Hi all! We hope you’re continuing to have a pleasant summer. Whether you’re revising during the summer in anticipation of the new academic year, or having your resits, you are not alone. Revising during the summer can be a painful process for many, but you’ve got the support of fellow students with you. The student team has come together to share their tips, tricks and previous mistakes in their revision and resit experiences.
Tips & Tricks to overcome your procrastination
“I set aside 5 to 10 minutes to make a rough time-bound plan and set milestones. 5 to 10 minutes does not seem like much, but getting started by taking the first step helps to set the activities in motion. “ Fatimah, law
“This is easier said than done, but try and revise in the mornings, and save any fun activities for later in the day, or do them during short, scheduled breaks. If you do something fun or exciting first thing in the day, it will make revising seem even worse and you will be less likely to do it. If you do the revision first, your brain will get used to the idea of working as the norm and it will be a more painless experience.” George, Urban Design & International Planning
“Sometimes even if I plan my revision, and set up dates and times to get things done, I procrastinate and end up in a loop! At this point, I work on my mindset, and review my plan. If I’m feeling overwhelmed, and procrastinating because I do not want to fall short of the expectations I set up for myself, the key here is to re-evaluate my expectations, and this happens frequently! “ Salma, Politics & IR
“As soon as I get my exam timetable, I prepare a revision schedule that sets out my work plan, in line with the time I have to revise as well as my non-academic responsibilities. The revision schedule guides me on what to revise and when. I always revise with my study buddies — for motivation and for a sense of accountability.If I share some course units with my study buddies, I also have discussions with them on agreed days of the week. For this purpose, we allocate past exam and seminar questions among ourselves and prepare answers to them in advance. This way, I am compelled to do my part when I should, so as to avoid disappointing my group mates. ” Fiona, Law
Planning ahead to revise for resits
“If you know the date and time of your resit, you can then plan a revision schedule around it. Don’t leave it all until the day before. The best time to start revising was yesterday. The second best time to start is right now. There is no maximum time you can spend revising, and everyone is different. You know better than anyone else how much time you can work for in any given day or week.” George, Urban Design & International Planning
“It is crucial to get feedback from your examiners for exams that did not go well. Most exams for the current academic year are likely to have been done, submitted and marked electronically via Blackboard, in which case you will find your scripts under ‘Turnintin Assignments’, or something similar. For in-person, campus-based exams, departments like Law give students the opportunity to view their handwritten scripts for feedback from examiners. Take advantage of these opportunities to understand what went wrong, and how you can improve next time. If any aspect of the feedback is unclear, request clarifications from your examiner. You can then appropriately focus on the areas to improve on, for example researching and reading more about your subjects, or practising your writing, presentation or time management skills, as the case may be. “ Fiona, Law
“Like many others, once I have a timetable, I plan how to revise. This is usually in the form of a schedule, and I will often make note of any personal days I want to take. The weekends are days I do not want to work as hard as I do during the week, so I usually leave a day for a break, or for less work than I usually do. It’s also important to do the things that make you feel motivated to revisit.“ Salma, Politics & IR
Techniques for revisions
“I use Cornell notes and the Know-Want to Know-Learnt checklists that the Library provides to make my revision notes, if I have some printed copies. If not, I just use a notebook or any available piece of paper. This may not work for everyone, and may not be environmentally friendly, but it is the only approach that works for me. The most important thing is to find something that suits you and stick with it.” Fiona, Law
“The best way of learning is to develop an understanding of what you’re learning rather than memorising a series of facts or figures. By doing this, you can use your knowledge to recall information and apply it in an exam. If you try to memorise content without understanding it, you are more likely to forget things. And a good way to develop an understanding is to test yourself. Once you have made some revision notes, get a friend or relative to test you, or try to redo your notes on a new piece of paper without looking at the original.“ George, Urban Design & International Planning
“I frequently visit LifeAt, and set it as a new window on my laptop, to set up the environment for revision. Having sounds in the background or a visual to return to really helps me focus and motivates me for revision. This site also has a pomodoro timer, which is a technique that has helped me dedicate time to working and to remember to take breaks.“ Salma, Politics and IR
How to prepare for essay-based exams
“My course is essay-based, so I write lots and lots of summaries as I read. I write even if I don’t intend to look at the summaries later on, for example if I am revising on the day before my exam. For some reason I understand things better when I note them down — using pen and paper.” Fiona, Law
“What’s worked for me with essay based exams is to replicate the environment or testing conditions, and work on my critical analysis more frequently. It’s simple to offer explanations but a bit trickier to actually critically analyse something. I usually will time myself (if its a timed exam) and choose a prompt out of a list of prompts from past exams, or a list I’ve come up with and then get to writing.” Salma, Politics & IR
“It is helpful to see answers with high scores. Seeing what others have done well could help you understand how essay questions should be answered. You could also ask your lecturer for a guide on how to answer their questions. “ Fatimah, Law
Mistakes we’ve made while revising
“A mistake I have made in previous exams is trying to learn new information 10 minutes before an exam. Although refreshing yourself on things you already understand just before you go in for an exam is fine, trying to cram in new information can disrupt your mental preparation and confuse what you do understand. “ George, Urban Design & International Planning
“The revision mistake I remember most was not practising past exam questions under timed conditions in my first year of uni. For that first set of exams, I looked at all available past papers for the five subjects I was sitting for, and even discussed them with study buddies. But I did not time myself when practising. On the day of my first exam, all the questions looked familiar- because they had been asked before, and I had seen them. Ultimately, my confidence was boosted right away, but then I got carried away with the first two questions, rushed through the third one, and did not finish answering the fourth question. Needless to say, I scored an average mark. And that taught me to manage my time better later on, both when practising and when writing my actual exams.“ Fiona, Law
“I’ll sometimes find myself spending way too much time organising, labeling, and planning how I will revise, so much so that it has actually cut into my time with revision. This is a personal flaw I recognise in myself, that I am too concerned with the organisation that I render myself ineffective at revising.” Salma, Politics & IR
“Reading everything. As desirable as it sounds, this is often unrealistic. I found that choosing key resources to read and only reading secondary materials where absolutely necessary helps me get the most out of my revision. Reading new resources very close to exams. Once, I tried reading a new resource close to the exam and this affected my understanding and I ended up getting confused. Now, I make my notes before exams and read this in preparation for my exams.” Fatimah, Law
Thank you for reading!