-         Actors don’t leave all their rehearsals until the day before the opening night of a play. Athletes don’t only train the day before the competition. To commit something to memory, it takes time to train your brain.

-          Starting early and revisiting topics regularly helps commit it to your long term memory. Giving yourself enough time to forget something and then re-learn it, helps your brain remember it so that you know it when you need it.

-          Spend time focusing on the parts of each course you don’t understand/can’t remember.  The more you know the easier it is to learn new things.

-          It is tempting to work on what we are already good at, and this is usually the subjects we enjoy the most, but there are fewer gains to be made in the time you spend. 

-          We should build on our strengths but nothing develops confidence and motivation more than improving, and your weaknesses offer the biggest opportunity for this.

-          Choose the slightly more difficult question or spending time on areas that you haven’t quite mastered yet. If you stay in your comfort zone, you won’t make as many learning gains for the time you spend.

-          At the start of a revision session, spend some time reminding yourself of what you have already learnt in this area.

-          At the end of a revision session, reflect on how this session’s content links to and develops what you already knew.

-          Consider which approaches are helping you learn content best so you can make the most of your time revising.  Adapt your plan and approaches if needed to make the most gains for the effort you are putting in.