Top 5 Tips To Exam Revision

So exam season will soon be upon us again in the UK, whether that be prelims or real exams. Yeah, it may only be January, but believe me your prelims in March and real exams in June will come round fast (unless like me you go to a Sixth Form College and you're currently midway through your prelims). If there's anything I regret from sitting my GCSE's last year, it's not revising early enough... actually, scrap that, I didn't revise at all. And now I'm sitting prelims for my AS Levels, and guess what? I'm still not revising! It's not as if I don't know how to revise, I'm just an incredibly lazy human being and would rather be sat talking to my friends on Facebook or procrastinating on YouTube, or even writing blog posts... which is exactly what I'm doing at this moment in time. I have a huge wad of paperwork on my desk that I should be doing, but no, I find it a better use of my time to be talking to you guys about this so you don't make the same mistakes I have made a million times over. You're welcome. So, if you don't want to end up like me - a ball of stress and self-pity in the wake of exams, then you might want to hear me out.

1. Timetable - create a timetable of all your free hours and which of those free hours you're going to dedicate to revision. Say if you get in from school at 3, but have dance class at 5, why not spend an hour from 3.30 to 4.30 revising? That gives you time to get in, get something to eat, settle down for some highly enjoyable revision, and also gives you time to get ready for dance!       
2. Breaks - breaks are really important. You can't overwork yourself. If you're planning on doing more than one hour's worth of revision, firstly mad props to you! Do an hour work, have half an hour off, then come back to it. Just make sure you have the motivation to actually come back and finish what you started, don't leave work half-done - it'll only amount!
3. Food, drink and sleep- as stressful as exam season can be, you have to make sure you look after yourself. Three meals and two snacks a day, plenty of water, and at least eight hours' sleep. By 'three meals and two snacks a day', I don't mean stuff yourself silly with Maccies and sweets - you have to keep it balanced. Foods such as blueberries, salmon, avocados and broccoli are proven to help stimulate your brain (PS, dark chocolate in moderation is antioxidant rich and helps with focus!)
4. Utilise your internet addiction! - If, like me, you spend 24 hours a day online, why not use the internet to your advantage when revising? There are tons of great revision websites, games and apps to use! When studying for my GCSE's, I used an app called 'Gojimo' which had past questions in a multiple-choice form, so that whenever I had five or ten minutes free I could go on the app and quickly test myself. That was the extent of my GCSE revision, and I should probably add that I passed all of my GCSE's.
5. Group revision - there's a fine line between actually revising with your mates and getting distracted by your squad banter. As long as you don't cross that line, group revision can actually be quite useful... and fun. If you don't know an answer, there may be a friend who does, and if a friend asks you for help with something, going back and teaching them it is subsequently testing your knowledge as well!

So there we have it. My five top tips for exam revision. Now, I suppose I'd better follow my own advice and start revising for my Travel & Tourism exam this Thursday!

Have a great week!

- J