Revising is a way to learn about the craft of writing. Phyllis Whitney famously wrote, "Good stories are not written. They are rewritten." Learning to revise teaches students about the characteristics of good writing, which will carry over into their future writing. Revision skills complement reading skills; revision requires that writers distance themselves from the writing and critically evaluate a text.
Strategies of revision: Once students have organised their checklist/timetable, they should work through each topic with help from textbooks, class notes and any online resources. Working through the topics one at a time, with a mixture of learning the information and testing yourself, can be an effective way to revise. Focus on one topic at a time from the highlighted checklists until you understand it. Each time you learn a topic you will increase your mark, and the more you learn, the better your grade will be. Study a section of your notes, and memorise the essential points. hide your notes, and try to write down everything you can remember. Check what you've written against your notes. Note down what you got wrong, or forgot, and learn them.
Get organised: Arrive at the exam venue in The earlier you start, the more prepared you will be. Starting early allows you time to really learn the material and understand it – and it means you can cope with any factors that may unexpectedly disrupt your revision. Also, “cramming” is just not effective for everyone, and will often only create more stress. Spend a couple of hours figuring out the material you will need to know for each exam and map out a revision timetable that takes into account when each of your exams is.
Make your revision timetable as detailed as possible, writing exactly what you need to do each day, for how long, and make sure you schedule in regular study breaks too. Without regular breaks, you could be headed for stress and burnout, which definitely won’t contribute to exam success. Revision can be a highly personal process and it’s worth testing out a few different methods before finding an approach that suits you. This will make sure that you are working smarter, not harder. Along the same lines, figure out when you learn best. This may be early in the morning or late at night – again, each person is different. Plan your revision to utilise the times when you think you are at peak productivity levels. If speech or songs with lyrics are too distracting for you, try film scores or instrumental music. For others, pin-drop silence will be the only thing that works. The only way to know for sure is to test this out. Also, as a side note, make sure you wear comfortable clothes and have plenty of water and healthy snacks to hand.
If you must have your phone near you, download an app that stops you from continuously checking Instagram or Facebook. Forest is a particularly innovative one. It plants a seed when you lock your phone and a tree continues to grow until you quit the app. To make sure your tree keeps growing, don't go on to any other apps on your phone. If this doesn't work for you, there are plenty of other productivity apps that can stop you from unnecessarily checking your phone.
It is important to ensure that all this revision doesn’t go to waste and that you are able to apply the knowledge in an exam situation.
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