Ten Top Tips for Revising for Exams

By Kevin Bucknall, BSc(Econ), PhD

When you are coming towards the end of your high school career and get into the Sixth Form or
Grades 11-12, going to college suddenly starts to loom as a more serious concern. To get into
university, and in particular to get to the one of your first choice, requires excellent exam results.
Good revision techniques can help you to achieve these.

Revision is often thought of as a last minute event, not something to worry about until later in the year,
but this view will not serve you as well as it might. Starting to revise early in the new school year is
a much better bet from your point of view and can pay off handsomely in terms of improved exam
results. Your exams at school, the GCEs, Baccalaureate, or other entrance exams are creeping up on
you faster than you might think. So here is what you can do to ensure your best performance.

1. From the beginning of your first term or semester, try to revise steadily throughout the whole year,
for example you can regularly reread your class and lecture notes in the evening and go over your
materials, topic by topic.

2. If you do this, you will start to develop good study habits. If you fail to do this, do not despair but
start by reading your old notes today. It is never too late to begin; fight the desire to put it off! Your
entire future is at stake so it is well worth making that extra effort now.

3. Do not try to study for hours on end without a break. Sheer input of time is not your goal – what
you really need is maximum intake of knowledge and development of skills. Many people work best
for between 45 minutes and an hour and a quarter, after which their energy and concentration levels
taper off. Taking a short break can actually improve your performance. For many people, the rest
periods between study sessions should be at least ten minutes but not more than half an hour.

4. In these rest periods, try to do something different, well away from your notes and books. You
might for example make a cup of coffee, or (ouch!) tidy up, wash up dishes, or vacuum your room.

5. There are many periods in life when you are likely to become anxious and stressed. A few people
seem to thrive on this but for most it does harm and can lead to a much worse state of depression.
While at school or university, it is worth learning a relaxation technique in order to keep your stress
level down and improve your ability to study. There are various ways of doing this. If you learn relax
when young, you will have a valuable skill for the rest of you life, including the ability to cope with
stresses at work and in your professional development.

6. If you have a study-buddy, someone you can explain things to and listen to their views, then you
can revise together, and also play valuable learning games. For example, you can take an old exam
question and each prepare an outline to it for say five minutes, after which you can compare what you
have done. First look at any differences in your approaches and discuss which seems the better. After
that you can check the content and compare, seeing what each said, and if any good points are missing
or irrelevant points were put in. Finally, you can see if you can merge both outlines into one even
better answer. This helps develop your skill in rapidly analysing and responding to questions and
issues (good in the exam room and in your future jobs) and in team working. It also results in a

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valuable outline answer for future revision. If you haven’t got a study-buddy already, get one now!
There are many other useful ways of working with a study-buddy.

7. About four weeks before the exams begin, you are approaching your seriously intensive revision
time. It helps if you make a revision timetable for this vital period. Normally it is good if each subject
gets roughly the same amount of allocated time. If you are aware that one of your subjects is weaker
– and this is usually the case - try to allocate a bit more time to this one.

8. The last couple of weeks before the exam is not a good time to be taking new notes, other than for
your ongoing lecture or class room work. Now is the time to revise hard what you already have noted
and prepared. This pays off more than reading and making notes from new material.

9. During your intensive revision period before the exams, make sure that you get some time off for
exercise and enjoyment, away from studying. It is best to keep this time to a reasonable amount; you
might choose to temporarily suspend your participation in any sporting or cultural activities in which
you might be involved.

10. It is always a bad idea to work through the night and to try to mug up a term’s or semester’s work,
particularly during the last two or three days before the exam. If you do this, it will exhaust you and
leave you in poor shape to think carefully and concentrate, just at a time when you want to give of
your best. For the longer term, you are unlikely to remember much about the content anyway – and
some day you will probably need it.

The author’s latest book is Going to University: the Secrets of Success, Second
Edition revised and expanded. It has a 5-Star Amazon review. The book aims to
help students to improve their results in essays and exams, and to make the
transition from high-school to university both easier and more enjoyable.
It can be obtained directly from the publisher www.keweipress.com for £9.95
(including postage within the UK) in which case you get a free bonus CD with
articles such as how to study more easily and get better results as well as more
economics-related articles. This site also contains a free book An Introduction to
Economics which you can download. Alternatively, Going to University: the Secrets
of Success can be obtained from Amazon and elsewhere, including UCAS, but you
will not then get the free CD or a signed copy of the book.
Publication details of Going to University: the Secrets of Success: Kewei Press, UK,
August 2009, paperback, 204 pages, ISBN 978-0956182319.