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How to revise in March: The Long Revision Season [Guide]

Welcome to March's "What should I revise now" post! We're in the midst of the long revision season right now, so as long as you're not currently meant to be revising then settle down and read our best tips to those who are revising for exams now.

RevisingAt this stage, the Easter holidays are approaching and the mention of exams will inevitably be bounced around. To best prepare, your revision should now become much more structured and you should have a plan in place to follow to ensure you cover all the topics in time . Break down the topics you need to cover for each exam and allocate it specific slots in your calendar, or create a revision planner using TSR’s very own tool!

One thing that is really important, is that you plan for breaks . Make sure you have frequent opportunities to step away from your work, get something to eat/drink, do some exercise or just clear your mind. Self care is just as important as understanding the material, so ensure you have some “me” time.

As with the other guides, we have a final set of specific revision advice for music and other creative subjects. You can also read our previous advice in the following links: English and Science, maths, history and RS and geography and foreign languages.

Music

Written by @furryface12
Music can be a hard subject to know how to revise for. The main and most important thing with your set pieces is just to listen to them. Have them on while you're eating breakfast, on the bus, in the bath, anything. Really get them into your head! If possible also go through them with the score- you could even annotate it with different features. Other than that, make sure you know at least a few key points about each for example the key it's in, period or genre, and a bit about the context. This should give you something to talk about and, if necessary, you can work most of the rest out from the music in the exam.

Other than that it varies by level and exam board what will be in your exam- find that out now! Make a list of things to look out for if there's an unheard part of the exam, and practice with random pieces from different areas. With harmony and theory practice is also important, and writing a list of the key rules to learn could also be helpful.

Finally, a note about coursework. With all the exam changes this comes in different forms, but as much as you can do get it done now! The sooner it's over with the sooner you can get on with focusing on your exams. Even if you can't submit or record it yet, get as far as you can so it's all ready to go come the exam period. Good luck!

Written by @Lemur14
For these relatively more creative subjects, you may have some of your grade already banked due to coursework. However, you shouldn't get complacent and should still do plenty of revision for them. For some of these subjects you may be given a case study to work with. If this is so, you should make sure you have read it several times, and brainstormed ideas surrounding it to ensure the exam questions based on them are as easy as possible.

For these type subjects there is often a certain amount of rote learning. To do this you could use flashcards, notes or posters (among other techniques) to help you learn them. You should also practice applying this knowledge to exam questions through past/specimen paper questions. You may also have design based questions, which you should practice taking careful note of the number of marks and answering in the according amount of detail as these are often worth significant number of marks.

Many of these subjects have an aspect of ethics or similar within them. It is particularly important to be able to talk about this as they often come up as long answer questions and exam boards usually have specific aspects they like you to talk about.

WhatDon’t fret. There is still time.

The best way to go about starting would be to draw up a plan , so you can see exactly what you need to cover and how long you have left to cover it. If you find you have more to cover than you have time for, it’s time to prioritise ! Take a look at all of your topics and decide which ones you’ll struggle with most and which you can just refresh yourself of nearer the time.

Again, though, ensure you don’t put session after session of revision without any breaks in between. You need to give yourself time to digest information so build in your study around dedicated breaks and down time. It’s just a case of finding that balance, but with a plan in front of you, it’ll be easier for you to determine this.


Remember at the end of the day, you are the most important thing within all this revision, so don't feel guilty you're "not revising enough" or you can't work for 6 hours straight. You can only try your best. If you're struggling with procrastination then try checking out the "all day" revision thread where you can join in sessions with others on TSR revising :smile:

Good luck!
(edited 6 years ago)
@furryface12
*plays set work playlist*
this music advice is great :smile:
Thank you:h:
Lol
Time to get cracking.
Original post by Toastiekid
@furryface12
*plays set work playlist*
this music advice is great :smile:
Thank you:h:


Glad to have helped! Everyone always assumes music is easy but it's really not. Good fun though!

Didn't realise that'd ended up so wordy until I just read it back now, was half asleep when I wrote it. Sorry @Lemur14 :colondollar:
Original post by Grizzelex
Time to get cracking.


Best of luck! What are you currently studying? :smile:
Original post by furryface12
Glad to have helped! Everyone always assumes music is easy but it's really not. Good fun though!

Didn't realise that'd ended up so wordy until I just read it back now, was half asleep when I wrote it. Sorry @Lemur14 :colondollar:

It's all really helpful advice though, if I thought it was too much I'd have cut it when I was putting it together :tongue:

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by furryface12
Glad to have helped! Everyone always assumes music is easy but it's really not. Good fun though!

Didn't realise that'd ended up so wordy until I just read it back now, was half asleep when I wrote it. Sorry @Lemur14 :colondollar:


True, that was me when I picked it in year nine:colondollar:
Haha I’ve done that before:tongue:
Original post by brainzistheword
Best of luck! What are you currently studying? :smile:


Biology, chem and maths (AS).
Hopefully, there's enough time to secure those A's
Very useful advice! I don't think I've ever made a revision plan in my life, I've just revised what I felt like on that day and tried to evenly distribute my time between subjects and modules... maybe now is the time to start making an actual plan? :hmmmm: :lol:
is it bad that I still need to make notes? or am i supposed to be revising over my notes?

tbh, i've been spending more time in the gym than actually revising :/
Original post by soIiIoquy
is it bad that I still need to make notes? or am i supposed to be revising over my notes?

tbh, i've been spending more time in the gym than actually revising :/

Not bad as long as you have a plan which will leave you enough time :smile:
The gym might make a good revision reward?
Original post by Grizzelex
Biology, chem and maths (AS).
Hopefully, there's enough time to secure those A's


I am doing IAL AS & A2 phy, maths & business studies
business stud is pretty tough, to write tons of essays
Original post by fantastic18
I am doing IAL AS & A2 phy, maths & business studies
business stud is pretty tough, to write tons of essays


That's good, have you started revising yet? Also, how's maths coming along? I'm doing CIE btw.
Original post by soIiIoquy
is it bad that I still need to make notes? or am i supposed to be revising over my notes?

tbh, i've been spending more time in the gym than actually revising :/


It depends how much the notes help you. If you feel like you’re making them just for the sake of it, it might be worth reducing these and trying other methods, but if you’re finding it easy to digest information then I think it’s not a problem as long as you feel you’ll fit it all in before exams come around :smile:
Original post by Grizzelex
That's good, have you started revising yet? Also, how's maths coming along? I'm doing CIE btw.


I'm pretty good at maths, got a superb tutor from a recognized school
Studying alongside my bro, a private class....physic is partly based on maths!!
Im doing law in uni, i missed most of my lectures, have my first exam on 3rd of march, is it possible for me to learn all my stuff? I also have two essays to give in totalling 5.2k words with no knowledge on them.

Should i revise a few topics or look at everything? Really need advice on what to do , feeling stressed and not sure if there is enough time to look over whole year and then memorise.
Original post by notyourfriend1
Im doing law in uni, i missed most of my lectures, have my first exam on 3rd of march, is it possible for me to learn all my stuff? I also have two essays to give in totalling 5.2k words with no knowledge on them.

Should i revise a few topics or look at everything? Really need advice on what to do , feeling stressed and not sure if there is enough time to look over whole year and then memorise.


I'm assuming you mean May? But just do what you can :smile: anything is better than none and the more you can do the better, within reason. Start on what's most pressing- I would imagine the essays- and go from there. You have Easter coming up soon so at least that means you won't be getting more behind! But yeah, start now. It won't be easy but you can do it!

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