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How do you revise for exams at uni?

I really hate the 'read through notes + textbook method'. I get so bored and I don't retain the info.
How do you study most effective and get good marks??

Reply 1

SophieSmall

Practise exams and questions, seriously was a life saver.

Reply 2

RichardTheProf

Original post by StarSurvivor

I really hate the 'read through notes + textbook method'. I get so bored and I don't retain the info.
How do you study most effective and get good marks??

You have to keep revision as active as possible. Aiming to read 10,000 words in a day would bore even your professors and is effectively lazy revision (lazy because it involves no critical thought).

Real, effective revision should be focused and exhausting because you are constantly thinking.

Firstly, PLAN. Break down your course into manageable chunks and then find as many exam questions and problem set questions as you can on each. This will take at least a day, and most students shy away from it because they feel that time spent planning is take taken away from revision, when really you are planning how to use the remaining time well. The exam must be your main focus, and too often the notes + textbook won't be of any help in the exam because the questions are in a different format.

Secondly, CREATE. Now that you have the specific questions in front of you, create model answers (using solutions to perfect them if you have access to them). Try and create really condensed A4 sides that just answer a common question on a specific topic. These are then usable in your exam. Plus, the more time you spend looking and thinking about exam questions, the more familiar you will become with your lecturer's style. Again, many of my university students (I'm a professional university tutor) come to me because they feel that the exams are nothing like their lecture notes, and don't know how to apply one to the other. Use coloured paper and pens, record cards and post-it notes. Anything that keeps your brain engaged will 20 times more likely to be remembered.

Lastly, don't be put off by the time it takes just to go through one week. It may well take 4-6 hours just to really get to grips with a single topic (or even a lecture slide) but once it is cracked, you will remember it and you will succeed.

Best of luck!!!

Reply 3

SecretDuck

To get top marks, your explanation of every topic shouldn't mimic the lecturer's. You would have many modules and several textbooks - and two textbooks would approach a certain topic a different way.

For example, you may find a wordy approach in one textbook and another approach which is more mathematical in another.

As long as you then structure your answer correctly and get the same answer, you can get a high 2.1 or even a first.