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Revision Tips

Doing exams is kind of like running a marathon - you need to prepare yourself and be in tip top condition!

 

A healthy body equals a healthy mind

 

Eat well - Try not to just eat the junk food,

it will not keep you going for too long.

Geta healthy balanced diet all year

round andyou will feel much

better for it.

 

Sleep - Get at least eight hours sleep a night. Staying up all night revising doesn’t do your brain any good and you will end up napping through the day. When you feel tired, you’re less able to process information and remember facts, and it’s much easier to become distracted!

 

Exercise - do at least 15 minutes of exercise ever day. This gets your heart pumping and blood flowing, increasing the blood flow to your brain. Exercise also releases endorphins                                    that make you feel happier. 

 

 

Positive thinking - If you have a positive attitude towards what you are doing, then you are more likely to enjoy what you are doing and find it easier to do. So banish all those negative thoughts from your head! 

Keep calm and carry on!

Practice some deep relaxation methods. Here are some examples of how to do this:



Progressive muscle relaxation - Sit or lie in a comfortable position and one by one concentrate on different body parts and muscle groups. Start at your feet and end at your head. Contract each muscle group, count to 5 and then let go - experience the sensation. E.g. start at toes, then calves, thighs, buttocks, stomach, chest, hands, arms, shoulders and neck. End with moving your head from side to side.



Breathing exercise - Sit comfortably with your spine erect, shoulders down and hands on your lap. Breath deeply through your nose. Make it chest breathing (to test this put your hand on your stomach and make sure its not moving.) Start breathing slowly and counting as you breath. Try and breath longer as you exhale than your inhalation.



Visualization/Meditation/Mindfulness - Use the human ability to imagine objects or situations as if they were there e.g. imagine a blue light above your head which let you enter your head and solely fill every part of your body, calming and relaxing you.

 

Know your triggers - Learn to recognise what makes you stressed. When this has been identified then you know that it may not be effective to work at this time, take a break and do something fun for a while. 

 

Other ways of keeping calm are exercise, positive attitudes, keeping social and yoga.

The hard part - actual revision

 

No distractions - pick a place to do your revision, whether at home or in the library it needs to be somewhere you can concentrate. Also if you don’t turn on facebook and keep your phone away, it will be much easier to concentrate. 

 

                                         Revision timetable - Revision timetables can be helpful to keep you organised, however don’t punish                                                yourself if you can’t always stick to it, it’s not always possible, and will just make you feel like you don’t                                            want to do it. 

 

Realistic goals and rewards - It is quite easy to expect yourself to do too much. Set yourself both realistic and acheivable goals and make sure you reward yourself!

 

Cover all topics - Don’t just focus on the areas you are weakest at, make sure to revise your stronger subject areas thoroughly to stop you forgetting those. To the same extent don’t just revise the things you enjoy, make sure there is a balance. 

 

Different ways of revising - make revision more fun, instead of just sitting at a desk trying to read and memorise the work try and find other ways of learning.A few examples are flash cards, mind maps/concept maps, writing your own questions, testing other people or working in small groups, pacing around a room talking to yourself, teaching others.Just because your mates think one way of revising is great, doesn’t mean it’s good for you! Find your own style. 

 

Use coloured pens on your notes, if you use only one colour it is known that you take in much

less information. 

 

Be prepared - Try to go to sessions prepared so you have an idea of what is going on, it will then be much easier to go over if you already have an understanding!

 

Repeat, repeat and repeat - Keep going over things, if you just read something once you are never going to remember it. 

 

When to do revision - you are most receptive to learning in the morning! Also it means that you can’t keep putting the revision off all day and end up not doing it. 

Free time is still important

 

It’s important to take some time for yourself so you don’t become a raving lunatic, mumbling medical facts. Make sure you take a break once in a while. 

 

Regular breaks - when revising its good to have a break at least every hour. It doesn’t have to be long, even if all you are doing is making a cup of tea. Your concentration wanders after long periods of time. 

 

Do something you enjoy - If the only thing you are doing all the time is revision, you will get bored. Make sure you do something else with your time, anything from watching the latest episode of your favourite TV programme to playing a game of squash.

 

Being social - This does not mean just reading the news feed on facebook or going out clubbing every night! Having face to face contact can have a really positive effect on the mood and make you feel like you have a lot more support when you are struggling. 

If you don’t understand something just ask! Your peers and tutors are here to help and will be happy to do so! 

 

If you end up doing badly, it is not the end of the world. Plenty have failed the ESA’s before you and have survived. Sitting the end of year exam isn’t the end of the world! 

 

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