Your Revision Techniques

[JWRosser]

Debating whether to post this here or in the advice section....if it must be moved so be it.


So, for those of us still in education, it's that wonderful time of year when we have exams!
Fortunately, I only have one left - tomorrow evening - but I have a stupid amount of revision still to do. Now I've been doing exams all my academic life, obviously, but even now at degree level I still don't know how to efficiently revise.

So, Escapists, how do you revise? What techniques do you use?

 

[Palademon]

My exams start tomorrow. I hate reivison. Never worked for me, because apparently I'm doing it wrong. I only work well when people aren't nagging me about it, and I rage quit whenever people go "Oh, you're actually working".

It's a stupid thing for my family to get stressed about it. It's not like I ever fail exams. They just put more pressure on me, which is not a good attitude. I was stressed into doing an exam paper yesterday on questions that were easy. They became impossibly hard and I made stupid mistakes, all because I had been almost forced to do it.

My techniques: Read notes and look at questions on what I find hard. Why is that considered not properly doing it?

 

[KiKiweaky]

I get as many past papers as I can lay my hands on, ansewer them with the notes and re-read the ansewers a good few times. Notes are in pdf format so by using ctrl+f I can find most of the ansewers pretty quick.

I have my first exam on Thursday, its WAN Technologies or wide area network technologies. Going to be a nasty one too I reckon as one of our lecturers told us that is probably one of the hardest networking subjects available in our college :S

My techniques: Read notes and look at questions on what I find hard. Why is that considered not properly doing it?

Writing stuff down helps you to remeber it better, did you ansewer the paper by writing things down and using the notes?

 

[Jordi]

I usually just read over the material and that will be enough. Sometimes I write summaries of chapters etc., which I think is a good way to force yourself to think about what is really important and to understand what is being said. Furthermore, you then have something that you can more quickly study. Note that it's important (according to me) to do this yourself. Getting summaries from others may help you see what they think is important, but then you didn't get the mental exercise from determining it for yourself. I find that I often remember all the stuff that didn't make it into the summary as well, simply because I did consider it before I deemed it too unimportant.

Another thing that I think helps a lot is to try to answer example questions (or make them yourself), and use your answers to determine where there are still holes in your knowledge.

I also hear that reading out loud helps some people, because then they engage multiple senses.

Finally, I don't think it helps to study the whole night through before an exam. Most of your memories only get "solidified" after a good night's sleep, and revising shortly before an exam will only make you doubt.

 

[SuperNova221]

Eh, I can only really do it unless I'm tired. Otherwise I'm too alert and concious to do something so tedious.

 

[Palademon]

I get as many past papers as I can lay my hands on, ansewer them with the notes and re-read the ansewers a good few times. Notes are in pdf format so by using ctrl+f I can find most of the ansewers pretty quick.

I have my first exam on Thursday, its WAN Technologies or wide area network technologies. Going to be a nasty one too I reckon as one of our lecturers told us that is probably one of the hardest networking subjects available in our college :S

My techniques: Read notes and look at questions on what I find hard. Why is that considered not properly doing it?

Writing stuff down helps you to remeber it better, did you ansewer the paper by writing things down and using the notes?

Yes, I answer the questions...

Also, this post confuses me. I didn't receive a message saying I got quoted...

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

Do you get to do exam papers from previous years? If you do then just do those, they're bound to have the same questions at some point.

 

[Colour Scientist]

For revision, I print out past exam papers, write out a substantial amount of notes, then place them in the corner, go on the internet or out with my friends and ignore said exam until the day before.

It's an effective method that has gotten me to my final year in University with relatively good grades. It's not for everyone though.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I get as many past papers as I can lay my hands on, ansewer them with the notes and re-read the ansewers a good few times. Notes are in pdf format so by using ctrl+f I can find most of the ansewers pretty quick.

This mostly. I once almost aced a chem paper by just reading the book/materials and doing a metric shitton of Papers. Didn't attend more than 3 classes in the whole semester. Not recomending THAT of course, just sayin' ......

 

[Vet2501]

My uni finals are in three weeks so I am currently panic reading all my notes from the last 5 years. I also find past exam papers and revision exercise work really well along with testing/being tested by other people in my year.

 

[Sticky Squid]

I usually don't, but if I do then I will read over the material and note which parts I consider hardest to understand.

 

[Knusper]

I have my English GCSE tomorrow and I have been making notes on each poem I have to study. Usually I just print off exam papers but English ones are so tedious.

 

[matt_newgrove]

I make a vow to myself that I will revise well in advance, then comes the day before the exam in question and I frantically try to cram as much knowledge as possible into my head.
So yeah, my revision technique is kind of flawed...

 

[WolfLordAndy]

Step 1: Do an art or design course

Step 2: Laugh.

Step 3: Realise you now have a 100% coursework degree and are unable to cram, and actually have more work to do in the long run >.>

Step 4: Cry :'(

 

[Lizardon]

My mid-semester exams are in 3 weeks.

If it's an English exam I don't study.

If it's an exam for anything else, going over past exams and tests, making good notes and looking at worked examples is pretty much the extent of my techniques.

 

[The SettingSun]

Want an incredibly shallow way to learn stuff? Flashcards, and lots of them. I've got an R.E exam coming up (religious education). First I make flashcards out of each keyword. Then , say if I have to learn what Baptism means to Catholics. I write down on the flash card four points then on the other side what Baptism means to Catholics. Then once you've gone through the chapter place all your flash cards for that chapter and go through them until you know them all. It's easy to do, get up in the morning, go through three of them. Get home at night and go through the whole set. I managed to learn one topic in a day by going through them endlessly. I call it shallow because you don't actually understand things through this process. You just learn to associate the relevant points with the right phrases.

Once you've got all the content done get those past papers. First get an exam paper and read the questions. Revise the content you need to know for the questions before you do the exam. This helps you use the knowledge you've learnt to answer the questions. It also helps you with your exam technique. This helps with essay subjects such as English. When revising for my upcoming english exam i look at the question, revise the correct poem and then write the essay. Obviously once you're further along with your revision and you've done this a few times you'll want to answer the questions when you first see them.

It's cliche but mnemonics really help. I can still remember this from my old History test (which I got an a* on ) on German goverment.

Lorraine, do you like jack kelly?
Locarno pact, dawes plan, young plan, league of nations,i'ce forgotten j, kellog-briand pact.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Past papers, a thousand times THE PAST PAPERS! They are the best things ever!

 

[Harley Q]

I bullet point my notes on different coloured post-its, for different topics. Then put them in the areas of my house that I use the most. Once I recorded myself reading my bullet pointed notes with some stupid quips added in so that I would not get sick of my own voice. In hindsight I feel that I should have recorded someone else reading my notes, like Morgan Freeman or a Barry White impersonator

 

[KiKiweaky]

Yes, I answer the questions...

Also, this post confuses me. I didn't receive a message saying I got quoted...

I cheated and edited it in may not work because of that. I dunno what else you can do really so, works for most people. But it takes ages to write everything down etc.