Let's face it, revision isn't easy. A lot of students aren't actually taught how to revise at school which results in ineffective revision or wasting hours of their valuable time. Here are our top 5 revision mistakes that you're probably making...and how to solve them.
Not condensing your notes
Textbooks often have a lot of fluff in them and even teachers don't often word information in the simplest ways.
It is a lot more effective if you condense and rephrase the information into your own words. Firstly, you will understand the topic better as you've processed the information in your head to create your own explanation. Secondly, when it comes to revising you will find it a lot easier to read and recall.
Passive revision
Passive revision is based on recognising the content. It involves methods such as:
Highlighting
Reading
Taking notes
Passive revision is often better for recognition rather than recall which can be a big problem when it comes to exams which rely heavily on recall.
This kind of revision may lead to a lot of students believing they have spent ‘hours revising’ while they’ve been highlighting only to enter the exam room and panic when they realise nothing has ‘stuck in’ their head.
Active methods, on the other hand, seem to be harder and more 'boring' but also tend to be more successful in helping you retain information and often is more of a time effective solution.
More active methods include
Teaching someone (friend, family member) about a given topic
Answering exam questions and doing past papers
Arguing a topic with a friend
Creating quizzes for yourself or others
Revising too much
Now this one may seem a little ironic, but it is possible you could be revising too much.
If you're spending long amounts of time continuously studying with no breaks, the chance all the information is going into your brain are slim. Breaks every 20 minutes are highly recommended.
You also have to be careful you're not burning yourself out. For example, studying 10 hours a day is not an achievable long-term solution. Set aside a few hours a day and create a timetable so you are revising regularly and can schedule in breaks and hobbies.
Thinking knowing all the content will get you an A*
You may have re-read your textbook hundreds of times and can recall every fact, but this doesn’t mean you will necessarily get full marks.
A lot of exam boards (e.g. AQA) have different objectives
For example, knowing all the content in GCSE science is only 40% of the exam and comes under A01 which is simple recall
AO2 is about how well you can apply your knowledge and understanding to ideas and procedures. In science GCSE, this is equal percentage of marks available (40%) to your actual recall so is very important.
AO3 is how well you can analyse information which involves topics such as evaluation, drawing conclusions and interpreting ideas. While this is the lesser percentage (20%), it can be that difference between a grade or two.
This varies per subject, however, only knowing the content and not having the skills to apply it will not ensure you get top marks.
Not doing exam papers
As an active hater of exam papers, I understand the struggle. But exams are less and less about just knowing the content and more about testing how well you can argue a point and your ability to apply your skills.
Exam papers help you build the skills you require for exams and similar content can crop up year to year, especially in maths where the papers may be very similar but use different novel situations.
It is also a good method of practicing time management because exams can go very quickly and you have to get used to the pace of them. Some subjects advise ‘a mark a minute’
By the Students Life team
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