Our Top 5 Revision Tips
- Find out what you know first!
- Take breaks
- Use your breaks
- Avoid social media
- Make revision interesting – use the internet!
It’s revision time and for many students the stress is on. The number one question they have is “How do I get what is on that page into my head? And how do I make myself want to do that?”
Many students simply force themselves. They have no other techniques for motivating themselves except for brute force and willpower. However, there are other ways that are not only as effective, but more effective than simply forcing ourselves to work. These techniques are about conserving energy, working smartly and encouraging ourselves into the best frame of mind for revision. It’s a world away from simply pushing ourselves hard and hoping that this will work. (More on this in a later blog).
Here are 5 pretty straight forward ways to improve your revision and your mental wellbeing and with it your motivation.
1. Find out what you know first!
Sounds obvious and yet scary perhaps. I find in my coaching sessions that many students do not in fact, find out what they actually know already. This is a real pity because in my experience most of us remember much more than we realise we do.
So check first. Just brain storm, write anything down, do a mind map, spider diagram or a list. Just get the info out of your head and see what has stuck. From here you can start to work out where the gaps are. Also, research shows that we learn information by incorporating it into the information we already have. This approach immediately boosts that process.
2. Take breaks
Our brains use a lot of energy. Even at rest. So we need regular breaks in order to allow it to ‘recalibrate’. Again research suggests a break every 30-40 minutes actually boosts our productivity. What’s not to like? More to the point our brains recalibrate best if they are engaged in gentle activity, perhaps taking a walk, looking at a view, watch 15 minutes of “The Big Bang Theory’ or your favourite sitcom.
Breaks optimise your memory power, but possibly more importantly in my view, they minimise procrastination. Most students procrastinate largely because they are setting themselves up to do huge chunks of work, for instance, “I’m going to work all night” or “I’m going to do 5 hours”. It’s off-putting and the parts of you that aren’t keen on putting in huge efforts immediately start pulling back and undermining your brilliant resolve. Setting much smaller targets helps immediately. Working for 30 minutes, 20 minutes or even 10 minutes can have a big effect if your clever about what you do in the time.
3. Use your breaks
What I’m suggesting here is again all about optimising your memory and boosting the results you achieve. Many students are fundamentally frightened of taking breaks. The either feel guilty that they shouldn’t really be doing it (in spite of the reams of evidence that taking breaks improves brain function) or they are afraid that if they take a break they will spiral off into hours of distraction, rather like an astronaut floating off into outer space.
However, the key to effective breaks is not just how you use the down time, it’s what you do leading in to and after your break.
BEFORE a break, stop, put your papers aside and brainstorm again what you know. Write it all down. See what you have retained. In doing this, you are ACTUALLY LEARNING. This is revision in action. It’s called OVER LEARNING and it is HOW WE LEARN. So use the before a break to over learn.
And before you stop make a note of what you plan to do next. A small thing perhaps but absolutely pivotal because it keeps you tethered to the work you are doing and much less likely to spin off into outer space. Even clever if you can set yourself up with something relatively easy to do when you return.
AFTER a break – get another blank piece of paper out and brainstorm again. See what you know now. You are testing the difference between short-term and long-term memory now and incorporating that learning into your long-term memory. Excellent! Anything you don’t know now is fine – just make a note and revise over that again.
4. Avoid social media
The anecdotal and research evidence surrounding the impact of social media on academic productivity in general and revision in particular is pretty clear. EVERY SINGLE TIME I give a training the top barrier to good productivity that students identify is social media.
So make small changes that have BIG EFFECTS. Here’s some of the strategies that students have told me they use: Swap phones with a friend. I feel to embarrassed to ask for it back if he’s still working so I just keep on working.
- Don’t take my phone not my study room. If i want to answer it I have to get up and go outside.
- Put my phone in the drawer the other side of the room.
- Use Apps like to capitalise on the moment that you have willpower to switch off from social media for a while.
- Tell your friends that you won’t be available for a bit as your revising.
While social media may be your number one enemy for helping you distract yourself and procrastinate, the internet could be your greatest ally.
5. Make revision interesting – use the internet!
So many students associate sites like Youtube simply with leisure stuff, music, videos etc. But it’s a HUGE resource for information. If you have something that is boring the pants off you, like for instance, rivers…. look it up on Youtube! You’ll find out about the best rivers to surf, the Severn Bore that happens once a year, arctic rivers, rivers that have run dry, rivers that have moved over time. In fact anything that brings this topic to life for you and helps you connect it into your memory is a benefit.
The one obvious danger here is – Don’t get distracted and spend too much time. Having said that there is almost always a way to make revision more fun than you think.
