Revising and Preparing for Exams Efficiently

It's exam season for most people, and students will be cramming in their last minute revision from their lovely-looking notes and desperately trying to remember what the lecturer/teacher was talking about. We've all been there. I've been there many times and as much as a I remember stressing over every exam and assignment, I sit here today in my office job wishing I was back at university because they were some of the best years of my life! After being in education for years, I developed my own revision habits that worked for me and I wanted to share them with you all.

Post-its:

Big small, pink, blue, heart, rectangle - whatever pleases you. These little pieces of sticky paper become so useful in your revision environment. Sticking them in your text books to mark out quotes/notes and dividing pages up to writing down quick to-do-lists and sticking them on your computer screen so you remember what you need to do. The ease of chucking them away when you're done will make you feel like you haven't wasted a whole sheet of paper on 5 words.

Highlighters:

I don' know anyone that didn't use highlighters during any part of their education. It's what they're designed for - for you to highlight what you think is important and useful for your exam/assignment. If you have several themes you need to cover in your exam/assignment then colour co-ordinating them using a variety of different coloured highlighters will help you categorise properly, so you know exactly what is what. My personal favourite highlighters of choice were pink, yellow, green and orange.

Coloured Pens:

Similar to highlighters but for a slightly different purpose. For years, I religiously always used black pens to write out anything. Blue ink just looks odd to me. But I would always use red or green inked pens to write out headings and subheadings to make my work/revision notes look visually organised. Sounds crazy, but I liked being able to look at a piece of paper and being able to find exactly what I need to find through quick glance because the coloured ink separated a block of black text.

Folders:

So necessary if you're working/revising several topics at one time. I would organise my modules/classes into different coloured plastic envelope folders and label them accordingly so that I could easily identify which is which. Plastic wallets were also a staple, too, as I would pring out all my lecture slides (with hand-written notes on them) and place them in it's own plastic wallet (did anyone else use to call these 'polly pockets'? ....No?! Just me).

Case Studies/Journals:

If you're a university student, you'll know this all too well. There are literally thousands and thousands of published journal articles online and case studies to read and it can be such a chore filtering through them but when you find good one, it's so worth it. Read, read, read as many case studies and journal articles as you can. There's a reason why they're published and that reason is because they're worthy enough to be used and cited in academic research.

Fun Time/Rewards:

For me, this was one of the most important parts of studying. I would put in as much effort as I could into all my exams and assignments, spend a certain amount of hours working and then give myself the night off. So, if I studied from 9-5, I would give myself the night off or if I planned on doing something in the morning/afternoon, I'd make sure that I did some studying later on in the day. It's all about balancing your workload and giving yourself some stress-free time, too. Even if this meant I would get to have an early night, or treat myself to an hour of online shopping...don't feel guilty on treating yourself every now and then. If you know you've put in the hard work, you know you deserve something nice for yourself. 

I wish the best of luck to everyone that is going through assignments, dissertations, projects and exams in the next few weeks. It's not the easiest time but hopefully very worth it for you in the future.