Hello lovelies, following on from my exam on Tuesday I am doing a blog post today all about revision tips and giving you all an insight into how I revise. I often hear people say things like “Urgh I hate revision” and I wonder … Why?! I get that no one likes coming home to do homework or other work, but if you perfect your revision technique it really doesn’t have to be something to dread – you may even start to look forward to it whaaaat.
So here is my short little guide on how I do my revision to make it more interactive and enjoyable. Obviously we all work differently, and what works for me may not work for you – but I hope that the one thing you take away from this post is to make revision fun in order to stop yourself procrastinating, and most importantly, to get yourself learning!
Divide your revision into memorable topics, groups, titles or themes. I find this to be the easiest place to start in order to get myself thinking about what I should be focusing on for my exam. This makes your revision manageable and cuts out any unnecessary information before you waste your time factoring it in. I find it really helpful to assign a colour to each topic at this early stage in order to make my mind associate each topic with a colour. I sometimes find myself in an exam thinking “Yep I remember this bullet point which was on my red page” for example – it’s amazing what a little bit of colour can do!
Go through your notes and highlight key information. If you can, try to match your highlighting with your theme colours – once again, this helps your mind put things into groups of revision for you. This key information will be used later for spider diagrams and further notes so be critical with yourself – do you NEED to remember that? Is it likely to come up in the exam? Don’t try and overload your brain with useless facts! Keep it simple.
Make spider diagrams, graphs, grids or lists – whatever works for you! For this stage I always invest in a cheap A3 sketching pad, found in most stationary shops, as this allows for more room for creativity! I’m a very visual person and find that spider diagrams are best for my sort of learning – but if you feel more comfortable writing things into lists or other formats, go for it! Keep up your colour coding, doodle on the page – whatever helps to brighten up the page and make your notes memorable! 
Shorten your notes to fit onto memo cards. For this step, you will be taking all the absolutely VITAL pieces of information which you will need for your exam. I find the memo card stage really helpful as I can carry them around in my bag and crack them out whenever I get a spare two minutes to test myself or have a quick read through. You can once again purchase a colourful and cheap pack of these from most stationary shops – I know I keep harping on, but once again, stick to your colourful themes, I promise it helps! 
Recite, rewrite, underline, doodle – whatever works for you! In the final few days before the exam DO NOT ADD ANY NEW MATERIAL TO YOUR NOTES. This is key because your mind will go into panic mode and potentially throw out really important/ well remembered bits of information to make room for your last minute sloppy attempts at trying to cover everything. Have faith in the revision you have done so far, don’t panic – you have prepared well! What works best for me is to keep copying out my notes over and over again (this usually does result in really poorly hands and wrists but it works well for memorising things). I know some people learn better through listening or reading aloud or drawing pictures – do whatever is best for you! Only you know how you revise so have faith that you are in control and don’t worry if your friends are doing it differently.
MOST IMPORTANTLY… Relax. Take regular breaks throughout your revision. I would probably advise at least 30 minutes to an hour a day before bed of ‘me time’. Whether that be catching up with things on Twitter, watching your favourite programme, reading a good book, treating yourself to a facial mask, or trying out the Pocket Yoga app I recommended on my last post about panic attacks (the link to which you can find here). Whatever you like! It’s so important to take a breather during revision time and to not send your brain into panic mode.
I really hope this has helped those of you who are currently revising for exams, whether it’s for your GCSE’s, A Levels, Degrees, for work, or any other qualifications, GOOD LUCK! Remember: You’ve got this! As long as you have given it your all, you should be proud of yourself and proud of the work you have achieved!
I hope you have enjoyed this post about revision – I meant to do it sooner but my own revision kinda took over! Are you doing exams at the moment? Do you have any revision tips of your own? Would you like to know anything else about my revision technique? Please get in touch via commenting below, I’d love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to follow me on my other social media accounts.
Twitter Instagram BlogLovin’ Pinterest Facebook Google+
