How to revise?!?!

Hey I’m in year 13 now and the stress of revision is starting to get to me but I have never learnt to revise. See I missed a lot of school during secondary school and didn’t revise for any of my exams but still got 7-9 around the board just due to natural academic ability (adhd😭) anyways I have no clue how to revise. I’m predicted 3 a* somehow in business psychology and Spanish but I don’t know how to revise and I need to figure out how I’ll take any tips I can get please, I really struggle with attention span so I need a lot of help
Thanks so much in advance

Anything would help even a revision timetable anything at all

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

My older brother would recommend you pratice past papers look over the marking instructions and do alot of flashcards.

Reply 2

LancashireRep5

Official Rep

Original post

by Anonymous

Hey I’m in year 13 now and the stress of revision is starting to get to me but I have never learnt to revise. See I missed a lot of school during secondary school and didn’t revise for any of my exams but still got 7-9 around the board just due to natural academic ability (adhd😭) anyways I have no clue how to revise. I’m predicted 3 a* somehow in business psychology and Spanish but I don’t know how to revise and I need to figure out how I’ll take any tips I can get please, I really struggle with attention span so I need a lot of help
Thanks so much in advance
Anything would help even a revision timetable anything at all

Hey there 👋

My name is Siobhan and I’m a recent graduate from the University of Lancashire 👩*🎓 First of all, well done on your grades, that’s something that you should be really proud of!! In terms of revising for A-levels, I get the stress about revising and attention (I’ve been referred for ADHD too!!) but there’s loads of options for you and it’s about finding what’s best for you 😊 Here are some things that might help you:

Active recall: Active recall is such an effective way to memorise information like dates and theories and models in psychology and business. I used online pre-made flashcards on sites like quizlet to save me time and not get bored writing the and reading the same stuff over and over!!

Past papers: These are your golden standard when revising. For psychology and business you might want to start with a 8 or 16 mark question that you can find online and then build you way up to do a whole paper. This way you can build on your attention and won’t get bored or burnt out having to focus for so long straight away.

Pomodoro technique: On the same note, it’s really worth looking into the Pompidou technique. This is what I use A LOT to help with attention. The way it works is by splitting your revision into chunks and doing 25 minutes straight and then having a 5 minute break to refresh your mind and avoid burnout.

Focus apps: I use opal or forest when revising to limit my distractions from gadgets! These work wonders and really help me maintain my productivity when i need to revise.

Environment: A massive thing for focus is environment. I can’t focus at all in my bedroom so I would always go to the library or a cafe to revise as it puts me in a “revision mood”. If you think about it, you’re basically classically conditioning your brain to focus (psychology reference 😉)

Buddying up: It might not work for you, but having a buddy to practice questions with helped so much to revise for Spanish GCSE as actually speaking to others instead of a wall or just reading can help you prep for the speaking exam. I also did this for A-Level psychology where we taught eachother on a topic and tested each-other!! This helped a BUNCH and I was able to get an A* in Psychology this way 😊

If you’re not used to revising the it might be a bit of trial and error but the fact that you are asking for help is already a massive step in the right direction!! I hope this has helped a bit and please let me know if I can help at all with anything else

Siobhan (Student Ambassador for the University of Lancashire)