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Writer's pictureEmma Harper

Revision Tips & Tricks: Part 4 - Making sure your revision as efficient as possible

We get a lot of students come to us who say they are doing lots of revision but don't feel like they are making as much progress as they need to. We are going to share our top tips for making your revision as efficient as you can.


1.) Have a plan

See our blog here about planning. The key thing to remember is that the plan can be flexible, if you need more time on Maths this week but more time on English next week it's ok to change the plan BUT having a plan means you don't waste precious time thinking about "what shall I revise today?"


2) Chunk and repeat

Keep your revision in small chunks but keep coming back to it, that way you are training your brain to recall the information then send it back to memory and repeat the process. You are basically training your brain to recall in the exam.


Chunk revisionand repeat

3) Start early

If you do an hour per subject every week from January in Year 11 that would be 17 hours of revision per subject. If you do half an hour per subject from the beginning of Year 10 that you would add 35 hours of revision per subject but it would feel much more manageable chunks, even if this was just for your most important subjects. Which leads me on to...


4) Know your priorities

There is so much to remember, particularly at GCSE with up to 10 subjects, know where your priorities are and make sure you do prioritise them when planning your revision. No this doesn't mean spend all your time on the subject you enjoy, it means make sure that your spending more time on the subject you need for your next stage and the subject that you need to make the most progress on. Spending hours on something you can already do is not efficient!


5) Take breaks

Your brain needs down time too. Make sure you plan the chunks of revision but also plan in your 5-10 minute brain breaks. You know your body better than anyone else so try to consider how long you can work for without a break, is it 45 minutes, an hour, 2 hours or 3 hours.


6) Build in rewards

Whether that is a biscuit, chocolate, phone call with a friend, scrolling time, a Saturday afternoon with friends. Whatever is going to motivate you build those in too. If I do all my revision today I'm going to the cinema tonight. Or if you something more often that than, if I revise for the next 2 hours I get a chocolate bar. For me it was always chocolate fingers.


Rewards for revision

7) Remove distractions

The main thing that is a distraction (for all of us) is the phone. Try putting the phone away, in a different room or give it to someone. Then this could even be the reward for getting through the next 45 minutes of revision, 5 minutes scroll time.

There are other things that can be a distraction, people or things in your environment. Work out where you are going to be least distracted. Is it in your room away from people? Or are you better in the dining room away from your stuff?


8) Practice, Practice, Practice

I can't say this enough, if you are just reading notes, a textbook or your exercise book, it is not effective revision! Practice papers are the best thing you can do if you are using them in the right way. Now remember I said chunk your revision, you don't have to do a whole paper at once. Pick a question or a section, complete in exam conditions, change colour pen and add in or edit anything using your notes and resources. Then take a 3rd colour and mark it with the mark scheme. Of course there are other ways to practice too and you can see some of our ideas for how to revise with games here.


9) Change it up

Make sure that all of your revision isn't the same type, so not just papers, not just flashcards, not just games. If you are using the same technique you will get bored and lose motivation, keep changing, it will also help your brain to have seen the content in a variety of ways.


10) Look after yourself

We've already talked about breaks but make sure you are sleeping well and eating well too. Your brain doesn't work without them. Also make sure you have time for your hobbies, as you get closer to the exams these may have to pause but if you are starting your revision early enough there is no reason why you can't have the down time that you need!


Let your brain rest from revision - sleep and eat

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