How to revise effectively and nail top grades in your exams

Do you know how to revise effectively? Simple question but most students do not have a clue how to do this and end up scoring well below their potential. The A* students on the other hand know the tricks to revising productively to ace their exams. What are those tricks?

• 1. Make sure that you are indeed revising and not learning.

  Many students are actually learning to understand something rather than revise. They are kidding themselves. Make sure that you are indeed revising and not trying to comprehend some piece of theory. Do not be ashamed if you have to reach out to fully understand a topic. Then you can revise it. Do not confuse revising with comprehending.

• 2. You need to manage your time very efficiently concentrating on revising the relevant material in the correct order.

  For example, you do not want to be learning something that you will forget in a week while your exam is a month away. How many times have you heard students glibly report that they did well in an exam because they revised just a few days before. Well, of course they did, as everything was fresh and easily recalled.

• 3. Read all the examiner reports for whichever examination you may be sitting.

  An examiner’s report will actually reveal more that the mark scheme. It basically tells you exactly what they are looking for. How many times have you looked at the mark scheme in disbelief as you completely misinterpreted what they were looking for in the way of an answer. So read all available examiner reports and then move on to the mark schemes. Then of course do as many past papers as possible but rigorously – not just for the sake of it. And be super strict with your marking – a mistake is a mistake and should be punished.

• 4. Get a hold of the official examination specifications from the examination boards.

  It is amazing how many times here at AGF Tutoring we hear students claiming that something is not on the syllabus when in fact it is. You need to print off a syllabus for each and every examination and comb through every topic in detail. Do not come out of an exam saying to yourself that you didn’t know that something was on the syllabus – that is very annoying and will damage your grades – simply unacceptable.

• 5. Get someone else to quiz and brainstorm you to make you think quickly and out-of-the-box.

  If you can articulate your responses quickly and coherently then you really know your stuff; otherwise you have to get back to serious revision.

• 6. Always raise the bar: do not compromise with an 80% in practice papers.

  You want to see perfect scores. That means that you need to challenge yourself just as you would when training for a sport. The great athletes do not compromise, they are always raising that bar higher. You should be doing the same: look for more difficult questions; look at different textbooks; put yourself under examination conditions.

• 7. And a couple of obvious but often overlooked points: stay healthy, sleep well, and stay focused.

  You may have done all your revision, as suggested above, but for one reason or another you feel under the weather, sleep badly or psychologically upset. So despite the fact that you were well prepared you drastically underperform.

Revising in the right way at the right time separates the cats from the pigeons, the A* students from the mediocre. Let our tutors at AGF Tutoring who have attained stellar grades and attended world famous universities, assist and guide you through this challenging period with the most efficient and productive revision for your forthcoming examinations. Wish we could say best of luck in whatever you are preparing for but that would imply that you haven’t revised properly, wouldn’t it? Though a little bit of luck never hurts, does it? All the best to all of you in all the forthcoming examinations!