New to this whole "revision during easter" business

Without intending to come across arrogant or foolhardy, ive never actually revised for exams till about a week or so before exams. With A2 exams looming round the corner, i assume this isnt good. The impression ive gotten from school is that the students that want to do well, begin revision during the easter break. Ive done reasonably well using my method, but the flaws became more evident during January resits earlier this year (didnt do anything over christmas).

The purpose of this meaningless thread i here you ask? I want some tips :biggrin:

.

I decided at the start of the hols that i'd begin revision during the second half of the 2 week break - which technically speaking is tomorrow. The first problem im having is motivation. Yes, the whole "you have to meet your offer to get into uni" thing hasnt quite dawned on me yet. This is probably because my firm requires alot less than i was expecting. (Instead of AAA including A in maths, its AAB including B in maths). On top of that, im doing 4 subjects and have a very high UMS tally (not boasting lol) in one of them. As a result, as much as im trying to fight it, im slacking :frown:

. What can i do to get myself motivated? Im feeling nervous about not revising but not nervous enough to make me start revising... :eek:

Also, i think my revision plan is flawed. Put simply, ive planned to spend every day revising 6 or so hours. I can only presume this is unrealistic...and possibly part of the reason why i cant be bothered to start. So here comes question two. How much revision per day is an advisable target (bearing in mind i havent done any yet, and have the majority of my exams in June).

I know im probably asking a bit much, but any advise would be appreciated :yy:

Reply 1

Horatio Caine

I don't really know what you can do to get yourself motiviated. I got a D in my Psychology exam, and I was gutted. I was expecting to do a lot better, and I didn't revise. That basically showed me I need to revise. I also need to revise to get the grades I need to get into university.

As for how much revision you should do, noone can comment. It's quality not quantity. You need to take breaks in between revision too. If you are doing past papers, then just do the one and then take a break. If you're making notes, make sure what you're reading/writing is being stored and you're not just reading for the sake of it.

Reply 2

Eau

There are ways you could motivate yourself.

For instance, I usually prepare the best environment for studying:

(a) a clear/clean desk with all notes/textbook/revision material neatly in piles
(b) good lighting
(c) music/silence - quite important

Make sure you are relaxed and comfortable during revision. Say take a shower before revising, or doing some sports before (and/or after). I always find revision at night very effective, as it's silent and there is a perception of more time - "I could do it all night if I wanted to because there is no school tmr" - but of course I usually don't.

Your body will tell you how much revision is enough. You will get fed up after usually a few hours. Give yourself a pat in the back!

Reply 3

Andrew_2006

To be honest I'm doing AS Levels...and tend to do around 3 hours a day.

This is quality revision though, I do not let anyone distract me and just knuckle down to what I need to do. Its quality not quantity.

Reply 4

abc101

Same here...I don't see the point in revising until the May half-term, and I have no motivation to do anything now. I think so long as you do a good lot of revision from half-term onwards, you should be fine...says a fellow slacker! I'm not even motivated by being on course for an E in one of my subjects :wink:

Reply 5

arpeggio

For GCSE I didn't properly get into revision until study leave, which was a week or two before exams started. Not the best idea, and I'm kicking myself now because I know I could have done better! For AS there seems to be so much more content, so to get decent grades I'm really going to have to start earlier - I think you've got the right idea! Get up early so you can fit more in, work hard for a couple of hours, take a half hour break (do something completely different like watch TV or get something to eat) and then settle back down for another couple of hours, preferably on another subject. Personally I find that after about 2 hours my concentration starts to go, but it varies for each person... you might be one of those lucky people who can manage 8-hour sessions without losing concentration...

Reply 6

rotor

motivate yourself by saying if you fail your exams, you wont have a good career and you'll have a crappy job!
(well it motivates me, i dont wanna be a dustbin cleaner!)

Reply 7

kellywood_5

Don't stress over it too much because everyone is different. Some people have (for them) very high uni offers, have low AS/January results to overcome, need to start early because it takes them ages to absorb information or a combination of these, but if you feel confident about meeting your uni offer, have high UMS marks to fall back on and do well with late revision, good for you. You still have 2 months, so you definitely haven't left it too late. In terms of motivation, I agree with Einsteinium; if thinking about missing your uni offers doesn't motivate you, you just have to do it. Starting is always the hardest part, but once you've done that, it's not too bad. And as for how much you should do, if 6 hours seems like too much, start with 3 or 4 and gradually build it up as the exams get closer.

Reply 8

Hannah_S

domisakin, I'm exactly the same, except the January modules just gone, I had never actually revised properly, I just managed to get through my GCSEs and AS levels. But the uni I want wants BBB and I'm on BBC so I've actually decided to start revision early. Although I did plan to start last week, I also have a problem with motivation, but today I found myself really bored I actually spent most of the day doing Philosophy revision.

All I can say really is just try and sit down with the stuff you need to revise, and what I do is start to write notes using my folder (with notes from the lessons in), revision guide and text books. Eventually I start to get into it and I'm ok for a little while

Reply 9

*River

I hate revising in the holidays. I want to be out having fun instead! It doesn't help that it's so lovely and sunny outside and my siblings are on our trampoline all day!

Reply 10

yellow96

Go to page 100 of the UCAS forum and read all the stories of people failing and not going to Uni because they cocked their exams up. Also, get a really, REALLY crap job. You'll soon realise you don't want to be stuck there for the rest of your life, and you'll have a bit of money for rewarding yourself when you manage to revise. As for a target, I don't know, I haven't started yet, and I usually don't until just before the exams. Just do as much as you can.

Reply 11

icapturethecastle

lol...for my gcse's i revised the night before the exams...and it was not good..basically got less than my predicted grades...

and now at as...i really am at a loss at how to revise....
the head at school says 'easter holidays are the make or break for exam grades' ...common as it sounds its true...

good luck with the revision everyone

Reply 12

*The One

Omg tell me about it, I can see where the OP is coming from. I did some modules in january and did pretty well, so I don't feel that much pressure for the actual exams. it's just the mocks coming up.

My advice is always to work right from the begin unless you actually have the mechanical discipline to work like a robot just before the exams. For the January modules, I was away for most of the holidays, so ended up waking up at 3 am in the morning, having slept at 11:00 pm, before my economics exam to do my first bit of economics revision. It was not enjoyable I can tell you that. But I did get full UMS so hey.lol.

Reply 13

Botticello

What scared me was that I thought I did really well but got D and C which was not what I hoped for.
If it helps think of someone you really don't like at school and try to outdo them!

Reply 14

The Joker

Fear can make you do anything, every emotion is started by a thought, every physical thing on the world outside the nature realm started in the mind. Try this : Think constantly about the looming exams, make yourself uneccessarily worried and scared about failing, thats motivation enough.