This article is culled from The Excel Guidebook for Students: how to excel in exams, based on ethics compliant principles (Fourth Edition). The Excel Guidebook for Students is published by Exam Ethics Marshal International

 

Early and regular revision guarantees success in examinations. Waiting till the last days to the examination leads to burnout and failure

 

THE LAW OF REVISION.

 

Early and regular revision guarantees success in examinations. Waiting till the last days to the examination leads to burnout and failure. Successful students start early to revise. Early revision helps you to train your memory. Training your memory is not the same thing as “Cramming”. Do not depend on Cramming. When you revise a subject or topic repeatedly, your understanding becomes deep and your handling of related questions flow naturally.

 

Important revision tips.

Always choose a quiet place for your revision.

Choose your peak periods to revise topics you find difficult. Your peak period is likely to come after sleeping. That is why revising early in the morning is a powerful strategy. It is a peak period without distractions.

Make your revision based on a timetable. Prepare a revision timetable based on the syllabus.

Revise actively. Jot down the key points as you revise. Go through the key points when you have short intervals. (e.g. when you are in a vehicle or waiting for somebody).

Read actively by marking out important sections of the passage you are reading.

Write as you read.

Do not cram. Revise repeatedly.

Group revision can be helpful, if it is not an excuse to avoid individual efforts and exertion.

 

Train your memory.

Exercise builds up your muscles. Likewise your ability to remember things can also be improved with practice. To develop your memory does not mean cramming. Cramming means forcing yourself to learn hurriedly without prolonged study. Never rely on it. You can use a number of strategies to improve your memory.

 

The 4R strategy for improving your memory.

Read “actively”. Use a pencil or a marker to mark out important points as you read. Outline the main points to enhance learning. Number main points as A,B,C,D. etc. while sub-points can be numbered 1,2,3,4 etc.

 

Recite as you read. After reading a particular passage, look up and try to recite the key points. If you cannot recite the passage, read again.

 

(W)Rite as you read and recite. A very good test as to whether you can remember what you read is to write it down.

 

Repetition. The rule of thumb is that you must revise a passage up to five times before it begins to stick in your memory. Of course, it can be more or less depending on your special retention ability.

 

Wholesale memorising.

You may be required to commit whole sections to memory. In subjects like Literature and Religious Studies you may be required to recite a poem or a section of a play. Use the 4R strategy and practice regularly. Start with simple tasks like memorizing the national pledge and the national anthem.

 

Mnemonics.

Mnemonics is the act of using a rhyme to prompt the memory. For example, the task of remembering the twelve nerves can be helped by mnemonics. The twelve nerves are: Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Auditory, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory, and Hypoglossal. The following mnemonic can make it easier for you to remember:

 

On Old Olympic Towering Top.

A Fat-Armed German Viewed

A Hop

 

Note that the first letter of each word of the mnemonic is also first letter of each of the nerves. This mnemonics has been in use for a long time. Students of education can use SPIDERS to remember: problem Solving, Practical work, Investigation, Discussion, Exposition, Routine Skills. Again SPIDERS as mnemonics has been in use for a long time. You can develop your own mnemonics for each learning task. In fact, using mnemonic to develop yourself makes it much easier to remember.

 

Memorising by understanding.

When faced with the task of learning a complex process, first focus on the general view and then try to understand the component parts of the process. For example, photosynthesis is the formation of carbohydrates in green plants from carbon dioxide and water with the liberation of oxygen in the presence of chlorophyll. Understanding the general concepts immediately reminds you of the components involved:

Carbohydrates

Green plants

Carbon dioxide

Water

Oxygen

Chlorophyll.

Remembering these component parts make it easy to remember the process itself.

 

Develop your own method.

Try and develop your own method. Some students use index cards as prompters at bus stops, cafeteria, etc. You can also make use of GSM telephones, tape recorders, calculators, and other electronics devices. If you are a student of history, literature, theatre arts, you can improve your memory by acting out poems, passages, battlefield movements and historic confli