How to revise for uni closed book, essay exams
I'm in my third year of a Biomedical Science degree and, I've just been notified that all of my module's exams will be in person closed book. They have been in person open book restricted last year and the year before they were all online. I'm kind of panicking because the modules I have with exams are all 100% exam mark and I haven't sat an exam like this in like 5 years.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Original post by Cloudiii
I'm in my third year of a Biomedical Science degree and, I've just been notified that all of my module's exams will be in person closed book. They have been in person open book restricted last year and the year before they were all online. I'm kind of panicking because the modules I have with exams are all 100% exam mark and I haven't sat an exam like this in like 5 years.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hey,
The best way to learn lots of information is to start early and do a little every day. Key revision strategies are spaced repetition and active recall - making your own question revision cards from your notes in an app like ANKI or brainscape will make it so much easier to revise and monitor your progress.
Also find ways to make learning interesting - if you find it helpful, test your friends and get them to test you on material.
Practice the exam techniques, if you have mocks, do them in exam conditions. If not, make up your own mock questions and see how you do.
Revision is very important, but so is sleep as this is where your memories will be moved to long-term memory. Nap, and improve your sleep as much as possible (especially the night after a big day of revision) as this will really improve the amount of information you retain.
Good luck with it all! You have got this!
Evie (4th year medic at UoS)
I had the same thing last year - never did an in-person, closed book essay in two years of uni and then suddenly they turned round and decided that would be our final exam format!
Starting early and keeping on top of things is key. My personal process was to handwrite lecture notes on the slides, then as a first round of revision write those up as notes sheets and combine them with my further reading, then turn the notes sheets into ANKI decks. During my main revision time (8-10 weeks before the exams, but this was for 3 exams worth 45% of my degree) I would revise on ANKI in the mornings and then plan practice essays and do extra reading in the afternoon. I think doing a little bit of extra reading was quite helpful in that it helped put what I was revising into a wider context and it turned out some of that extra reading helped me write some more original answers in the exam itself.
Basically you need a method that allows you to test and retest yourself as this is much better for learning than just going over notes again and again. I think writing notes up and making flashcards is useful because you have to think about the information in different ways in order to put it into new formats rather than just passively copying it so I like that as a starting point and then you can use the materials generated to do proper revision.
Starting early and keeping on top of things is key. My personal process was to handwrite lecture notes on the slides, then as a first round of revision write those up as notes sheets and combine them with my further reading, then turn the notes sheets into ANKI decks. During my main revision time (8-10 weeks before the exams, but this was for 3 exams worth 45% of my degree) I would revise on ANKI in the mornings and then plan practice essays and do extra reading in the afternoon. I think doing a little bit of extra reading was quite helpful in that it helped put what I was revising into a wider context and it turned out some of that extra reading helped me write some more original answers in the exam itself.
Basically you need a method that allows you to test and retest yourself as this is much better for learning than just going over notes again and again. I think writing notes up and making flashcards is useful because you have to think about the information in different ways in order to put it into new formats rather than just passively copying it so I like that as a starting point and then you can use the materials generated to do proper revision.
Original post by Cloudiii
I'm in my third year of a Biomedical Science degree and, I've just been notified that all of my module's exams will be in person closed book. They have been in person open book restricted last year and the year before they were all online. I'm kind of panicking because the modules I have with exams are all 100% exam mark and I haven't sat an exam like this in like 5 years.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Looking back on previous exams at uni, how on earth am I going to remember so much information? I feel like I can do it, it's just that the fact that its unaided is hindering my confidence. Last year while they were in person, we did get to bring an a4 sheet of paper at least.
Anyway, any tips from people who had closed book exams. They are essay formatted by the way. How do you revise, how long for and just any tips of encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi!
I think you've had some really great advice above already.
Not sure I can add much useful info as I personally did Psychology not Biomedical Science but maybe it will be helpful; personally, I found the best way to revise for closed book essay exams was to create a general essay plan for each topic within the module and try memorise those. I then used those more general plans as a framework for the actual exam. Then you don't get overwhelmed trying to memorise every detail but have something solid to work from. Obviously learning any additional details would be helpful, but I'd say start from there and then build on top of that!
Best of luck with everything!
Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep (PhD Psychology)
Make a revision plan. If you're feeling particularly nerdy draw up a Gantt chart in Excel, where you plan to revise topic A in x days, topic B in y days etc.
Look at past papers (even if they were open book) and ask yourself what information you would need to revise to be able to answer them. Choose a couple of questions and make an essay plan for each. Then revise those topics. Sometimes you'll need to revise on your own, but it can also be fun going over topics with buddies on your course.
Look at past papers (even if they were open book) and ask yourself what information you would need to revise to be able to answer them. Choose a couple of questions and make an essay plan for each. Then revise those topics. Sometimes you'll need to revise on your own, but it can also be fun going over topics with buddies on your course.
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