Revision Planning
Take Control of Revision
Use the 5-Step Revision guide below to help you to: breakdown what can feel like a mountain of work, allocate the right amount of revision time to each subject, keep track of revision, and reduce stress.
- Course Handbooks
- Sample and past exam papers
- Any other information you may have received from your lectures regarding the exam
Using the template on the right, list all the topics you need to revise for your exam.
Complete one topic list for each of your exams. Leave the Completion date column empty for the time being.
- Fill in the simple Word template available to the right.
- Or if you fancy a more sophisticated option use Google’s online calendar which you can access from any online computer and can be setup to send you text message reminders. If this interests you, check out the video tutorials on Google Calendar below.
Whichever option you choose, when filling in your plan, be realistic with your targets. If you think you may find it hard to keep to the schedule, it is important that you factor in catch up time slots just in case you fall behind. Also try to set aside time off for some physical activity. Once you have completed your Revision Timetable, you can go back to your Topic Lists and enter in the completion dates for each topic.
Google Calendar is a useful online tool that allows you to plan your timetable day by day and can be used as a digital alternative to a paper diary. You can access it from any computer and it can be setup to text-message appointment reminders to your mobile. The drawback is you need to be online to add events to it, however you can synch Google calendar with Outlook and most mobile phone calendars.
One of the key benefits of having your timetable entered in Google Calendar is the ability to set automatic reminders. This video shows you how to set up free email and text-message reminders within Google Calendar.
Experts agree that exercise is the best way to manage stress. Evidence shows that exercise relaxes the human body and mind. When you get stressed your body produces adrenaline. Humans are not really designed to sit at a desk and revise when stressed. High levels of adrenaline come in handy for physical activity but not for focused academic work. So try to get rid of excess adrenaline caused by stress. Have a jog or a swim or failing that run up the library stairs!
Revision Techniques
Engage your Individual Learning Style
There is evidence to suggest that each person takes in information through one sense better than the others.
For example you might be a ‘visual learner’ or a ‘kinetic learner’ (someone who learns best by doing things).
Another theory is that ‘multisensory’ learning - where you take in information through a number of senses, for example hearing text as well as seeing it - helps us learn.
Scientific evidence for these theories is contradictory and more research into this complex area is needed to fully understand how our senses are used for learning.
The thing to take from this, and what science is sure about, is that: being aware of the way you study, and personalising the way you study, is effective and improves learning.
This is called metacognition and refers to you being conscious of how you learn.
Below you will find some techniques that will engage different senses; it is up to you to be aware of what works for you and what does not.
Then try to personalise your learning, even discuss how you learn best with others, for example, your study skills tutor.
STUDY TIP
The Best Way to Learn is to Teach
If you want to memorise something ... teach it to someone else. Studies show that
we retain between 20% and 30% of what we see or hear, but we remember 90%
of what we teach others! This is pretty profound and suggests that a great deal
of education is upside down. The reality is, those that do the teaching learn the
most. So what can you do?
You could team up with someone on your course, divide the work load and
‘teach’ each other. The process of teaching - of making someone else
understand something – will make concepts, equations, academic arguments
etc far more concrete in your own mind.
A. Stimulate Your Visual Memory
Our memories tend to perform well if we associate what we need to memorise with visual cues.
Someone called Dave Farrow holds the world record for remembering a sequence of playing cards: a mind boggling 59 desks of cards.
That is a sequence of 3068 cards to remember.
Although there is a temptation to say - get a life, mate! - such incredible feats of memory are achieved by using visual memory and by creating visual associations.
To memorise playing cards, the Method of Loci, first described by the Greeks around 500BC is often used.
Unfortunately, this method does not actually help you to learn, it just helps you memorise, so it is of limited use. What we can take from this is that visual memory can be extremely strong if we engage it in the right way.
Dave Farrow was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD whilst at school, but by using his visual memory, he has developed an extraordinary memory. So, try to associate things you need to remember with visual images to aid memory recall. Using mind maps is a great way to do just this.
Mind Manager: Adding Images and Linking Maps
Mind Maps are a great way to summarise information.
Make a visual engaging map with interrelated arguments and/or facts, and then use the map to memorise information for exams. Once you have understood a topic, summarise the key information in a mind map. Humans are not designed to remember black and white text, but we are designed to remember images. Once you have produced a map of the things you need to remember for the exam, you can pin them on your wall and use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check technique to memorise the information.
Inspiration: Adding Images to a Revision Plan
Mind Maps are a great way to summarise information.
Make a visual engaging map with interrelated arguments and/or facts, and then use the map to memorise information for exams. Once you have understood a topic, summarise the key information in a mind map. Humans are not designed to remember black and white text, but we are designed to remember images. Once you have produced a map of the things you need to remember for the exam, you can pin them on your wall and use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check technique to memorise the information.
STUDY TIP
LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK
Use this technique to memorise information in a mind map:
- Have a good Look at your map
- Read it all out, Saying it out loud if possible
- Cover the map so you can’t see it (and no peeking!)
