Exam and Revision Tips from Our Local Scientist and Tutor, Dr Andrew Sergis

The exam season is nearly upon us yet again and for all those of you who are feeling anxious about this tricky time of year, I have an important selection of revision tips. I’ll list these in order of priority.

1. Start your revision as early as possible. The earlier you start revising, the more likely your exam success because you are simply giving yourself more time to analyse the key areas of your subjects and reflect on these. It’s important to spend some time initially planning out a revision timetable for each subject that includes the time you should spend revising on each topic every day. It’s important to include regular breaks, about 15 minutes, otherwise you’ll stress yourself and burn out.
2. Decide the best environment for your revision. Some people prefer to revise at home in their bedroom with complete silence, some with music, but some prefer the public library. You also need to figure out when you learn best, which may be in the morning or at night- each person has different requirements. You must plan your revision accordingly.
3. Work out what type of learner you are. Everyone learns in different ways. Some prefer spider diagrams, some mnemonic aids (revision memory aids), some revision cards and others actively make notes and I suggest you reflect on the information that you write about in order to understand it fully. Some students find that mobile apps help with revision techniques or YouTube quite helpful, so you can try some of these as part of your revision strategy.
4. Be strict with yourself. Although revision is not something you may look forward to, you have to be strict with yourself. Stick to it on a regular basis, otherwise it would be a complete waste of time. It’s important that you don’t have any distractions and to keep to your revision timetable. Revising should be a serious endeavour if you’re going to have any exam success!
5. Practice past exam papers regularly. It’s important to do as many exam papers as possible, as this would be an opportunity to apply and test your knowledge and become familiar with exam techniques and enable you to identify any topics/areas you still need to revise. Practicing exam papers is a very important key to exam success!
6. Seek advice from your teacher/tutor! Finally, don’t feel embarrassed or shy to ask your subject teacher or tutor for advice or help in any areas that you are struggling with, because a good teacher/tutor should always be approachable and only too happy to help.

Very best of luck!