The exams are coming up, but no stress!
We'll give you some tips on how to get organised and optimise your revision for your next exam!
First step: sort your courses, and check that you are not missing any
The first step before embarking on a revision programme is to sort out your lessons by subject, and do a check-up of what you are missing.
Once you have done this, the aim is to get all your missing lessons, if any, so that you don't miss any chapters that could potentially fall out on exam day.
Step 2: List all the chapters you will need to revise
By doing this work beforehand, you can organise your revision programme more easily.
Objective: to list all the chapters that need to be revised, for each subject.
Don't forget to include some "practice" parts as well, such as exercises often seen in class that might fall on your midterm.
Third step: the revision sheets
We know, it's not the most fun part for some, but it has some advantages:
- It allows you to start learning your course
- It simplifies your revisions.
So now that you've listed all the chapters you're going to have to revise, you can start making an index card for each of them, you'll see, it can be a game changer!
Step 4: The revision programme
You are ready to do your revision program!
A good programme depends on your ability to concentrate during the day, the subjects you prefer, and the time you have left to study.
Here are the different steps to follow:
- Assess how much time you will need for each subject, and more specifically for each chapter to be revised. We advise you to look at the bigger picture, to make sure that you can really follow your programme. So if you have difficulties in law for example, add 30 minutes to 1 hour. On the other hand, if you are good at finance (because you have followed the course very well, congratulations!), you can afford to spend a little less time on it. However, be careful not to underestimate the difficulty of certain subjects! If you can't quite figure it out, read your coursework quickly to get an idea.
- Count the number of days you have left to revise. Then, divide the number of chapters (all subjects) you have to revise by the number of days left to revise, and you will get an average of the number of chapters you will have to work on each day. For example, if you have 7 days left before your exams, and you have 12 chapters to learn, you will have to do 2 chapters per day (12 divided by 7 = 1,7).
- Now it's time to allocate each chapter, of each subject, to your revision days. Our advice: take into account your concentration/motivation during the day, the difficulty of each chapter, and your liking for the subject. For example, if you work really well in the morning, but a little less so in the early afternoon, choose subjects that you don't necessarily like, or more difficult chapters, for the morning, and opt for simpler revision in the afternoon.Another tip: try to alternate learning lessons and exercises, to avoid saturation and not being able to assimilate your lessons. Lastly, it's up to you to decide whether you prefer to revise all of a subject at once, and then move on to another (then reread this subject a little every day to avoid forgetting your lessons), or whether you prefer to alternate subjects, to avoid getting fed up.
It's time to get started!
Your revisions are organised, you just have to do it!
We have a few more tips to make this time easier for you, and to be as efficient as possible:
- At the end ofeach day, reread the chapters you learned on the day and over the last few days to keep all your knowledge in mind. And why not do one or two exercises again to make sure you haven't lost your touch.
- Breathe, take breaks. It's really important to let yourself breathe a little, and to take real lunch breaks for example. By giving yourself a break several times a day, your motivation will be much less impaired than if you decide to carbo-load (beware of saturation if that is the case).
- Change your revision location if you feel that you are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate in your current location. Or simply, if you like to vary and feel that it has a positive impact. You can study in your room in the morning and go to the library in the afternoon, or meet up with friends to work in the morning, have lunch with them, and then go home to study a subject that requires more concentration.
- Put your mobile away! Or put it on aeroplane mode if you can manage not to look at it every 10 minutes. The further away it is, the better your concentration will be.
That's it for us!
We hope that these tips will be useful to you, and that they will allow you to complete your semester "finger in the nose".
Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask us questions about the community if you have any!
