Imagine that you are sitting in an examination hall and trying to absorb a complex-looking multiple choice question. Your mind, by now, is a jigsaw puzzle with lecture notes, your personal notes, textbooks and coaching class tips. And you are absolutely sure that the answer to that question lies somewhere in between all these resources. You vividly remember reading about it but are still not sure about how to solve it. Isn’t this something we all go through? Well, this dilemma has only one cure: smart revision.
‘Revision’ Makes a Man Perfect!
Revision is a precious gift that you can give yourself. However, the process of revising can be quite boring because of the fact that the syllabus gets over familiar and repetitive. It is almost like someone nagging you. However, only revising will make you feel more confident during an examination.
It’s not that we have not read something or are not aware of a particular concept. But the real problem is that we have not re-read or revisited the same concepts again. And revision is that tool which helps you to rethink and gather your thoughts on a topic. The real difference between an achiever and a non-achiever is just in terms of revision: an achiever might not read a word more than you, but his success lies in reading the same stuff again.
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind when it comes to revision.
Do Not Procrastinate
Simply studying new material, slouching over your books for long hours will not guarantee success. Remember, studying a concept and not being able to remember it on the day of the exam is as good as not studying it at all. A good deal of hard work needs to be put in for revising it too. Also, students often face this problem that once they have finished their syllabus, they find it very hard to go back and look at the same material again. Such students tend to procrastinate their study sessions (maybe till the day before their exam itself) due to the fear that they might stop studying altogether if they will complete their syllabus early.
Create a Study Schedule
This is the formula to ace your exams. It is important that you start revising weeks, and not days, before the exam. Try to maintain a planner diary with all the details of specific days allocated to specific subjects. For example, if you have an exam after four months, then maybe you could plan two revision sessions for a particular topic. The closer your exam date is, the more revision sessions you would need to plan.
View these discussions to get an insight into practical revision techniques.
Take control
It is easy to feel overwhelmed. You may feel that a particular task is too big and that whatever you do you will not succeed. Make sure that you gauge the size of the task, and be realistic about what you can do in the time available. The revision and exam period will inevitably involve stress. You need to monitor this and, ideally, make it work for you, not against you.
Don’t Revise Outside the Exam Hall
When you are waiting to go into the exam hall, there is absolutely no point looking backwards over what you haven’t covered; what you never understood; or what you thought you’d learnt but can’t seem to remember. All you can do now is do your best in the papers. You are where you are: now you have to make the best of what you’ve got.
No matter what your revision technique is, focus on the quality rather than just the quantity. Whatever time you do spend revising, you need to make sure that it is quality time, you are completely focused (not half asleep), and you adopt the most appropriate revision method.
Set a realistic, definite time to go through each revision session to maintain the quality. The session should be short enough to guarantee your full attention throughout.
Revision is an essential part of remembering what you read. Read more about retaining the things you study here!
That’s all for today, guys.
All the very best for your revisions!
