Revise, Revise, and Keep Yourself Well

As students, we are at the point in the semester where we are sandwiched between wrapping up coursework and starting to map out an exam revision plan whilst still enjoying the holiday season. This blog will hopefully give you some productive exam revision tips, as well as techniques to manage your wellbeing effectively and look after yourself holistically.

Exam Revision Techniques

1. The Eat/Sleep/Revise/Repeat

This is a technique you have probably adopted at some point, intentionally or otherwise. During revision periods, short study sessions followed by power naps are considered one of the best ways to learn as the brain processes and consolidates information while sleeping. This means a well-revised subject will be easier to recall accurately and critically if you’re well-rested, so say good-bye to those all-nighters.

2. The Pomodoro

If you have issues concentrating, this technique is great as it follows a pattern of breaking up revision into manageable chunks of time and allotting tasks within that time while still allowing for a break. You should aim to work for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break. If you successfully do four of these in a row, you can reward yourself with a longer break. This works brilliantly as we learn better in short sessions and don’t have to sit through uninterrupted long revision hours.

3. Study Cards

Look at your notes and highlight every fact you need to know. Write one fact at a time on a post-it note, and write a short, clear question that the fact is the answer to on the other side. Put the post-it notes on your desk or wall so that you can only see the questions. Pick one up, analyze the question and answer it as you would in an exam, and turn it over to see if you got it right. Track how many you got correct, which ones you always get correct and which ones need more practice and focus on revising the latter. This is a great technique for assessing which areas need more attention when revising and can save you time as you wouldn’t have to revise everything from scratch.

Wellbeing Techniques

1. Mindfulness and Meditation

There are a lot of great apps you can try if you are new to mindfulness or meditation which guide you through short calming sequences intended to make you feel grounded (e.g. HeadSpace or Calm). Taking some time out of your day to find balance, especially in challenging or stressful times like exam seasons is a brilliant way to practice self-care.

2. Get active

A good workout session, or even just getting the heart rate up clears and eases the mind well. It can be hard to find time for exercise during study periods but fitting in dedicated physical activity time is great for giving the brain a break. It doesn’t have to be a full-blown workout; just going for a short walk, or doing ten minutes of yoga is productive too. It is crucial to make study breaks as beneficial and mindful as possible, and use them to bolster your wellbeing instead of just scrolling through your phone mindlessly which is a trap a lot of students fall into.

Hopefully you will find some or all of these techniques useful when it comes to mapping out and practising revision for exam season, whilst still taking care of yourself. These techniques are best enforced when practised as a daily habit and will soon become ingrained into your routine without even having to think about it. Please remember not to put too much pressure on yourself, and still enjoy the holiday season and time off. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you happy holidays from the Student Training team, and best of luck on your exams! xx