If you are an A-Level student then you will know that your exams are fast approaching, and trust me when I say that they will come around much sooner than you think. Of course, one thing that comes with exams is revision - something that we all hate doing and would much rather try and forget about than actually do.
I don't know about you but my strength doesn't lie with exams and is instead with coursework. This has meant that I always end up having to rely on my coursework grade, rather than my exam grade, to ensure that I achieve the overall grade that I need, and possibly better. Sure, this worked when I did my GCSEs as that was when most subjects tended to be quite coursework-heavy. However by the time I started studying for my A-Levels this all changed, as well as some other things, as it was decided that subjects should be more exam-based than coursework-based. I definitely found this quite struggling as I have never done well in exams, therefore meaning that due to this, and the fact that I needed to get my target grades in order to get into university, there was quite a lot more pressure on me to succeed in my exams than there had been when I sat my GCSEs.
The grades I needed to get in order to get into my chosen university were CCC and I managed to achieve BCC. I was both amazed and surprised at myself, seeing how I mostly had to rely on me doing well in exams to get these grades (which wasn't that likely to happen) and the fact that after every exam and talking to other people, I realised that I probably could have done better or could have answered some of the questions differently to how I originally answered them. And I know that some (or many) of you reading this will probably want better grades than what I got, however I think that some of these revision tips that I am going to be sharing with you can be used by anyone and are also open to your own interpretation.
Tip #1 ~ revise in block periods
This wasn't something that I tried when I first started revising for my A-Levels, however I read about it in a leaflet that my chosen university had sent to me and I applied it in the last few weeks of revision and it is something that I regret not using sooner. I had used variations of this when I was revising for my GCSEs, however I must have been doing something wrong because I often found it difficult to do any revision that was worthwhile. In the leaflet it said to revise for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break, repeat this two more times and then take a half an hour break, and repeat this throughout the day for as long as you feel necessary. I found that this worked really well because I wasn't revising for so long that I started finding it difficult to concentrate, meaning that the whole time I was revising I felt like I was completely in the zone and didn't start looking for other things to do (which is something that I often tend to do when I am bored of doing school work).
Tip #2 ~ plan your revision schedule
This is something that I definitely didn't do when revising for my GCSEs and is something I wish I had done because then I probably would have actually done some revision instead of continuously putting it off to the point where it was too late for me to start any revision. When it came to my A-Level schedule I didn't do what a lot of people do which is to plan out the exact days and times of when I would do my revision. I did plan the days I was going to revise and which subject I was going to revise on which day, however I decided not to plan the time because obviously I planned this when I first started revision and at that point I didn't know how many hours I should be doing each day from the start to the end. When I first started revising, as I still had to attend sixth form, I chose to do one or two hours when I got back home and then at the weekend, depending on how busy I was, I would do anything from two to four hours. As time progressed that changed to three or four hours every day and by the time exams started, the most amount of time I spent revising in a day was around nine hours of solid revision (although it definitely felt like a lot more at the time). When it came to planning which subject I was going to do on which day, I split it so that I had more variation. As one of my subjects was history (which was probably my most hated) I decided to split my revision days for that into revising for one of the exams per day. This meant that my time table was split so that, for example, one day was history exam no. 1, the next was psychology, the next was history exam no. 2, the next was health, and the next was history exam no. 3, and so on. I found this to be effective as it meant that I was ensuring that I would 100% revise for all of my history exams (as I definitely favoured some more than others), and also had breaks in between the two subjects that I preferred. Obviously you can do this in any which way you want, however I found this to be the most effective method for me.
Tip #3 ~ allow yourself to have time-off
This is something I didn't do when revising for A-Levels, however I would definitely recommend that you do this in order to still have some of your sanity left throughout this whole ordeal. I can remember at some point during revision I was under a lot of stress and it felt that my head was constantly heavy. I was also overly tired and instead of walking normally I was dragging myself around, as one of my teachers kindly pointed out to me a week or two before exams were due to start. If I had allowed myself a day off once a week then I definitely think that during that day I would have been able to spend some time properly looking after myself and rejuvenate before the next day of revision started again. I know that you might feel that you can't afford to take any time off from revising, no matter how big or how small, however a day when you first start revising isn't hurting anyone. Even a couple of weeks before exams are due to start, just having half a day off should help a little bit. Remember, your mental health is really important and in order to succeed you need to look after that as well, not just doing hours and days and weeks on end of solid revision.
