My Revision Advice - Before, During and After

When I was at school, it was really difficult for me to know how to revise. I didn’t know where to work, I found it difficult to know how to revise in the best way for me to remember things, and I struggled to wind down and relax after I had finished my day or few hours of revision. So, I thought I would write a blog post answering the questions that I had through school, and the answers I found along the way.

• BEFORE – The Environment •

This is the key to my revision. If the space where I am revising is tidy and organised, my approach to revision mirrors this. I know that you can’t always control your environment – whether that be because you are living with other people, or because you may have to revise at school where you have little control over the appearance of your space. However, there are little things you can do to make sure your environment suits you. Firstly, just making sure you have a clear desk in front of you is the perfect place to start, and also is easy to do. By literally moving things out of the way it clears your mind and gives you a fresh start to begin revising. If you happen to have a little more control over your environment, I always found it helpful to light a few candles, have a cup of tea and make my space as calm as possible before I start to work.

• DURING – The Actual Revision •

Potentially the hardest part – actually getting on revision after putting together a revision plan. For me, the best way to revise is to make a booklet. I gather all my notes from lessons and type them all up into one booklet. This way everything I need to know is condensed into one space in a form that I like, and therefore I can better remember pieces of information because I am able to picture them in the booklet. After this, I make mind-maps and write the notes out even more condensed as many times as I need until it goes in my head. Then I simply put all the condensed notes onto revision cards so that I can look through these before my exam and also get someone (usually my Dad or Mum) to test me the night before using these cards. This is the way I like to revise, but of course everyone is different. Some people only do mind-maps, or some like to talk things through with another person. Whatever it might be, you can only find your revision style through trial and error, so keep trying things out and seeing what works best for you.

• AFTER – Winding Down •

Relaxing after spending time revising is so important. I think managing to relax and wind down gives your brain chance to switch off and re-charge so that when you get to revision the next time, you are ready and refreshed to start again. Some good ways to turn you brain off from revision are;

1.  Spending time with friends and family. Doing this means that it not only gives you chance to do something other than revision, but also gives you a great distraction and reminds you that throughout the revision-period, you aren’t stuck to only revising and you can spend time doing fun things. Having this to look forward to also made me more accepting of revision, because I knew I had something exciting happening in the evening.
2. YouTube and Netflix. I know that it’s probably not the best advice to say look at a screen in order to relax, but catching up on my favourite YouTubers or Netflix programme in the evening after revising was another thing to look forward to and allowed me to switch off from work by focusing on something else.
3.   Do something you enjoy. Whether this be having a nice bath, going to the gym or cooking/baking something tasty to eat, doing something you enjoy after working mean that you can feel as though you are being rewarded for you hard work.

So, there are my top pieces of advice for revision – before, during and after. I think the most important thing is to know that the revision-period isn’t going to last forever and soon summer will roll around – which means warmer weather and fun with friends! Also, it’s good to remember that whilst revising, it’s good to give yourself regular breaks and remember that you don’t have to revise from the first thing in the morning until the last thing at night to get good grades. Figure out what works best for you to get the results you want and stick to that.

I hope this post has helped you and good luck with whatever exams you have coming up! I’m sure you’ll do the best you can, and that’s all that matters.

I’d love to know in the comments any tip and advice you have for revision – how do you best like to revise, where do you like to work and what do you do to switch off after revising?