Popular Revision Techniques

1- Pomodoro Technique

Description: It is a way to organise all of the studying you have to get through; studying with unwavering focus only for 25 minutes, rewarding yourself with a break for 5 minutes, and repeating these two steps until you’ve covered all of the necessary content.

Advantages: It helps improve focus through giving yourself dedicated time slots in which you have to revise, and then take breaks. This establishes a routine and makes it easier to get into the flow of studying. It also helps with time-management, as you stop worrying about an endless list of assignments to get done in an undefined period of time, and instead start focusing on what can be achieved in the next 25 minutes.

Recommended if: You struggle with procrastination, as committing to only 25 minutes isn’t a very intense task. It may also apply to you if you’re a perfectionist, as again, 25 minutes is a realistic period of time in which a realistic amount of work can be completed.

2- Cornell Method

Description: It is a note-taking method in which you divide your sheet of paper into 3 sections:

A ‘main’ column in the centre of your page, in which you can really write or draw anything that’s relevant to the topic, i.e. in the form of notes, bullet points, flow charts, etc.

A ‘cue’ column as a large margin on the left of the page, where there are questions to help test yourself, study prompts, hints, etc.

A ‘summary’ section that runs across the bottom of the page, which is where you write down the key ideas from your notes, and attempt to tie the bulk of the relevant information together.

Advantages: The ‘cue’ and ‘summary’ sections of the Cornell Method immensely support ease and efficiency whilst re-reading and trying to learn from and condense your own notes, as they help categorise everything you’ve written down. It’s a highly structured method of note-taking to ensure you’re not just re-writing your entire textbook without processing any of it, and enables active recall when going back over everything.

Recommended if: You are a visual learner, and learn best from taking down notes and reading them back in your own handwriting, but struggle to organise them and go through them once they’ve been written down.

3- Past Papers

Description: It is an application and understanding method in which you find sketchy websites that somehow have past papers from your exam board from this very year, and do the papers under exam conditions. That means no distractions, no cheating, trying not to take bathroom breaks, and giving yourself the amount of time you’d actually have during an exam.

Advantages: The only reason you’re in school for that 7 hours a day studying, and come back home only to (hopefully) study some more, is because you want to pass your exams. What better way to try and do this than to get familiar with what your exams are going to look like?

Content taught in class and questions asked in exams often seem like two pretty separate entities, and so familiarising yourself with what your exams will look like will help you see both entities as one, allowing you to reach your full exam potential. You’ll learn how to apply your knowledge to questions, what keywords to use, how mark schemes want you to phrase answers, and much more. Past papers are unimaginably helpful.

Recommended if: You want to achieve your full potential.

4- Watching Videos

Description: A way to understand new concepts or revise old ones by either re-watching recorded class lectures, or going online (e.g.: on YouTube) and finding explanations and breakdowns of what you need to learn/ go over.

Advantages: They can be watched whilst you’re eating, sitting in a car or bus from one place to another, or doing some sort of daily chore - as opposed to listening to music or watching other things. This allows you to maximise the time you spend retaining information, especially when exams are near. Also, videos are often accompanied by graphics and sound effects, which may make them easier to focus on reading pages and pages of notes.

Recommended if: You are an auditory learner, meaning that you learn best by listening. If not (say if you’re a visual or kinesthetic learner), it can be quite easy to lose focus and forget everything that was taught to you in the video a few days later.

5- Teaching Someone

Description: The goal of this technique is to identify gaps in your knowledge, and this is done by taking a new concept that you may be unsure about and either explaining it to someone (preferably who knows nothing about it), or explaining it to yourself. For this to work, it is vital to explain the concept from scratch; like the person listening (even if you’re just talking to yourself) knows absolutely nothing about it.

Advantages: Since the concept has to be broken down to its very roots, and you’re explaining it from its most basic principles, it will very easily help you identify areas that you need to go over and study more until you’re 100% confident with them. It can help you link a wide range of topics as one thing may be necessary to explain another, and so the strength of a lot of content can be assessed in a relatively short period of time.

Recommended if: You are an auditory learner, or if you feel like you’re mostly done with revising content, but want to be sure there are no gaps left in your knowledge.

Tip (mostly for auditory learners): If you are now confident with the explanation you are able to provide, create voice recordings of yourself explaining these concepts and play them back whenever you have the time. It’ll cement your understanding of the concepts if you ever need to refresh your memory on them.

6- Spaced Repetition

Description: It is more of a method than a technique, as it can be used with any of the other revision techniques mentioned in this post. Essentially, it is the idea of going over a concept repeatedly at specific time periods (so: after 1 day of having learnt the concept, then after 3 days, then 5, and so on until necessary).

Advantages: It helps solidify ideas into your long-term memory, as the constant repetition helps you overcome the forgetting curve your brain naturally tends to follow. Spaced repetition makes it almost impossible for you to forget the concepts you learn, thereby making it much easier to then apply said concepts into exam questions.

Recommended if: You want to ingrain active recall into your revision routine. Or, if you have a lot of information that needs memorising, skills that need consolidating, or concepts that need understanding.

7- Flashcards

Description: Learning method that consists of cards which on one side can contain a question, concept, definition or term while the other depicts the answer.

Advantages: Induces active recall which strengthens memory, especially when trying to memorise certain topics of greater lengths. For example, specific dates in history and what events occurred during that time. It can help condense large amounts of information and you can study topics in a sequential manner, allowing for organised studying, which means that all of the required concepts can be covered.

Recommended if: You are an active learner, who is someone who learns best through active engagement, or a kinesthetic learner, which is someone whose memory is engaged by physical activities like walking around or fiddling with the corners of the card.

8- Mind Maps

Description: Diagrams that organise information and depict different relations and connections to a main concept. They start with a central concept or idea and branch out into other information of sorts, much like the branches of a tree (effectively, a tree diagram).

Advantages: Identifying relationships between concepts can deepen your understanding of them. This can allow you to discuss a topic to great lengths or recollect information in an exam just by looking at a few words. Mind maps are not rigidly structured, as they cater to each students’ unique creativity.

Recommended if: You are a creative learner, who can study and enjoy the process of creating a mindmap. Also, if you are a holistic learner, who is able to see the big picture and understand how different strands of information fit together and complement one another.

9- Blurting

Description: A study method where you rapidly write down everything you can think of about a concept solely from memory, without referring to your notes or textbooks. While this sounds like a feat, it is very helpful to recollect information, revise and identify potential gaps in your knowledge.

Advantages: An enhanced memory. It helps identify areas where understanding is weak, and allows for quick retention of knowledge and memory. Writing helps improve speed and timing which can be beneficial in an exam.

Recommended if: You’re trying to prepare for an exam, and have a longer attention span/more patience.

10- Sleep

Description: Yep, you saw that right. Although you may not take this into account, just closing your eyes and sleeping for a good 7.5 hours can enhance long-term memory.

Advantages: Whatever you learnt in the previous day can be consolidated through connections of brain cells, aiding learning and memory. Further researching REM cycles may provide a better understanding of this process. Essentially, a reduced heart rate helps alleviate stress and anxiety, allowing the mind to refresh the next day.

Recommended if: You like to sleep.