Tip #4 ~ start revising early
I can not stress this to you enough but if you haven't started revision for your exams by now then you really need to start now. I half started revision around the December before I took my exams as after Christmas I had some mock exams in one of my subjects. However, I properly started revision that February. I do think I could have possibly started revising earlier or put in an hour or two more when I first started revising, but then again if I had of done that I probably would have gone from borderline crazy to overly crazy. The longer you leave starting revision, the more stress you are going to put yourself under when trying to fit in enough hours in order to succeed. If you find you are struggling to get started then talk to someone, either a friend or a teacher, and ask them what they'd recommend you do. Even if at this stage you put in more hours at the library and then do very little, if anything, at home something is better than nothing. But if you really want to succeed then you seriously need to start revising now or else come August you may find that you don't get what you wanted/needed and may have to repeat the year (which, let's face it, none of us wants to go through A-Levels more than is absolutely necessary) or go to plan B (or even plan C).
Tip #5 ~ attend as many revision sessions as you possibly can
I don't know if the same applies to where you attend sixth form/college as it did at my old sixth form, but around January was when teachers started putting on revision sessions after school for those who were wanting to attend. For me, the main one of these was history, which was held once a week and the teachers started by going through a summary of the course from the start, and when we started getting nearer to exams they'd ask us what we wanted to cover in the session and it would be what the majority of us wanted to do. Not many people attended these sessions, which is understandable as we were putting in 4-5 hours straight during school hours and by the end of it probably just wanted to go home and have a break because I know that I definitely did. However, in these sessions it gives you the opportunity to work more closely with your teachers and for them to tell you vital information or clear something up that they might not have done in the original lesson. I know that some of my teachers didn't hold revision sessions, but they are always available for you to go and talk to them if you are worried about something or don't understand a certain aspect of the course, which they will happily go over for you at an agreed time if you go and talk to them before it's too late. Teachers are there to help and would rather you go to them and constantly ask them questions about the things you are struggling with than sit there in silence and try and ignore the problem.
Tip #6 ~ try a variety of revision methods
We all learn in different ways and all have preferred ways of doing something. For example, when making notes I prefer to bullet point them; whereas others prefer to make a mind-map. Some people are visual learners, some people are audio learners, and some people are kinetic learners. I am an audio learner, which means I find it easier listening to something than reading it off a page. One thing I used to help this is a website called quizlet (not an ad), which allows you to make a set of flashcards and uses a variety of methods to help you learn and remember what is on those cards. It also has the option to use audio, so that as you are revising it says what is on the cards, which I found very handy when revising as this is the best way for me to learn. However, I would recommend that if you do this, you only put brief summaries on the cards as on some of mine there were huge chunks of information, which meant that the audio version of those cards wasn't available. Obviously you might find that different methods work better in different areas, however I would recommend trying to stick to one primary method and then using other methods as well. For example, my primary method was using quizlet and then my other methods were to read books around the subjects and make notes, and if one of my teachers had used a powerpoint, I would re-write out what was on those slides to help me remember the information better. One thing I would advise you on would be to not just read and not do anything else because information doesn't go into your brain and stick in it by reading alone. You need to use other methods, such as writing a summary of what you have read, in order for that information to stick.
I hope my methods of revising have helped you in some way to have a better idea of what you can do to ensure that you achieve the best grades possible and to get to where you want to be. If you have any other tips for revision that you would like to share, then please feel free to post them in the comment section below as I'm sure many will find them useful.
Finally, if you are sitting exams of any kind, I wish you all the luck in the world and hope that everything goes how you want it to (and hopefully even better).
Love Beth xx
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