Exams

So, after you’ve decided what you are going to revise, you have to decide how you are going to do it. Below are some ideas that previous students have found useful.

• Summarise your notes onto index cards. This forces you to condense the information into only the essentials.

• Use a different room to study each topic, this helps some people remember information in a different way. If your mind goes blank in an exam, you can start to think about where you were when you studied that topic and try and build a link to the information in that way.

• Try writing a mind map to pin on your wall before the exam. Nearer to the exam, nerves might start getting in the way making it difficult to read lots of written information from your notes. Mind maps are a quick way to access information and test yourself.

• Put a copy of your revision timetable somewhere visible in your home. This means that your family/friends etc. will know when to leave you to your studies.

• For essay type exams, make sure you plan your answers before you start writing in the actual exam. Although you are being examined in a timed environment, your answer must still have a clear structure – a plan is crucial for this!

• Spend some time at the beginning of the exam going over the questions to make sure you understand exactly what is being asked. Very rarely will an exam ask you to write everything you know about a topic. It will ask something very specific.

• Try a past paper under exam conditions. You will never know how much you can write under exam conditions until you test yourself.

• Get friends or family to test you by giving them questions to ask you about a specific topic– this simulates the pressure of an exam type situation as you are put on the spot and it also forces you to give clear, well thought out answers.

• Similar to the above tip, you could record yourself talking about a topic – this helps you to understand it and listen to an explanation of it in your own words. If you try to explain a concept and find that you can’t – you know you need to go and do more reading.

• Write a topic out like a speech. Rehearse only key terms and concepts, don’t try to memorise everything or you won’t answer the question.

• If you take note of major policies, theories, any major studies etc. in your area – using these sources can be another way to trigger your memory about a topic.

Above are just some ideas and you may have others which work for you. The main thing to take from these tips is that the same thing will not work for everyone so you have to try different methods to find out what works for you.

GCU's Student Wellbeing team (opens in another tab) can be contacted if you feel you would benefit from help with anxiety. There are also lots of self-help resourses (opens in another tab).

Revision top tips (opens in another tab) from the University of Hull.