Four top tips to wrestle with revision and win!

The Easter break is almost upon us and tens of thousands of teenagers facing their GCSEs and A-level exams in the coming months will be using this time to get their heads down and revise.

Experts tell us that the most ineffective way to revise is to read through your notes.

Not much goes in, your mind wanders and you spend ages “working” for very little learning.

So, teen magazine Future Mag has shared their four top tips to help you ‘own’ revision this Easter break.

1. MAKE IT ACTIVE

Revision should be active – doing things, so:

Make fact cards

Draw mind maps

Highlight notes

Make lists

Write essay plans

Answer past questions

2. TAKE BREAKS, BE CLEVER!

Don’t work for hours without a break. Your memory and recall become less and less effective, so:

Plan your revision in sessions of up to one hour

Take a short break between sessions

Change topics each session – this is really hard to begin with as you may have just got stuck-in to a particular subject, but it is a really effective strategy. It focuses your mind to get a certain amount/task done in a set time and makes the time spent revising really count

3 MAKE SMALL SACRIFICES

For your revision sessions to be useful and worthwhile you will need to make a few sacrifices.

Find a quiet place to work. Not with the TV on