Afternoon everyone!
How's your day going? Is it well?
Guess what, your exams are probably sooner than you think they are. I am sorry to be the bringer of the bad news. Let's go over some revision tips and tricks to help you conquer through all your exams. I want to preface this by saying that I am not an expert at taking exams. The following tips are simple methods you could try out. Some might work for you and some might not. Not everything will work for everyone. I have broken it down into different learning styles but don't let that stop you from using whatever methods takes your interest.
Visual
1) Create mindmaps or brainstorms. Mindmaps are basically a tree that breaks off into branches with information about the central topic (bark of the tree). Each branch then breaks off further for more detail or explanation. This video explains concisely how to mindmap. This method can be useful in so many different subjects. If there is a subject that requires you to remember a lot of key factual detail that link together or connect in some way, this method can be perfect. Brainstorms are not as organised as mind maps are. I used to love making brainstorms while discussing characters or themes or tropes from literature while revising English literature. This really helped me recall information from my memory.
2) Colourful flashcards or notes. Associating information with colours or bold headlines or subtitles can be very helpful. Colourful flashcards were particularly helpful when I had to memorise cases and keywords with legal definitions. Using bold headlines or subtitles can help you compartmentalise information in a concise manner that it remains more organised in your head. Colourful and visually aesthetic notes were very useful when I was revising essay plans as I would remember the particular colours or way I had a definition or information written down.
Aural
1) Reading and repeating notes or information. You can read and cover-up content then recite the thing you've read over and over again until it sticks in your head. With this method, repetition is key and timed repetition is specifically more helpful. Leaving some time between your repetition will help the information be instilled in your long term memory. This will allow you to retrieve the information in an exam setting more easily.
2) Explaining to someone else the content you are revising. This will help you test your own knowledge and increase your engagement with the information. Teaching someone else or explaining to someone else the information will help you organise the information better and help you create logical connections with the information. The ease and comfort of explaining to someone else the information can help you be more encouraged to be more and more informed. Hearing the information, again and again, will help to cement it in your head.
3) Recording and listening back to revision material. I used this method for a lot of my essays. I found that the more I heard the information, the more I remembered so I simply recorded myself reading my essay plans and played it over and over again throughout my revision period. This was very helpful because I was able to recite back any of the essays that came up in the exam. Since the information was repeated so many times, I could remember the authorities for the essays easily too.
Verbal
1) Testing yourself and your friends. Verbal methods are so apt for use in a peer revision session because you can test each other and talk about any gaps in your revision. Testing your friends and being tested will help you reflect on how much of the information you can recall. It can help get an understanding of what information you are comfortable with and what information you need more work on. It will also help you become more engaged in the information.
2) Explaining the content to someone else or teaching someone else. Teaching someone can really make you engage with the content in a more organised and concise manner. Often when we revise by ourself, we can overcomplicate things. Attempting to teach someone the content will force you to think through the content on a deeper level and encourage you to be more concise and really ensure you are adhering to the criteria. I used to do this during my A-levels to revise particular biology topics and English literature topics as it really helped to consolidate the information in an organised manner.
3) Teaching yourself in front of a mirror. If you have no one you can explain the content, you can just speak to yourself. I used to do this during my first and second of the university to revise essays and problem questions. Hearing myself work through the content repetitively allowed me to really remember the information during the exam.
4) Blurt method. I learned this method from UnjadedJade. The method is simply covering a single flashcard or topic or module and repeating it and blurting out different aspects using an outline or prompts until you fully have it stored within your head. You can write the information down on some scrap paper or just saying the information out to yourself. I used the second method. I would pair this method with a lot of colours and calligraphy as it helped me associate the information with a particular colour or font and it was a lot easier to remember the information.
Physical
1) Revising each part of the module or each topic in a different room. This will again help you associate the information with a particular room or area in your house and it will help the information be more compartmentalised and accessible. When you are writing assessments you can recall the information and apply the information as and when required. This method is similar to chewing flavoured gum.
