With exam season upon us, it is a good idea to review the way that you are revising. While everyone has a different way of revising there will be methods you can adapt into your current one to make your revision more effective.
When we are revising we are usually preparing for multiple exams, therefore we don’t want to experience burn out before the first exam has even begun. When you know the dates of your exams, mark them in a calendar. Do some practice questions so that you can determine what you currently know and from that you can determine which topics you need to learn. From knowing your own learning speed, put some time aside to learn each of the topics you don’t currently know too well, then put some additional time aside to review what you already know. Once you have scheduled in some time to go over the content, you should also pencil in time to do practice questions and past papers. Practice questions and past papers will consolidate your knowledge, allowing you to put your knowledge to the test the same way that it will be tested in an exam. You will also have the opportunity to learn the style of the questions along with the mark scheme. Once you get used to doing practice questions, start trying to do them under timed conditions to emulate an exam, this will get you used to the writing speed you’ll need and you will be used to the pressure of an exam.
Once you have determined all the days you are going to revise, you need to make sure you are taking enough breaks so you have time to relax. Studying for days straight will cause you more stress than good as your brain will be under too much strain, increasing the likelihood of you forgetting important information in the midst of the exam. It is best to work for 30/40 minutes and then take a 10 minute break or work for a smaller amount of time and take a smaller break. This will allow your mind to do something else, rather than trying to learn constantly.
One thing that is often forgotten when it comes to revision is asking for help. It’s great having a good revision schedule, doing practice questions and timing yourself but if you don’t understand what you are learning, when it comes to you applying that knowledge in real life you are going to be confused. If you are an apprentice you are most likely surrounded by people who do the contents of your exam multiple times a week. Talk to the people you work with, explain what confuses you and allow them to set some time aside to explain it to you, they will probably explain it in a way that’s easier to digest and more technical that could potentially get you more marks in an exam. If you find that helpful, see if you can start going through exam questions with people at work on a regular basis, this would allow you to consolidate your knowledge even further. Your work may even find some tasks for you to work on that is similar to the contents of your exam so you will have an even better understanding of it.
