Short messages on Education from Respect Yourself, the guidance site for young people to help make good decisions in life.
A revision timetable helps you avoid running out of time, missing vital information and finding it all a bit too much. 15 minutes of planning will help you be more productive, keep you motivated and will boost your confidence for the challenge ahead.
If your university accommodation is self-catered, your shared kitchen is where you’ll make and eat all of your own meals. If you have are in catered halls, you’ll be served breakfast and an evening meal (usually Monday to Friday, during term time) in your college’s dining hall.
Advantages of living in Halls of Residence at university include: gas, electric and water are often included in your rent so there won’t be any unexpected bills; communal areas are cleaned regularly; there may be security presence on campus; facilities and social events will be on your doorstep.
Halls of Residence are on-campus accommodation at university. As well as having your own private bedroom, there may be social, study and catering facilities, as well as activities and events where you can meet other students in your hall outside of your course.
A good revision plan should be realistic (a plan you can stick too, with breaks and activities built-in), detailed (when you will be studying which topic) and flexible (some topics are difficult and may take you longer than you planned, or you may need extra sessions).
Creating a revision timetable can add structure to your revision techniques and help you identify which subjects you need to prioritise to get better marks. It helps you organise your study time, plus it also helps boost your motivation to revise for your exams.
“Distributed practice” is the most powerful of all exam revision strategies. This means to plan ahead and spread out your revision over time, not doing all your revision on one subject in a block before moving on to the next. Students who cram may pass the exam but they don’t retain the material.
The two most effective revision techniques are “testing” and “distributed practice”. Start by reading the text book, then make flash cards of the critical concepts and test yourself repeatedly. You will be more engaged, making it harder for the mind to wander.
If you do not have any other commitments, go out and do something like seeing a movie with a friend. If you have other exams to study for, postpone for a larger treat. Half an hour for a coffee with a friend or a quick swim will definitely give you the boost needed for the next exam.
The things that you do after an exam are just as important for dealing with stress as the things you do before and during. You’ve worked hard and done your best and now it’s time to put the exam out of your mind entirely.