How do you all remember your revision notes/mind maps?

I've got some revision notes and mind maps for ICT which I have an exam for in 10 days.

I've been just going through the notes and mind maps and trying to memorise the various sections by reading over them multiple times and repeating without looking.

What do you all do to help remember revision notes or mind maps?

Reply 1

fentydrug

Original post by allenpc

Condense everything on flash cards you can carry them with u and revise

Reply 2

allenpc

Original post by fentydrug

Condense everything on flash cards you can carry them with u and revise

In what way do you use flashcards? Do you write the question on one side and the answer on the other? Or do you write a sentence on one side with a gap for the crucial information and then write what should replace that gap on the other side?

Reply 3

fentydrug

Original post by allenpc

You’re talking about Q cards there’s a difference between q cards and flash cards. I would say put crucial information on ur cards so u put the topic on the front or whatever and the information on the bag it’s more effective I find q cards a waste although the help I use them lesser tha flash cards

Reply 4

jem08

memorise them, then test yourself and then get a family member to test you. Recite what you have just learnt

Reply 5

1582

Volunteer Team

Simply reading your notes is a very passive way of learning and will take a lot of time. You'll find it easier if you switch to more active techniques for memorisation.

For diagrams and mind maps the most effective way of learning them is to keep drawing them out, pushing yourself to do it from memory and seeing how much you get accurate.

Find ways to condense your notes instead of remembering whole sentences or paragraphs. e.g. think of key words that summarise those notes. I was able to regurgitate an entire page on the electron transport chain in an exam by breaking it down into eight bullet points of no more word than four words each. That meant in the exam I just needed to remember the key words in the bullet points, and that would act as a mental trigger.

My personal favourite is mnemonics. A mnenomic is where you take the first letter of each key word and create a sentence using words that start with that same letter. e.g. to remember the order of the Kreb's cycle, I used the mnemonic a clumsy idiotic King; so search for my ox. = acetyl-CoA, citrate, isocitrate, α-ketoglutarate, succinyl-CoA, succinate, fumarate, malate, oxaloacetate. The exam I created that for was weeks ago and I haven't looked at my notes since. It's stuck in there for life now. Along with the mental image of a balding pudgy man with a crown being trampled by an ox.

Methods that force recall are good, such as testing yourself with flash cards and doing past papers. If you've a very limited number of past papers simply put your notes away, pick a topic, and write down everything you know about it from memory. When I do this the first thing I do is draw out any diagrams, write out mnenomics/key words, etc at the top of the page and then work from there.

Reply 6

clouddbubbles

active recall

get some paper and scribble down everything you know about the topic - or rewrite the mindmap based on what you can remember (doing it messy instead of neat of course!!)