Revising for exams whether they are ‘mission critical ‘for entry to University or 6th form or whether they are internal school exams, can seem like a long and drawn out process. So how can you make your revision relevant, valuable and time efficient? We have talked to some of our tutors who help prepare students for exams and asked for their advice.

Make a revision timetable.

Be structured in the way you approach your revision. Spending some time at the beginning of each week to map out when you are going to revise particular topics means you will not waste time later on trying to decide what to do.

Start early

This is a marathon not a sprint – the best way to embed information is to learn it, test it and then revisit it a few days later. This ‘spaced repetition’ gives the brain a chance to absorb the information and reinforce it over time.

Chunk revision into timed tasks

Learning two English quotes takes 5 minutes – so that 5 minutes when you are doing your teeth is a great time to be doing it – stick post it notes on the mirror. Writing an essay plan may take 30 minutes, doing a full test essay in timed conditions maybe an hour. Have a list of timed tasks so when you know you have 30 minutes you know which tasks to tick off the list.

Revise in bursts

Studies show that most students can concentrate effectively for up to 30 minutes at a time. Plan for 45 minutes slots – this will give you 30 minutes to revise and 15 minutes to review and test yourself on what you have just learnt. Then have a break – but no more than 10 minutes – grab a drink, a snack or kick a ball around before you get back to it.

Create the right environment.

Make sure there is a quiet corner where you can have all of your materials set up ready to revise, pens, paper, books all to hand. Keep your phone well away from this area! However reliant on it you maybe in this case it will only be a distraction. It has also been proven that studying in a quiet environment improves recall in an exam setting, so try and get by without your favourite music on full blast.

Exam technique

Learning the information is all well and good but the key to doing well is knowing how to use it in the exam! Make sure you are familiar with the key terms examiners use and understand what they are looking for. Practice doing past papers in timed conditions – one of the most rookie errors in an exam is to mistime your answers and end up missing a chunk of the questions.

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