Author Options:

how should i revise for an exam? Answered

its on the friday after next (6th jun) any advice, apart from cheat?



Best Answer 10 years ago

Try making up a crib sheet.

Go over your previous tests, quizzes, homework assignments, class notes, and assigned reading (in roughly that order) and write down all the notes/formulas/dates/quotes/spellings/whatever you would like to be able to take into the test with you if you could. Then copy them over - by hand is much better for learning stuff - onto a (few) sheet(s) of paper.

Now you probably have 3-5 pages of notes. Go over everything again to decide what would you have to have, and then try to copy it over again (by hand) onto a single page. If it doesn't all fit on the first try, look it over again to see what else you could maybe leave off, then copy it all over again, writing smaller if you have to, onto a fresh page. When you get it all to fit onto one page, take a break.

The trick to this is that reviewing all the material and deciding what's important enough to write down (e. g., "Pi = 3.141"), and then what you don't need to write down because you already remember it (e.g, "The War of 1812 took place from 1812-1814.") helps you organize and integrate it within your brain as well as on the paper.

Writing by hand is important because it makes you think about the stuff you're writing as you're writing it, and it creates muscles and sense memory in your hands as well as the factual memory in your head. Repeated writing by hand reinforces all types of memory, and is therefore golden.

The "crib sheet" itself is great for quick review on the day of and/or just before walking into the test, and later on for review for other tests on the same material.
Do Not (DO NOT!) attempt to use the crib sheet during the test unless this is specifically allowed.

After your break, if you still don't feel ready for the test (and you have time), try to cut down your crib sheet even further, to fit on a 5" x 7" or even 3" x 5" card. Or else go over your previous tests & quizzes and (painful though this can be) figure out all the answers you got wrong.

At some point, you will have to declare yourself ready for the test (or else out of time). Make sure you have extra (working!) pencils and plenty of erasers; then take a deep breath, square your shoulders, tell yourself you have done and will do your level best, and go on ahead to face your challenge.

Good luck! :)


10 years ago

Study in groups, its a good way to meet the opposite sex and you retain the info better if you have to explain it to someone or if you argue with someone about it. If its a comprehensive exam over past topics study the previous test questions/quizes teachers are real lazy and tend not to use diffrerent test for final exams. If your in college your college libabry might have study guides provided by the teacher, they are a good source of test questions. Last, talk to other students who had your teacher last year and see if they still have their old exams. Again teachers are lazy and its a good idea of what will be on the test.


10 years ago

I don't think you "revise" for an exam. Unless this exam is a paper or essay. But anyway, I usually look over all the previous tests and assignments and write down notes on a separate sheet of paper and organize them. Then, you have a study guide you can look over before you go to school, and just before the you take the test and it will all be very fresh in your mind.


10 years ago

Have you got any previous exam papers, or example questions to work on? (there must be plenty on the internet if you don't).
Start by trying to do these in a limited amount of time, then go back and see where your knowledge was lacking / incorrect.
Try it again, and keep picking up the things you don't know (going over the stuff you do know might be easy but it's a waste of time).