Do you find it hard to revise? Here&#x27;s why...

I think you mean, 'Here's what works for me, I hope it helps.' Revision, just like learning is Holistic.

Also, why not be happy with second place? If I can get to second place doing a lot less work than the person in first place, who really wins? I've never understood this obsession with being the best, if I'm 2nd in a class of 10, I'm still way above the average, and in reality all that matters in the real world is being better than most other people, not being the best.

Reply 7

Artymess

16

Original post by JodieW

I ain't no Sherlock Holmes :biggrin:

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You don't have to be :cute:

it's surprisingly easy

Reply 8

smd4std

rather spend my time revising than reading that

Reply 9

Original post by Steevee

I think you mean, 'Here's what works for me, I hope it helps.' Revision, just like learning is Holistic.

Also, why not be happy with second place? If I can get to second place doing a lot less work than the person in first place, who really wins? I've never understood this obsession with being the best, if I'm 2nd in a class of 10, I'm still way above the average, and in reality all that matters in the real world is being better than most other people, not being the best.

The person in first place quite clearly wins.

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Reply 10

Original post by nomo66

The person in first place quite clearly wins.

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Only in sports. If the person in first place spends hours a day revising and stressing, working hard and attending every class and comes first, good for them. If I can start revising a week before, miss classes when I want and feel almost no stress until the day before and still come second. I'm winning, for me I am anyway. You think in the real world anyone cares if you got 100% on an A-Level? If you got 90+ on every module of your degree course? They don't. They care about the A/A* and the First.

So I'll let you people work so very hard to attain so very little more than me. I'm the guy that does the 2500 essay the night before and get's a First, I'm the guy that revises 3 days before the exam and comes out with 71%. I'm the guy that goes to half the lectures and still does better than most. There are two big lies you're told as a child. 'You can do anything' and 'You must always try your hardest!' Being better than most is good enough for almost anything, and being the best still leaves a million other things you cannot do.

Reply 11

Original post by Steevee

Only in sports. If the person in first place spends hours a day revising and stressing, working hard and attending every class and comes first, good for them. If I can start revising a week before, miss classes when I want and feel almost no stress until the day before and still come second. I'm winning, for me I am anyway. You think in the real world anyone cares if you got 100% on an A-Level? If you got 90+ on every module of your degree course? They don't. They care about the A/A* and the First.

So I'll let you people work so very hard to attain so very little more than me. I'm the guy that does the 2500 essay the night before and get's a First, I'm the guy that revises 3 days before the exam and comes out with 71%. I'm the guy that goes to half the lectures and still does better than most. There are two big lies you're told as a child. 'You can do anything' and 'You must always try your hardest!' Being better than most is good enough for almost anything, and being the best still leaves a million other things you cannot do.

But the person who worked has drive and puts in an effort. That counts for a lot. You just appear lazy and happy not maximising your potential. If you can do less work and still be first, good for you. But if you know you can be first but don't work hard to achieve it, your loss.

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Reply 12

Original post by nomo66

But the person who worked has drive and puts in an effort. That counts for a lot. You just appear lazy and happy not maximising your potential. If you can do less work and still be first, good for you. But if you know you can be first but don't work hard to achieve it, your loss.

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Classic mistake, you're assuming I don't put in effort? That's wrong, I put in the required amount of effort to exceed the average. That's a good amount of effort along with natural ability, enough to always be better than most whilst maximising the time where I do what I want, rather than study so very hard for a rather little return.

I know I could do better, but why bother? It's the common misconception, recognise where effort is needed and where it will gain you something. You're rather dense if you can't do a simple work vs reward problem and instead put 100% of your effort into everything.

Reply 13

heart/

5

Original post by yellowcopter

I remember I used to think it was impossible to get good grades at Maths, Science, any subject. I used to think revision was some complicated task that only really smart people can do. Fact is, revision is there for a reason, to make us smarter, and if you think it's hard these are probably the reasons why and how you can revise effectively from now on:

1.

People who don't even try to revise because they think it doesn't work, IT DOES WORK and YOU CAN'T GET GOOD GRADES without practice. Don't complain you can't revise when you have't even tried to!

2.

People who read each page of a revision book for 3 minutes and call it a day. That is not how you revise. We've all done this and by now you'd probably realise that all it gets you is E and D grades. Revision is taking about 2 or 3 hours a day first reading the page, then rewriting the page and then repeating what you've learnt by writing down everything you remember. This method is guaranteed to get you at least a B grade I promise you.

3.

People who listen to music while they revise. This will make revision almost impossible for you because you'll be too busy singing along and dancing to your favourite songs. The effective way of revision is to either listen to soothing songs (so replace your dubstep with Classic FM) or no music at all. I personally think no music at all helps me to be fully focused, but some may prefer listening to Classic FM. Just avoid listening to songs you know will get you distracted or are too loud or catchy and hinder your concentration.

4.

People who watch TV when you revise, turn the damn thing off! You'll get distracted no problem because you'll sink yourself into the plot of the programme and won't want to stop watching, eventually making you forget the last hour of revision you did and stopping you from bothering

5.

People who do 1 day of revision and then don't revise for a whole week, that doesn't work. You need to get into the routine otherwise you'll keep stalling and come exam day you wouldn't have revised anything. Same goes for people who try to revise a week before, for some easier subjects this may work if you have a great understanding (General Studies, Citizenship, RS) however Science, Maths, Humanities you must start revising about 3 weeks before the exam. You may think you know it all but you can learn more by revising, even if you're an A grade without revising you can push yourself to an A* by revising.

6.

