Exam Study Tips
It's exam season, we've been doing all our exams in college this past few weeks, but most the theory we learn is pure common sense and I didn't need to study for them at all. I mean I've been getting 100% on some of them.. However we do have one subject which is pretty much a science exam and there's a lot of stuff we need to remember for it, so I've had to actually study for this one. I'm aiming for 100% again, I'm in deep competition with another girl in my class, no one ever expects me to be clever and she doesn't want to accept that I could be, so I'm enjoying proving her wrong -not in a really horrible way I promise! But I was sat revising and I was thinking of turning it into a post because I know when I was revising for my GCSEs I was all over the internet looking for the perfect exam tips. So I want to share what works for me.
For starters, work area and self preparation
I think it's important to be in a good environment to work in, personally I need the perfect noise levels, I can't be a deadly silence because it's too uncomfortable, but I have to be alone so there's no distractions. If anyone is in the room with me I end up absentmindedly watching what they're doing or talking to them. So for me preferably my bedroom but a full house with background noise downstairs.
The place I actually work is on my bed, some people can't work on their because it's too easy to fall alseep but I like to have the comfort of familiar surroundings. I like to work near a window in natural daylight and a breeze of fresh air coming in.
I also like to spread all my work into organised piles across my bed, if I can see all the work I have to get through it inspires me to work harder and I feel good to be surrounded by work because I feel like I'm in a movie.
I have to have my earphones in on a middle volume so I can hear my own thoughts, but it's loud enough to stop me day dreaming. Classical music has been proven to help people study if it's used as background music, I tried this but it was too distracting, I need songs I know well that I can enjoy but also let it play at the back of my mind without stopping me from thinking.
For preparation on myself it's important to wear comfy clothes, that aren't pj's and won't tempt me to sleep. Normally leggings and a shirt.
I like to tie my hair up and wear my glasses because it psychologically puts me in the frame of mind of professionalism and I feel posh and hard at work.
My notes
As for how I study, the thing that has worked the most for me is rewriting the notes I made in class. I go through all of my books, handouts, homeworks etc and organise them into order of topic then I write everything back out into my notebook in more condensed notes. I then read over these notes for the coming weeks, and when the exam is veering closer I'll rewrite the notes once more condensing them further into pretty much key words which my brain should be able to expand during the exam. The less I need to remember the better. I like to leave hints for my brain to do the rest, if that makes sense..
Colour is very important. I use different colours for each section of work. I heard somewhere that a colour reminds our brain of the subject, so for example if I highlighted all my biology work in green pens, then in the exam I could only remember half of what I'd learnt in Biology, my brain would recognise the green from what notes I did remember, and the rest of my notes would come easily to me because I remembered the colour I used on my notes.
I also read somewhere that the colour green is good for remembering things, so on topics I particularly struggle on, I use green. Another good colour I personally find helps me remember is pink. Most of my notes are in pink and greens.
Decorating your room
I love sticking post it notes around my room with lists or key words and definitions on, it's so easy to just look at every time you walk in and out of your room, when you get up and when you go to sleep. I like to have to designated revision time where I'll read through and write my notes then for the rest of the day my wall decorations simply remind me of my notes.
I also keep important diagrams on my wall. A big part of the exam I'll be taking is labeling diagrams and I need to make sure I know them by heart, especially when they're all words that make zero sense in real life.
General tips
Don't sit for hours on end going through notes, don't stay up all night, have breaks, find a time and a length of time that works for you. I only do 1-2 hours of hardcore revision, but I'm someone who can hold information in my brain quite well. If you're revising and everything is going in one ear and out the other then stop. You're wasting your time. Take a break, breathe, get some fresh air and food or a hot drink and come back later. Eat well and sleep well, lacking in energy will lack your focus and there is no point studying. A lot of people say you learn better when you're tired but you don't.
Try studying outside, during my GCSEs I'd go to the park and have an ice cream while reading through my notes, it makes it more fun and a change of scenery helps.
Probably the most important thing is to just keep calm, don't take it too seriously. Yeah these exams are important, yeah realistically you should aim to pass them all, but don't devote your life to it all. Throughout my exams I was relatively calm, I only mega freaked out over one exam and when I did I shut my books and went to bed. The best thing you can do is approach it informally, walk into your exam room like you're meeting friends, breathe, slouch in your seat a little, think about how it's almost summer while the papers are being handed out and then focus when it starts. Honestly taking an easy, relaxed approach to it makes it so easy. And if you know the stuff the exams are easy in themselves. I'd had a lot of days off in high school, I'd missed out on a lot of work and realistically it should have been very hard for me but it's all about the mindset, I decided it was it going to be easy so it was.