2) Creating print out puzzles and putting them together. I did this during my LPC to have more engagement with procedure plans. I printed out the different aspects of the procedures we had to learn and then cut them out and just applied the print outs to different circumstances. I also did this for some topics for family law as some of the topics had a particular format. Using this method helped put together the format of the answers and helped with my memory.
Logical
1) Flow charts. When I would study with my classmates, we would draw up different flow charts for the format of answers. We would use the whiteboard. We use arrows and shapes to recall the information. Creating flow charts helps create connections throughout the module. It also makes the information concise and formatted together to help with applying the information to a client's circumstance or a particular question.
2) Creating equations for different problem questions. This can be super simple a variable input leading to a variable output with invariable aspects that will change said input. It can be inserting different aspects of the question together into an equation to help remember the contents. Creating equations is so useful for remembering criteria or qualifications necessary to apply something else.
3) Creating input based outcome diagram and concise the information using symbols or colours. As like above, this just adds a visual aspect to visualise the information together during exams or practice.
Solitary
1) Practise questions. This will take away the fear of the unknown. It will also help you be aware of any potential questions that can appear and all the possibilities and tricks that the examiner might have set. It will show you gaps in your knowledge and things you need to revise more and things you are confident on. It will also help with recalling the content and information. I did all the mock questions and tutorial questions to be aware of all the potential questions that could be asked. Honestly, this will just take away the nerves with the unknown.
2) Exams in timed conditions. As above. It will just help you understand just how much time you have and help you with creating a battle plan for how you sit the exam so that you are not wasting your time. It will help you understand how much reading time you will have and the amount of detail you can put into each answer in relevance with the marks awarded for the answer.
3) Essay plans or brainstorms in timed conditions. This is similar to practise questions. I did this a lot with essay based modules as it helps move through the information far more quickly and if you are in a rush you can get through more practice questions and it will help you widen your awareness further. Timing yourself will make you more familiar with how much time you have and how you can prepare yourself before you start to make sure you are utilising every single second possible.
Those were a huge load of tips to help with you during this awful revision period. Good luck with all your exams. Believe in yourself and you will succeed. I will see you in my next post!
Sincerely Sinthu
How's your day going? Is it well?
Guess what, your exams are probably sooner than you think they are. I am sorry to be the bringer of the bad news. Let's go over some revision tips and tricks to help you conquer through all your exams. I want to preface this by saying that I am not an expert at taking exams. The following tips are simple methods you could try out. Some might work for you and some might not. Not everything will work for everyone. I have broken it down into different learning styles but don't let that stop you from using whatever methods takes your interest.
Visual
1) Create mindmaps or brainstorms. Mindmaps are basically a tree that breaks off into branches with information about the central topic (bark of the tree). Each branch then breaks off further for more detail or explanation. This video explains concisely how to mindmap. This method can be useful in so many different subjects. If there is a subject that requires you to remember a lot of key factual detail that link together or connect in some way, this method can be perfect. Brainstorms are not as organised as mind maps are. I used to love making brainstorms while discussing characters or themes or tropes from literature while revising English literature. This really helped me recall information from my memory.
2) Colourful flashcards or notes. Associating information with colours or bold headlines or subtitles can be very helpful. Colourful flashcards were particularly helpful when I had to memorise cases and keywords with legal definitions. Using bold headlines or subtitles can help you compartmentalise information in a concise manner that it remains more organised in your head. Colourful and visually aesthetic notes were very useful when I was revising essay plans as I would remember the particular colours or way I had a definition or information written down.
Aural
1) Reading and repeating notes or information. You can read and cover-up content then recite the thing you've read over and over again until it sticks in your head. With this method, repetition is key and timed repetition is specifically more helpful. Leaving some time between your repetition will help the information be instilled in your long term memory. This will allow you to retrieve the information in an exam setting more easily.
2) Explaining to someone else the content you are revising. This will help you test your own knowledge and increase your engagement with the information. Teaching someone else or explaining to someone else the information will help you organise the information better and help you create logical connections with the information. The ease and comfort of explaining to someone else the information can help you be more encouraged to be more and more informed. Hearing the information, again and again, will help to cement it in your head.