People who settle for second best, don't. Always try to aim for the A* grades and revise all content. Those of you guys with Foundation revision guides, bin them and use the Higher ones. Not only will you learn more making it easier to get a C grade in Foundation but it'll also make it easier to move up to Higher tiers of papers. Even higher students on B grades, don't settle for a B, settle for an A* because that will guarantee you a B but may also potentially get you an A* or A.

7.

People who revise with friends, it makes it more fun but you're guaranteed to get distracted and just start talking about whatever you usually do in your friendship groups. The fact is, if you revise with your friends you'll get distracted talking to them but if you revise by yourself; you'll have no one to distract you or to talk to. There's no problem with getting friends or family to quiz you though.

The last essential tip for everyone is to always do past papers and practice questions consistently for every page of revision you do. Theres no point revising knowledge without being able to apply it into your answers in the exam.

So this was so long but (hopefully) I've made some impact to help those who find revision difficult.

Thank you

Reply 14

Original post by Steevee

Classic mistake, you're assuming I don't put in effort? That's wrong, I put in the required amount of effort to exceed the average. That's a good amount of effort along with natural ability, enough to always be better than most whilst maximising the time where I do what I want, rather than study so very hard for a rather little return.

I know I could do better, but why bother? It's the common misconception, recognise where effort is needed and where it will gain you something. You're rather dense if you can't do a simple work vs reward problem and instead put 100% of your effort into everything.

'Classic mistake' could you be more disgustingly patronising if you tried. If you don't have the guts to work hard enough to be the best it's your loss but stop making out as if the person working hard than you and getting better grades is not as intelligent as you. And it's not a common misconception. If you're not going to do something 100% then stop wasting people's time and don't do it. You only have one life so don't waste it being lazy.
(Also, I'm one of those people who revise 2 days before every exam and I tend to get high grades but I would never be as arrogant as to pretend that it's a good thing, it's lazy. That's the only way to put it. I'm just not afraid to admit it.)

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Reply 15

tory88

18

All good advice, except for the music one. Whilst for many people it is better for them to work in silence, for some (like myself) music actually helps me to concentrate and I can revise for a much larger block of time without becoming distracted with music on.

Reply 16

sneakbo2

10

Original post by Steevee

Only in sports. If the person in first place spends hours a day revising and stressing, working hard and attending every class and comes first, good for them. If I can start revising a week before, miss classes when I want and feel almost no stress until the day before and still come second. I'm winning, for me I am anyway. You think in the real world anyone cares if you got 100% on an A-Level? If you got 90+ on every module of your degree course? They don't. They care about the A/A* and the First.

So I'll let you people work so very hard to attain so very little more than me. I'm the guy that does the 2500 essay the night before and get's a First, I'm the guy that revises 3 days before the exam and comes out with 71%. I'm the guy that goes to half the lectures and still does better than most. There are two big lies you're told as a child. 'You can do anything' and 'You must always try your hardest!' Being better than most is good enough for almost anything, and being the best still leaves a million other things you cannot do.

I don't know why you're being so smug. Your GCSE results are okay and your AS level results are far below average. Therefore what you are saying doesn't even make sense

Reply 17

Original post by nomo66

'Classic mistake' could you be more disgustingly patronising if you tried. If you don't have the guts to work hard enough to be the best it's your loss but stop making out as if the person working hard than you and getting better grades is not as intelligent as you. And it's not a common misconception. If you're not going to do something 100% then stop wasting people's time and don't do it. You only have one life so don't waste it being lazy.
(Also, I'm one of those people who revise 2 days before every exam and I tend to get high grades but I would never be as arrogant as to pretend that it's a good thing, it's lazy. That's the only way to put it. I'm just not afraid to admit it.)

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I could you know :wink:

You obviously don't quite understand. Try putting 100% into everything and see how that goes. You'll be burnt out in a week. I'm not saying I'm more intelligent than anyone, merely that I recognise a pattern a lot of you don't. Maybe it's because I've worked a lot, and have been around a lot of people with a lot to say about the real world. The skill is knowing when 100% is required and when it is not. If you want to try your very hardest all the time then be my guest. But it's a fact that above average is really all you need the majority of the time, not the best.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm lazy :smile:

Original post by sneakbo2

I don't know why you're being so smug. Your GCSE results are okay and your AS level results are far below average. Therefore what you are saying doesn't even make sense

And I never tried for a single one of them. And during my two years of A-levels I was working a 30 hour week on top of school, in a long term relationship and had significant family issues going on. Plus you know, I missed about 50% of my lessons and never started revision more than 2 days before an exam. In retrospect I messed up my calculations a bit, but hey, I'm still at a uni with a damn good department in my subject and averaging a 2:1 with a little under 50% attendance. All in all it's not bad for literally the minimum possible work over 3 years :smile:

Reply 18

Original post by Steevee

I could you know :wink:

You obviously don't quite understand. Try putting 100% into everything and see how that goes. You'll be burnt out in a week. I'm not saying I'm more intelligent than anyone, merely that I recognise a pattern a lot of you don't. Maybe it's because I've worked a lot, and have been around a lot of people with a lot to say about the real world. The skill is knowing when 100% is required and when it is not. If you want to try your very hardest all the time then be my guest. But it's a fact that above average is really all you need the majority of the time, not the best.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm lazy :smile:

And I never tried for a single one of them. And during my two years of A-levels I was working a 30 hour week on top of school, in a long term relationship and had significant family issues going on. Plus you know, I missed about 50% of my lessons and never started revision more than 2 days before an exam. In retrospect I messed up my calculations a bit, but hey, I'm still at a uni with a damn good department in my subject and averaging a 2:1 with a little under 50% attendance. All in all it's not bad for literally the minimum possible work over 3 years :smile:

No one is impressed. Just stop.

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Reply 19