For starters, work area and self preparation
I think it's important to be in a good environment to work in, personally I need the perfect noise levels, I can't be a deadly silence because it's too uncomfortable, but I have to be alone so there's no distractions. If anyone is in the room with me I end up absentmindedly watching what they're doing or talking to them. So for me preferably my bedroom but a full house with background noise downstairs.
The place I actually work is on my bed, some people can't work on their because it's too easy to fall alseep but I like to have the comfort of familiar surroundings. I like to work near a window in natural daylight and a breeze of fresh air coming in.
I also like to spread all my work into organised piles across my bed, if I can see all the work I have to get through it inspires me to work harder and I feel good to be surrounded by work because I feel like I'm in a movie.
I have to have my earphones in on a middle volume so I can hear my own thoughts, but it's loud enough to stop me day dreaming. Classical music has been proven to help people study if it's used as background music, I tried this but it was too distracting, I need songs I know well that I can enjoy but also let it play at the back of my mind without stopping me from thinking.
For preparation on myself it's important to wear comfy clothes, that aren't pj's and won't tempt me to sleep. Normally leggings and a shirt.
I like to tie my hair up and wear my glasses because it psychologically puts me in the frame of mind of professionalism and I feel posh and hard at work.
My notes
As for how I study, the thing that has worked the most for me is rewriting the notes I made in class. I go through all of my books, handouts, homeworks etc and organise them into order of topic then I write everything back out into my notebook in more condensed notes. I then read over these notes for the coming weeks, and when the exam is veering closer I'll rewrite the notes once more condensing them further into pretty much key words which my brain should be able to expand during the exam. The less I need to remember the better. I like to leave hints for my brain to do the rest, if that makes sense..
Colour is very important. I use different colours for each section of work. I heard somewhere that a colour reminds our brain of the subject, so for example if I highlighted all my biology work in green pens, then in the exam I could only remember half of what I'd learnt in Biology, my brain would recognise the green from what notes I did remember, and the rest of my notes would come easily to me because I remembered the colour I used on my notes.
I also read somewhere that the colour green is good for remembering things, so on topics I particularly struggle on, I use green. Another good colour I personally find helps me remember is pink. Most of my notes are in pink and greens.
Decorating your room
I love sticking post it notes around my room with lists or key words and definitions on, it's so easy to just look at every time you walk in and out of your room, when you get up and when you go to sleep. I like to have to designated revision time where I'll read through and write my notes then for the rest of the day my wall decorations simply remind me of my notes.
I also keep important diagrams on my wall. A big part of the exam I'll be taking is labeling diagrams and I need to make sure I know them by heart, especially when they're all words that make zero sense in real life.
General tips
Don't sit for hours on end going through notes, don't stay up all night, have breaks, find a time and a length of time that works for you. I only do 1-2 hours of hardcore revision, but I'm someone who can hold information in my brain quite well. If you're revising and everything is going in one ear and out the other then stop. You're wasting your time. Take a break, breathe, get some fresh air and food or a hot drink and come back later. Eat well and sleep well, lacking in energy will lack your focus and there is no point studying. A lot of people say you learn better when you're tired but you don't.
Try studying outside, during my GCSEs I'd go to the park and have an ice cream while reading through my notes, it makes it more fun and a change of scenery helps.
Probably the most important thing is to just keep calm, don't take it too seriously. Yeah these exams are important, yeah realistically you should aim to pass them all, but don't devote your life to it all. Throughout my exams I was relatively calm, I only mega freaked out over one exam and when I did I shut my books and went to bed. The best thing you can do is approach it informally, walk into your exam room like you're meeting friends, breathe, slouch in your seat a little, think about how it's almost summer while the papers are being handed out and then focus when it starts. Honestly taking an easy, relaxed approach to it makes it so easy. And if you know the stuff the exams are easy in themselves. I'd had a lot of days off in high school, I'd missed out on a lot of work and realistically it should have been very hard for me but it's all about the mindset, I decided it was it going to be easy so it was.
I hope this helps somehow, good luck to everyone taking any sort of exams this term.
Side note: I know it's Monday and I should be doing a 'currently listening to' but all I have is ATL songs so I thought I'd leave it until next week so I can post more songs than just from the one band...
Shaan x
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