what you do from one session to another can add interest. Setting specific tasks within a given timescale can also add more challenge and reduce the urge to procrastinate.
Spending some time learning key exam question terms is important as you will need to adapt your answers in the exam to hit these keywords if they form part of the question. These include critical analysis, evaluate and discuss, for further information these see our understanding the question skills guide.
In exams you will need to demonstrate wider research and criticality. To do this, read relevant journals and be prepared with academic comment and wider research to add to your answers. Doing this can improve your answers and place you within the top brackets of the mark scheme.
Attend revision sessions, drop ins and any opportunities to ask your lecturers questions. Although be aware that they may not be able to answer all your questions to be both fair and to ensure that the exam is challenging.
Make sure to practise writing by hand before the exam (if applicable), as in the exam you may be writing solidly for a number of hours. With practice you will be able to write ideas down quicker and better prepare your hand for the physical challenge.
If you are struggling to remember things try learning mnemonics. These are links to other things that can help provoke you to find the answer.
In ‘The Exam Skills Handbook’, Stella Cottrell (2019) suggests using a mixture of the following strategies to keep revision interesting and challenging;