You really need to plan how to spend the months leading up to the
exams.
A last minute rush will leave you panicky and tired.
You need to fit in relaxation as well as revision and keeping pace
with new work.
These pages are designed to help you organise your revision properly
and be well prepared for your exams so that you will do the very best
you can.
Preparing for Revision and Exams
Plan of Action
Step 1 Make sure you know what topics you must revise for
each subject.
Step 2 Plan out a timetable for your revision and stick
to it.
Step 3 Organise how to revise thoroughly, - find a way to
suit you.
Step 4 Coping with exam nerves and making final preparations.
Step 5 The exam!
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Before you start revising you must
collect together all the books and notes you will need |
This plan should help you to: -
1. Use your revision time effectively.
2. Recall information under exam conditions.
3. Control you anxiety so that exam nerves don't let you
down.
BUT.......
It will only help if you organize your revision properly and prepare
yourself fully for these exams.
Points to remember:
Getting Started
Revising for an exam is rather like training to run a marathon.
The sooner you start getting into shape the better your chances
of successfully completing the course.
- Before starting your revision programme ensure that you
have all the material that you need and that it is well
organised. This will save you valuable time during the programme
itself.
- If possible, begin revising four to six weeks before your
first exam so that studying can be broken down into short,
regular sessions spread over many days rather than a few,
frantic days.
- Spend more time on especially difficult subjects, but
avoid the mistake of thinking that because you find a subject
easy you need not revise it. Such misplaced confidence has
caused many students to do badly on their best subjects.
- Equally, do not neglect a subject you find very hard.
By working intensively on it you will often find that it
suddenly begins to make sense.
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FIRST STEP …………… KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU
NEED TO DO!
These are amongst the first things to be clear about. The syllabus
is the book from the examining board which tells your teacher what
your exams will be about and how they will be set. You cannot hope
to prepare for exams and revise properly unless you know what you
are to be examined on and the actual form of the exam.
Step 1
What should I revise?
ORGANISING REVISION TIME
Before you can plan properly you will need information from subject
teachers e.g. details of exam papers (How many for the subject,
How long each one is, What type of questions are set etc.)
You must find out lists of topics likely to be covered.
WHY NOT…..
Have a look at this year's syllabus for each subject.
If you have any question about the syllabus, things which you do
not understand or think you have not covered, discuss it with your
teacher.
Ask you teacher about the examiners' reports.
These are written after each year's exams. They explain, amongst
other things, the common mistakes made by students. Knowing about
these mistakes should stop you making the same ones!
Ask your teacher to go through plenty of past papers.
Very often teachers will set past papers for you to do against the
clock so that you get used to the discipline of keeping to time
and of answering the questions set. Copies of past papers, syllabus
and examiners' reports can always be obtained from the various examining
boards.
Make a chart on the form, time and place of each examination.
Use the imaginary example below as a guide to help you to see precisely
what you have to do in each subject you are taking - how many papers
you have to take; how many questions you have to do from the number
set; how long the exam is; where and when it is … and so on.
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English
% Total marks for
written papers? 60%
Number of written
papers? 2
Length of papers?
2 x 2 hours
Topics on each paper?
Paper 1: Comprehension
...............................Paper
2: Creative Writing
How many question to be answered?
............................. .Paper
1: Comprehension passage- 15 short answers ..............................(compulsory).Plus
any 3 from 6 longer questions.
...............................Paper
2: 2, from a choice of 10 (essays).
Date of exam? Paper
1: 9am 30 may
....................Paper 2:
2pm 10 June
Place of exams? Sports
Hall
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Step 2
Planning your revision time
You must plan the weeks up to the exams very carefully in order
to fit in your revision. Once you have a timetable of revision -
stick to it.
ORGANISING YOUR TIME
- Keep a record of your progress by preparing a timetable
on a large sheet of paper pinned up in the room where you
revise.
- Fill in the days and time of your various exams, and then
work back towards the present with a realistic schedule
for each subject.
- Now decide how many hours each day you can devote to revision.
It is probably best to work for at most six days a week
allowing at least the seventh for rest and enjoyment.
- You might decide, for instance that you can set aside
two hours each weekday and four hours on Saturday. (Yes
- 14 hours a week!)
- Put in your revision programme, working back from the
exam. Be precise about the subject, and the topic too if
you can, for each day's revision.
- Blank out times when you know already that revision will
not be possible - holiday already arranged; field trips;
play production - perhaps in BLACK
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.E.G
| Fri 9TH APRIL |
Sun 10TH APRIL |
Mon 11TH APRIL |
9:00-10:00 French Translation |
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School Begins |
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| 1:00-3:00 Geography |
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7:00-9:00pm Biology |
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| 7:00-8:00 Maths |
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Of course, you may not have many months left, or your schedule
may have gone wrong; never mind, the main idea - of planning the
use of what time does remain - is still basically a good one. So
don't panic, - just get started
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Whatever method you use to set out
your plans: -
1. Tick off what you have achieved, and feel good about it.
2. If things go wrong, work out why.
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SET REALISTIC TARGETS FOR YOURSELF, AND THEN ACHIEVE THEM MAKING
PLANS AND STICKING TO THEM ENABLES YOU TO DO MORE
Download a Revision Timetable HERE
(pdf 10kb)
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