General exam/study tips

It's great that you've been given so many revision websites and books, but how do actually study/revise? And most of all how do you study effectively?

1. Notice that all these tips you are being given are in a list. Well, here's your first tip: no matter how many things you have to do/cover/study, write them out in a to do list. Not only does this keep you organised, but if things are getting really overwhelming, writing down what you have to do makes everything easier to tackle. So grab a pen and paper and write down what you have to tackle today/this week.

2. Eliminate all distractions. I mean it. Turn that phone off, get off the internet, give your phone to your dog if you have to, whatever you have to do, turn those screens off and get them as far away from you as possible. When you are studying that's all you should be doing. In order to be fully engaged, you can't a quick glance at your Snapchat. You'll be able to when you have a break. And when you feel tempted, remember: Can you honestly recall what you saw the last time you were on your social media? Is scrolling through your feed worth that feeling of sitting in the exam knowing you have no idea what you're doing? Is that picture you liked on Instagram worth your grade?

3. Work consistently throughout the year. This means engaging in your lessons, doing your homework during your free periods and going home in the evening and doing at least a quick review of your work. This will make things SO much easier for you when exam seasons looms by. Trust me you'll me thanking yourself for those notes you wrote earlier on in the year. Also, you'll have more free time, win-win situation if you ask me.

4.BE ORGANISED. You will have notes from X amount of subjects and these will pile up so quickly. To avoid this, buy folders each labelled for your subjects so that at the end of each day your loose pieces of paper have somewhere to go and when you need to refer to them, you'll know exactly where they are. Simple.

5.Ask for help. Exams are hard, no point denying it. So there's no shame in asking for help from your teachers and your classmates. For some people it may be even better to work in groups.You could be spending unnecessary time struggling on a particular subject that could be resolved simply by asking for help.

6.Before you memorise, understand. It's all fun and games to write a trillion revision cards but you need to make sure you understand the information you are writing down. You are more likely to memorise information if you understand it.Use textbooks to write your notes, but try and summarise it in your own words,which leads on to the next tip...

7.Test yourself! After studying a topic and feeling you are happy with it, do some questions related to that topic. These can be textbook questions or questions found online (check the revision section of this website for more help). This will ensure that you can apply the knowledge you have learned and will confirm whether you need to work on that parcticular area a bit more. Remember: you are not being tested on how well you can memorise a textbook but rather whether you can apply the infromaton you have learnt to a different setting (or question).

8.Use specifications. Use your specifications as checklists for what you need to cover in your exams. These are available on all exam board websites. This will save you time as you will only be covering what is guaranteed to come up in the exam.

9.Past papers are your best friend. After you've done all your notes, gone through the specifications, solidified your knowledge, it's time to start those past papers. Don't start these too early on in the year or you may run out. But make sure these are all done under exam conditions and MARK THEM. Once you've marked them, thoroughly go over your mistakes and revise those topics. After a while, all the areas you struggle with you will end up covering, so nothing could surprise you in the exam! And you won't go into an exam hall hoping a particular topic doesn't come up because you would've gone over them all!