No3: Revision

It's exam season at the moment, which means one thing dreaded by all: revision. It's something that everyone hates, everyone puts off, but everyone has to do. I'm quite possibly the worst person for doing revision - I procrastinate until the very last minute, then just hope for the best going into the exam knowing half (or less) of the syllabus.

Totally my way of working, but not great in the long run! (Picture credit to Chibird)

I don't know how, and I'm sure my luck will run out one day, but this does seem to have worked so far in my exams. I got good grades at GCSE and A level, and now at university I'm hoping that my lucky streak will continue - I have to, as I have an exam in 3 days and have yet to start my revision! I'm not going to put it all down to luck though; I think the small amounts of revision I do are effective as I can visualise and remember the information I need to know at the time and can even remember some things from my GCSE work. (I know this was only 3 years ago, but since I seem to forget things that happened last week this is quite impressive for me!)

Here's my secret for successful (if slightly panicked or last minute) revision: COLOUR! If your notes are written in colours rather than just a block of black ink it is so much easier to remember. I've had instances in exams when I can remember the colour of the thing I need to know, and can then work out the fact based on its colour (I think I'm making it sound so much more complicated than it is, oops!). 

In no way the best image, but I'm hoping you get the idea...

This year I had loads of A3 paper so made a large mind map on each topic, but last year I just made lots of tiny 'cards' and stuck them all over my wardrobe doors as they were the first thing I saw each morning and the last thing I saw at night. I also got my mum to take them all down when I was in my exam as the last thing I wanted to do was read them when removing them and start stressing out about what I could or should have written - they looked pretty impressive when all laid out on my bed!

 

This was only half of them!

Anyway, writing this blog post has turned into another hour and a half of procrastination, so I should probably get back to the dreaded R-word. I didn't expect this post to be so long, but apparently procrastination and last minute revision is my special subject! (Next series of Mastermind anyone?)

Claire xx