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We live in the information age with all the knowledge from all of the world’s greatest minds only ever a few clicks away. Which is great when you want to lose an afternoon playing The Wikipedia Game, but it can be a bit overwhelming having so much information to hand when it comes to preparing for your exams.
So what do you need to make sure you’re ready on exam day?
1. Text Books
Whatever course you’re doing, at whatever level you’re studying at, there will almost certainly be at least one – and more likely loads – of text books written just for you. If you haven’t already been given one by your school or been sent to find one in your library, then the first stop on your revision journey should be the textbooks section of Amazon where you should be able to find something suitable. All you need to do is search for the name of your subject and your exam board, and something should come up.
In the unlikely event that there isn’t a book written just for your course, then you should still get a textbook. Your best bet is asking for a recommendation from your teacher – they might even be able to loan you one.
2. Your Notes
You’ve been making detailed notes during all your lessons, lectures and tutorials right? If you have, awesome, make sure they’re on your desk in front of you at the start of your revision session. If you haven’t, it’s time to beg, steal or borrow (probably not steal) some notes off one of your classmates. It might cost you the price of a coffee to get them to agree to you photocopying a couple of years of their hard work, but it’ll be more than worth it when you start revising and you’re not having to work from a blank piece of paper.
3. Revision Guides
Just like with text books, most courses will have a revision guide specific to them. They’re definitely a worthwhile investment, but don’t focus solely on a revision guide at the expense of a more detailed textbook and lesson notes. Remember the purpose of revision guides is to remind you about stuff that you already understand. They’re not designed to teach you new information. So if you don’t understand a particular topic, don’t just memorize what’s in the revision guide because that’s not going to help you answer an 8 mark question on it. This is when you need to get your text book or notes out, or even better go and talk to a teacher or classmate and make sure you really understand. You can then use the revision guide as a reminder.
4. Exam Specifications
Not crucial if you’ve managed to get hold of a course specific text book and revision guide, but vital if you haven’t. The exam specification lists everything that you could possibly be tested on. But that’s all it does – list it. You’ll need to go and find the topics on the list in your textbook, notes or online for it actually be any use to you.
If a lack of textbook has left you having to resort to an exam specification, then I’d strongly recommend taking it to your teacher so they can help you identify exactly what you need to learn and where you can find it.
5. The Internet
Warning! The internet is a fantastic revision resource if you can trust yourself to use it properly. If you won’t be able to stop yourself chatting on Facebook or watching cat videos, then turn off your computer and go without.
But if you can be disciplined, then there are probably dozens of YouTube videos, podcasts and interactive websites dedicated to the topic you’re trying to learn. As with everything, I’d recommend you ask your teacher to point you in the right direction to avoid you spending hours trying to find useful content, but sometimes watching a video on a topic or listening to someone explain it helps something click in your mind that reading it out of a book never would have been able to do.
6. Your Smartphone or Tablet
Again, same warning as with the internet. In fact, an even stronger warning, because you’ll need to force yourself to ignore notifications, or even better, put your device into airplane mode. If you won’t be able to avoid texting, leave your phone in a different room when you’re revising. But if you can manage it, then there are more revision apps being released all the time that include most of the stuff listed in the other 5 points above.
Some of the good ones will take you through the theory as text, video, and audio before giving your the opportunity to test yourself on what you’ve just learned and even keeping track of your scores so you can see how you’re improving over time.
There are some pretty rubbish ones out there too though, so as with all the other steps, you’re better off asking your teacher for guidance about which apps are good for your subject.
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