I don't mean to alarm anyone who is sitting exams this year but we are already at the end of January and you are going to start thinking about how to revise your time within the next few months. After a few polls on Twitter I found that a lot of you have several questions about exams and studying. I thought that I would put together a little blog post on the things that helped me when I was studying.
GENERAL TIPS
Mind Maps are what I have found myself to be a lot more dependant on these than flashcards, I would put them up all over my room so that I could be constantly noticing them even when I was zoning out from my studies!
Post It Notes got me through my French GCSE, I would copy out phrases that I needed to memorize. Then I would basically put them up all over my room and in random places to get certain written phrases in my mind. I also copied out a version of my final drafts of my speaking and writing pieces and put them on the wall which was really fun to take them down one by one and look at how close I was to being done with the exams.
Scents and Different Rooms. Right, this is going to sound absolutely mental but hear me out on this one because my Grandma suggested it to me and I thought she was mad but it actually works.
Each topic can me studied in a different room (this is much easier for A Levels as there are less topics to study for) and when you are in the room associate it with a scent by either wearing a different perfume/body spray or burning a candle. By having the idea that you were in that room with that scent increases your chances of remembering it in the exams, especially if you are able to wear the scent into the exam. For example, I studied English in my bedroom while burning a vanilla candle and then on the day of my exam wore a vanilla body spray meaning the memories associated with it were then linked to me studying it. I'm not sure if I explained that in the most coherent way but give it a go - this was one of the most effective for me by far!
Study Days can also be great but you have to be sure that you and your friends won't distract each other, if you manage to work well and study well with others then go for this. I loved my A Level study days, my friends and I would all pile into someones house and we would make a massive breakfast or lunch and then get into working.
Have a heap of snacks and drinks and try to make it as enjoyable as possible while also ensuring that you complete everything you need to get done. To make sure that I didn't mess round too much I would write myself a to do list of things that I needed to do in order to study. This also means you can share your revision resources with friends and so if someone has a really good mind map that you think you can learn from you will be able to photocopy it and have your own copy. Also if you missed anything in one of your classes then they may have the notes to help you out.
TIPS FOR STUDYING ENGLISH
Act the play out. When you're having a study day with friends take the time to each pick a character and read the play out in the kind of way you would when you are in class doing reading out loud. It is so much more enjoyable with friends than when you are in a class and I did this the day before my All My Sons exam for my English A Level and it really helped me to remember the key points and was so fun to do. The chances are you and your friends will be able to make it enjoyable in some way or another, my friends and I all put on silly voices and were super overdramatic while working on it meaning that everything we did was really remembered. It was so fun that we even had friends who weren't studying English come over to act these plays out with us.
Know your context, for my exams context was one of the most vital things that you could throw into your analysis to get a few extra marks. Make a couple of mindmaps on the context and watch a few YouTube videos or read a few articles on the author of the piece and the time it was set in, you never know when they will come in handy to help you out in the exam.
TIPS FOR STUDYING SCIENCE
Revision guides were my best friend when it came to studying for science GCSE's and I managed to learn so much from them which was a dream. I also was lucky enough that my school uploaded pdf versions of all of the textbooks for science on the school database that was accessible from home meaning I was able to study in depth the topics that I needed. If you are on OCR for GCSE science then I really recommend these revision guides as they got me through the course and are pretty much the exact same as your textbooks but a revision version. They were my lifesavers.
TIPS FOR STUDYING MATHS
Learn the vital equations, this will save you so much time within the exams as you don't become stumped when you are trying your hardest to get everything done and remain calm.
Method Maths is a good place to practice for any form of maths and I would like it to be my full advantage when I was studying for normal and further maths GCSE exams. If you have a school you can use it if this site is still used then I really recommend it for you guys!
I really do hope that this post was helpful in some way or another, if you guys have any other questions or if you want to be happy to try and help me. you all out. There will probably be a few other posts in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled for them too!
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