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A-Level Revision tips: from a uni student

Hi everyone! Hope you all are doing great and not stressing too much about the impending exams! As we are getting closer to exam season I thought I would give you my 5 top tips for revising as so!

Past papers and practice questions: Exams test how well you can apply the knowledge and the only way to get better at that is to practice. the way that i did it was: do the papers without your books and then look at which topics your didn't do the best on and prioritise that with revision. then go through and memorise the answers to the common questions that come up i.e if there is always a question around osmosis, learn the markscheme for those questions.

Break it up! : Most textbook split the course into chapters these can be a good start but also can be very big still. try and split it up even more. i.e. in history, split an era into sections of years or big events and work through it that way. splitting topics into smaller parts makes revising it seem a lot less daunting. 3 pages is a lot easier to start than 15 ! i also rated how confident i was on each of these sections, using how well i was on past papers as well as a few other metrics

Create a timetable: this goes hand in hand with the above tip. by planning your revision you can ensure that you are able to do everything. i always struggled with not being in the mood for revising a certain subject so i would create a list of the small parts i wanted to go over that week, this gave me choices as to what to study each day, making it much more likely i would actually do it. depending on how you study best you can plan accordingly. i.e if you prefer pomodoro studying. designate how many pomodoros you will do and what you will cover in each one.

Take breaks! : as much as studying is important, looking after yourself also is. sitting and forcing yourself to focus for hours on end when you brain needs a break is not going to do you any good. moving around , getting a drink and a snack and taking a couple deep breaths does wonders for you. even if its 5 - 10 mins away from your desk your brain and body will thank you!

Blurting: this is a study technique where you write out everything you know about a topic in a set time frame ie 5/10 mins. after that you would go through with your notes / textbook and correct and incorrect info and add parts that you missed. this is a great tool to use in exams as well for those big marker questions as it helps you get in the habit of writing out everything related to a topic. then you can pick the relevant information and use it. by repeating these every so often it helps build up your long term memory. i would also use how much i could recall and how much i got wrong in my rankings of how well i knew each topic.

Of course there are so many more tips but i wanted to give the ones i felt were the most important!
I hope this helps anyone, if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Blue- TSR Student Ambassador

Reply 1

Great advice! What subjects did you do for a level?

Reply 2

Original post
by DerDracologe
Great advice! What subjects did you do for a level?

Thank you! I did Computer Science, Psychology and Maths!

Reply 3

Original post
by UniOfBrightonRep
Thank you! I did Computer Science, Psychology and Maths!


Nice!

Reply 4

Original post
by UniOfBrightonRep
Hi everyone! Hope you all are doing great and not stressing too much about the impending exams! As we are getting closer to exam season I thought I would give you my 5 top tips for revising as so!
Past papers and practice questions: Exams test how well you can apply the knowledge and the only way to get better at that is to practice. the way that i did it was: do the papers without your books and then look at which topics your didn't do the best on and prioritise that with revision. then go through and memorise the answers to the common questions that come up i.e if there is always a question around osmosis, learn the markscheme for those questions.
Break it up! : Most textbook split the course into chapters these can be a good start but also can be very big still. try and split it up even more. i.e. in history, split an era into sections of years or big events and work through it that way. splitting topics into smaller parts makes revising it seem a lot less daunting. 3 pages is a lot easier to start than 15 ! i also rated how confident i was on each of these sections, using how well i was on past papers as well as a few other metrics
Create a timetable: this goes hand in hand with the above tip. by planning your revision you can ensure that you are able to do everything. i always struggled with not being in the mood for revising a certain subject so i would create a list of the small parts i wanted to go over that week, this gave me choices as to what to study each day, making it much more likely i would actually do it. depending on how you study best you can plan accordingly. i.e if you prefer pomodoro studying. designate how many pomodoros you will do and what you will cover in each one.
Take breaks! : as much as studying is important, looking after yourself also is. sitting and forcing yourself to focus for hours on end when you brain needs a break is not going to do you any good. moving around , getting a drink and a snack and taking a couple deep breaths does wonders for you. even if its 5 - 10 mins away from your desk your brain and body will thank you!
Blurting: this is a study technique where you write out everything you know about a topic in a set time frame ie 5/10 mins. after that you would go through with your notes / textbook and correct and incorrect info and add parts that you missed. this is a great tool to use in exams as well for those big marker questions as it helps you get in the habit of writing out everything related to a topic. then you can pick the relevant information and use it. by repeating these every so often it helps build up your long term memory. i would also use how much i could recall and how much i got wrong in my rankings of how well i knew each topic.
Of course there are so many more tips but i wanted to give the ones i felt were the most important!
I hope this helps anyone, if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Blue- TSR Student Ambassador

This is a great idea @UniOfBrightonRep

I thought it might be useful to share my top 5, I studied English Combined, Government and Politics and Textiles.

Past papers and practice questions: Completely agree! I would even make up my own questions.

Timed question plans: For more essay based exams it can be quite time consuming to do lots of practice questions and exams, so I would do practice essay plans in like 5/10 minutes depending on the question and how much time you would get in the exam to plan.

Digital flashcards: These are great because you can use them anywhere, I would often go through them on my bus ride home. I would also make my essay plans into flash cards.

Timetable and planning: Again completely agree with the other rep! I would work back from the exam date and plan week by week what I would work on. Then I would also create weekly timetables to see where I had time to fit in studying.

Talk to others: Could be friends, family, those on the same course, test each other or talk through the content with them as this can help it stick in your mind and make you better at concisely explaining things, which you need to do in your answers.


I hope this helps and good luck everyone :smile:
-Grace (Kingston Rep)

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