3) Recording and listening back to revision material. I used this method for a lot of my essays. I found that the more I heard the information, the more I remembered so I simply recorded myself reading my essay plans and played it over and over again throughout my revision period. This was very helpful because I was able to recite back any of the essays that came up in the exam. Since the information was repeated so many times, I could remember the authorities for the essays easily too.
Verbal
1) Testing yourself and your friends. Verbal methods are so apt for use in a peer revision session because you can test each other and talk about any gaps in your revision. Testing your friends and being tested will help you reflect on how much of the information you can recall. It can help get an understanding of what information you are comfortable with and what information you need more work on. It will also help you become more engaged in the information.
2) Explaining the content to someone else or teaching someone else. Teaching someone can really make you engage with the content in a more organised and concise manner. Often when we revise by ourself, we can overcomplicate things. Attempting to teach someone the content will force you to think through the content on a deeper level and encourage you to be more concise and really ensure you are adhering to the criteria. I used to do this during my A-levels to revise particular biology topics and English literature topics as it really helped to consolidate the information in an organised manner.
3) Teaching yourself in front of a mirror. If you have no one you can explain the content, you can just speak to yourself. I used to do this during my first and second of the university to revise essays and problem questions. Hearing myself work through the content repetitively allowed me to really remember the information during the exam.
4) Blurt method. I learned this method from UnjadedJade. The method is simply covering a single flashcard or topic or module and repeating it and blurting out different aspects using an outline or prompts until you fully have it stored within your head. You can write the information down on some scrap paper or just saying the information out to yourself. I used the second method. I would pair this method with a lot of colours and calligraphy as it helped me associate the information with a particular colour or font and it was a lot easier to remember the information.
Physical
1) Revising each part of the module or each topic in a different room. This will again help you associate the information with a particular room or area in your house and it will help the information be more compartmentalised and accessible. When you are writing assessments you can recall the information and apply the information as and when required. This method is similar to chewing flavoured gum.
2) Creating print out puzzles and putting them together. I did this during my LPC to have more engagement with procedure plans. I printed out the different aspects of the procedures we had to learn and then cut them out and just applied the print outs to different circumstances. I also did this for some topics for family law as some of the topics had a particular format. Using this method helped put together the format of the answers and helped with my memory.
Logical
1) Flow charts. When I would study with my classmates, we would draw up different flow charts for the format of answers. We would use the whiteboard. We use arrows and shapes to recall the information. Creating flow charts helps create connections throughout the module. It also makes the information concise and formatted together to help with applying the information to a client's circumstance or a particular question.
2) Creating equations for different problem questions. This can be super simple a variable input leading to a variable output with invariable aspects that will change said input. It can be inserting different aspects of the question together into an equation to help remember the contents. Creating equations is so useful for remembering criteria or qualifications necessary to apply something else.
3) Creating input based outcome diagram and concise the information using symbols or colours. As like above, this just adds a visual aspect to visualise the information together during exams or practice.
Solitary
1) Practise questions. This will take away the fear of the unknown. It will also help you be aware of any potential questions that can appear and all the possibilities and tricks that the examiner might have set. It will show you gaps in your knowledge and things you need to revise more and things you are confident on. It will also help with recalling the content and information. I did all the mock questions and tutorial questions to be aware of all the potential questions that could be asked. Honestly, this will just take away the nerves with the unknown.
2) Exams in timed conditions. As above. It will just help you understand just how much time you have and help you with creating a battle plan for how you sit the exam so that you are not wasting your time. It will help you understand how much reading time you will have and the amount of detail you can put into each answer in relevance with the marks awarded for the answer.
3) Essay plans or brainstorms in timed conditions. This is similar to practise questions. I did this a lot with essay based modules as it helps move through the information far more quickly and if you are in a rush you can get through more practice questions and it will help you widen your awareness further. Timing yourself will make you more familiar with how much time you have and how you can prepare yourself before you start to make sure you are utilising every single second possible.
Those were a huge load of tips to help with you during this awful revision period. Good luck with all your exams. Believe in yourself and you will succeed. I will see you in my next post!
Sincerely Sinthu
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