Revision Top Tips

Exams are difficult. Of course they’re designed to test our knowledge but I understand that it can get overwhelming sometimes. Despite this, there are many things that you can do beforehand to maximise your performance, and that’s why I’ll be sharing the best exam advice I can give.

1) Start Early

One of the best things you can do is begin preparing for your exams well in advance. This gives you the time you need to check your understanding and spend extra time on topics that you find difficult. Deciding when to start can be hard and it does depend on a few factors, such as how many exams you have and how much content is being examined. Therefore, I would recommend that you first decide how many topics you need to revise, then how many topics you can revise in one week, and then decide on how many weeks you will need to prepare. I’ve also found that starting early helps to reduce stress as you know that you have given yourself enough time to be as prepared as possible.

2) Make A Loose Schedule

Another top tip I have is to actually schedule in revision sessions into your timetable. I know that you’ve probably heard this one before, but the key takeaway here is to not be too specific. Let me give you an example of an overly specific schedule: On Monday between 5-8pm, I will revise Pythagoras; on Tuesday between 5-6pm, I will revise trigonometry. In reality, it may take more or less time to revise these two topics and a schedule like this gives you no flexibility. A better alternative is this: I’ll start revising Pythagoras on Monday and then begin trigonometry, as I have 3 hours. I will then finish revising trigonometry on Tuesday, as I only have 1 hour. This schedule is much more flexible and will allow you to revise at your own pace, so you do not feel as rushed.

3) Take Time Off

Revising for hours on end is useful for nobody. Psychologists have found that revising for 20-40 minute intervals, with short breaks in between, is optimal. The short breaks should be roughly 5-10 minutes long and what you do during these breaks is important. While it might be tempting to use your phone and watch TikToks, this can actually hinder your revision. This is because, during these breaks, your brain is reinforcing connections between the pieces of information you have just revised, which then strengthens your memory. Distracting yourself by using your phone interrupts the ‘reinforcing’ stage, meaning that you don’t recall as much information. As an alternative, I would recommend getting a snack or going outside to get some fresh air.

4) Teach Others

The final top tip I can give to you is to try to teach other people the content that you have just revised. This forces your brain to actively recall and summarise the information, to enable you to then teach somebody else. As a result of this, the connections between the information you are revising are further strengthened (as mentioned in the previous paragraph). In some cases, you might not have anybody around you to teach, however you can still use this advice. You might find it useful to pretend that you’re teaching another student or even pretend that you’re teaching your younger self!

To summarise, some of the best tips to improve your exam performance are to begin revising early, creating a flexible schedule, taking regular breaks, and teaching others. I hope this article has been useful in providing you with some practical advice that you can use to score the highest possible marks in your future exams, good luck!