The Student Room Group

Best Revision Techniques?

I am the worst person who can revise.

Im extremely easily distracted.

I dont know when to start but i do know when to finish.

I get bored easily.

Im not sure how to revise for exams/tests.

Does anyone have any methods and timings ... etc

ANYTHING that could work for someone who is rubbish at revising.

Thank you very much.
Reply 1
A revision timetable did it for me.

And writing out your notes over and over again to remember stuff worked too - and practising exam papers.
Thank you ever so much! (very quick reply too!)
Reply 3
Definitely practice exam papers! They usually repeat the question in some form nearly every year so it's so good for repetition but it's not as boring as simply writing out the notes.
Reply 4
When you get offers, reality will set in. Don't revise, don't go to uni. Simple motivation!
haha. no thank you digitalis.

id stick to education thank you very much. :smile:
Reply 6
once you get offers for uni, which may be at the top end of what your achieving then thats just as good for motivating you to work. :smile:
Re-writing notes until it sinks in. Plus lots of practice at papers.
Reply 8
Learn the stuff from notes, and then pretend teaching what you learned to an imaginary class WITHOUT looking at your notes-weird but it works! :p:
Reply 9
shenzys
Learn the stuff from notes, and then pretend teaching what you learned to an imaginary class WITHOUT looking at your notes-weird but it works! :p:

lol i do the same thing...its worked so far for me aswell .
It's already been said but past papers helped me so much. I just kept going over them until I could answer all of the questions on them correctly.

If you get bored easily then maybe you could try doing things to vary your revision? Try making mindmaps and flashcards, or maybe you'd find it helpful to revise with a friend so you've got someone to motivate you to carry on working? A lot of it just comes down to disciplining yourself, really.

Good luck!
Reply 11
do you like art?

i hate revising myself. just draw out colourful posters and stick em on your bedroom walls 2 days before your exam (and whatever you do, don't invite your mates in).

or if you like hearing your own voice, record yourself reciting keywords etc off the textbook...ahh i remember the biology keywords that i sang in furtado tune :redface:

also try and take the pleasure of learning whatever you do at school, for example, as boring as maths could be, imagine that you're trying to crack a code or solve a problem - and the satisfaction when you did.

it always help if you constantly remind yourself that you could be in for 'who wants to be a millionaire' in the future - and the million dollar question is actually a GCSE question! the embarrassment if you can't remember! think of every 16 year old laughing their heads off that a 30 year old can't remember the phtosynthesis eqaution. for some reason that really freaked me out and it certainly made me remember more stuff :ninja:
If you get a dictaphone thingy you can record yourself reading your notes alloud then listen to it, it's really good when your bored of revising because you can just lie on your bed with your eyes closed and revise with no effort. =P
Reply 13
Flashcards and mindmaps. If you are a visual learner it's the best.
Well I'm not the thread starter lol, but I'm in the same situation as MC.

So thanks everyone for the advice, though it isn't directed towards me :P
Reply 15
Flashcard the whole textbook for factual papers/subjects.
Reply 16
Make your revision active. Use spider diagrams to jot down key ideas and thoughts. Condense your notes. Type them up on the computer if that works for you. Use flashcards and post-it notes. Stick them all over the place. Search the internet for articles and websites relating to the topic you are revising. Complete as many past papers as possible. For some people, colour helps them to revise and remember things.
Reply 17
First read all ur notes again. Then, using past papers, write questions on notecards and on other side write model answer (the answer thats gonna get u top grades in an exam!) Then, with a voice recorder / dictaphone record question and answer, then playback so your are listening and read out your notecards at the same time. Finally, before going to bed, put in headphones and fall asleep listening to ur revision. u may b sick of it by the time u get 2 ur exams, but it works!!!!
In summary, as long as u read the information, write it out and listen 2 it ur ready!
Reply 18
Past papers and note summaries for me. My chemistry teacher has given us all the old CHM1 papers from 2001-7, and the same questions come up each time. Builds your confidence nicely - bring on January!
Reply 19
Sam_Ash
Past papers and note summaries for me. My chemistry teacher has given us all the old CHM1 papers from 2001-7, and the same questions come up each time. Builds your confidence nicely - bring on January!


I agree same for Maths! for me and for you aswell OP!

What I do is read my class-notes and then come home read the textbooks and make shorter notes on chapters which is easier to remember then remembering chunks of information out of the textbook.
Then when im confident enough I practise past-papers/past-questions!

Amit