Revise How?

Hello!
Literally as the title says. How do you revise?
I’ve tried a lot of different things (flash cards, mind maps, notes from mark schemes, answering questions from mark schemes, blurting..) but nothing ever seems to stick. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Since A levels are coming up (and I really flunked my mocks) I wanna get some actual advice. (My current revision is active re-call questions and past papers.)

Hey,
It sounds like the style of revision you are doing is good - past papers and active recall are generally the best way to learn. How are you using the past papers? I'd say the best way to get the most out of them is to do it under exam conditions, then after you have finished, do it using notes, and then mark it with the mark scheme and really work out what you need to do to hit the marks.
It also depends on the type of subject you are doing too. But for active recall, after you have written/spoken your answer, it's good to make sure you really understand it and find a way of remembering it - silly mneumonics can be really helpful for learning things or structuring questions.
Also around revision it is really important to try and stay healthy and rested. All the information will be processed in your brain while you sleep, so getting plenty pf good quality sleep after each day of work is soo helpful for learning. You'll also be more motivated to do things and it will be easier to understand the work too.
Eating brain foods - making sure you get plenty of omega-3s - you can google foods with these in, and eating a Mediterranean style diet with lots of vegetables and plenty of protein and fats can mean that your brain works more effectively.
Try to find time to socialise and relax too and do some exercise that is fun, because these can all help with work.
It may seem a bit strange, but these things can all add up and really affect motivation and memory!
I hope these help, if you want answers to anything specific, feel free to message or send a reply on here. Good luck with it all ) - also even if your mocks didn't go well it doesn't mean that the real thing will - I did much better in the real exams than the mocks.
Evie (4th year medic at UoS)

Thank you for the advice!!
For past papers I usually do it three times (once is open book, then timed conditions and then using the mark scheme)
Two of my subjects are science based (biology and electronics) I usually use active recall and past papers with biology since its really content heavy. (Electronics is just practice using past papers and questions given to us)