- Reproduce the map on paper – Write it out again.
- Check to see what you remembered and what you need to work on some more.
B. Engaging your Auditory Memory
If you are a good listener or feel that you process auditory information well, then you could benefit from using audio to enhance revision. Listening to lectures and inserting sound files into revision maps are two ways to incorporate auditory information into revision.
Mind Manager: Adding Sound
You can add a recording into your mind map. For example you may want to add part of a lecture or a speech. This video shows you how to do it.
Inspiration: Adding Sound and Linking Maps
This video shows you how to connect different maps together with hyperlinks. It then looks at how to add a recording into your mind map. For example you may want to add part of a lecture, or even a speech, to aid revision.
Audio Notetaker: Importing Recordings
Whilst revising you may need to make notes from lectures you have recorded earlier in the year. Audio NoteTaker is specifically designed to help you transcribe such recordings. This video shows you how to import audio files, label them and start to make notes from your recordings.
Audio Notetaker: Adjusting Playback Speed & Highlighting
You can slow down recordings which can be useful when making notes. Alternatively, you can speed up recordings which can help you get through more information in less time.
This video also shows you how to highlight areas of your sound files.
C. Engaging your Kinetic Memory
Kinetic memory can be engaged by using action or movement to form memory associations.
For example, some people use Role Play to act out events that they need to remember, though this is more suitable for some subjects than others.
However, as the Study Tip below outlines, practicing taking exams is applicable to everyone. We get better at things we do more and more, and it is beneficial to get yourself physically and mentally used to taking the exam.
STUDY TIP
Practice Past Papers!
It is really important to practice writing exams. Get yourself set up in a quiet environment with a past of sample exam paper. Set a stopwatch and write the exam just as you would a real exam. Try to spend a few minutes planning out each of your answers before you start writing and try to proof your answers all within the time limit. When finished, ask your tutor to give you some feedback on your written answers. Not only will practice help you become more experienced with exams but you may also cover areas that could come up again in the actual exam.
Taking the Exam
Writing an exam question is similar to writing a normal essay. The techniques that you use when writing a normal essay are applicable to exam writing.
Refer to the section on Essay writing, especially the information on answering the question and how to plan your answer.
Obviously, you have strict time constraints in an exam, but it is just as important to answer the question and keep your answer on track. Investing 5 minutes of your exam time planning your answer could help you gain many extra marks. Use the calculator below to plan out how you can use the time in your exam.
If you want to memorise something ... teach it to someone else. Studies show that we retain between 20% and 30% of what we see or hear, but we remember 90% of what we teach others! This is pretty profound and suggests that a great deal of education is upside down. The reality is, those that do the teaching learn the most. So what can you do?
You could team up with someone on your course, divide the work load and ‘teach’ each other. The process of teaching - of making someone else understand something – will make concepts, equations, academic arguments etc far more concrete in your own mind.
Mind Maps are a great way to summarise information. Make a visual engaging map with interrelated arguments and/or facts, and then use the map to memorise information for exams. Once you have understood a topic, summarise the key information in a mind map. Humans are not designed to remember black and white text, but we are designed to remember images. Once you have produced a map of the things you need to remember for the exam, you can pin them on your wall and use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check technique to memorise the information.
Mind Maps are a great way to summarise information. Make a visual engaging map with interrelated arguments and/or facts, and then use the map to memorise information for exams. Once you have understood a topic, summarise the key information in a mind map. Humans are not designed to remember black and white text, but we are designed to remember images. Once you have produced a map of the things you need to remember for the exam, you can pin them on your wall and use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check technique to memorise the information.
- Have a good Look at your map
- Read it all out, Saying it out loud if possible
- Cover the map so you can’t see it (and no peeking!)
- Reproduce the map on paper – Write it out again.
- Check to see what you remembered and what you need to work on some more.
You can add a recording into your mind map. For example you may want to add part of a lecture or a speech. This video shows you how to do it.
This video shows you how to connect different maps together with hyperlinks. It then looks at how to add a recording into your mind map. For example you may want to add part of a lecture, or even a speech, to aid revision.
Whilst revising you may need to make notes from lectures you have recorded earlier in the year. Audio NoteTaker is specifically designed to help you transcribe such recordings. This video shows you how to import audio files, label them and start to make notes from your recordings.
You can slow down recordings which can be useful when making notes. Alternatively, you can speed up recordings which can help you get through more information in less time. This video also shows you how to highlight areas of your sound files.
It is really important to practice writing exams. Get yourself set up in a quiet environment with a past of sample exam paper. Set a stopwatch and write the exam just as you would a real exam. Try to spend a few minutes planning out each of your answers before you start writing and try to proof your answers all within the time limit. When finished, ask your tutor to give you some feedback on your written answers. Not only will practice help you become more experienced with exams but you may also cover areas that could come up again in the actual exam.
