This guest post was written by Clara Seyfried (ASC Tutor, and PhD Candidate in Psychology)
As the end of the semester approaches and exams are loom, fun might be the last thing we associate with revision. However, even if studying doesn’t become your new favourite hobby, enjoying yourself more while revising will ultimately make you more engaged, which can make it easier for you to study more and absorb information more effectively.
In this post, we’ll discuss some tips and tricks for how you can approach revision from the right angle, and perhaps even learn to like it.
Take Care of Yourself: Exams Don’t Define You
Exams can feel like a lot of pressure. If you are afraid of exams and worried about not being able to put enough work into your revision, it can be useful to think about what you can realistically expect to get out of your exams and set goals which you think you will be able to achieve. Depending on your experience with exams so far, it might also help to relativise success and failure in the exam context. What could success look like for you? And what is the worst possible thing that could happen as a result of your performance in this exam? Exams are designed to assess your knowledge and skills, not you as a person! You can protect yourself from getting disappointed by your results by preparing effectively for the things that you struggle with the most.
As you begin your revision, it is also important to remember not to neglect yourself for the sake of studying. It can help to stick to specific time frames or create a revision timetable to make sure that you can still maintain a healthy social life and find time to look after yourself. Also, make sure to continue to eat well, get enough sleep, and take sufficient breaks when studying. Good revision planning can allow you to keep track of your revision (and so stop you from overthinking whether you have studied enough) and help you reflect on your revision afterwards, so that you can find the best way to make revision work for yourself.
Is it Really That Hard? Gamifying Revision
Of course, some topics might be inherently more fun than others, but there are always strategies you can try to make your revision more entertaining. Making revision more fun can prevent you from losing interest and zoning out during the time you dedicate to studying.
To some extent, you can do this by approaching your revision topics through the perspectives you find most interesting. For example, you could always start or end your revision sessions which topics you enjoy the most or that come more naturally to you. Of course, you should also be careful not to prioritise these topics over others that might need your attention more (remember the importance of Spaced Practice), but it can be useful to get you find a way to get yourself in the mood for studying.
If you struggle to find motivation during revision sessions, it can help to “gamify” your studying, i.e., to turn it into a game. You can easily do this by quantifying parts of the revision process, e.g., by timing yourself going through flashcards and competing with your previous self or marking your performance on short mock tests.
Gamifying revision can also work very well when you revise with others. Think Menti or Kahoot – adding just a little bit of friendly competition into your study sessions can already make them much more fun. If you are revising by yourself, you could also work with rewards. Depending on what works best for you, you could reward yourself with sweets, longer breaks, or fun activities if you have been particularly successful on any part of your revision. Just be careful not to fall into unhealthy habits, like developing a mindset that you cannot have breaks unless you have earned them.
There are really no limits to the ways in which you might try to gamify your revision. As long as you are still working with the material you are revising, you will likely still learn something. Depending on your topic (and subject), it might be completely justified to watch a relevant film as part of your revision or read up on a subject area you find interesting. You could transform your notes into drawings or associate information with fictional narratives. The key to revising successfully is just to maintain a balance between fun and effective revision of material you need to know.
You Are Not Alone: Revising with Others
The good thing about exams is that you are not the only one writing them! You likely share exams with your entire cohort, so a lot of other people are studying for the same things at the same time as you. Revising with others can a feel much more active, and studying in a group also allows for more ways to make your revision fun. It might not be a good use of your time to create fun multiple-choice quizzes on your topic for every revision session, but if one person does it for an entire group every time, the shared effort might easily pay off. If you have group chats or other social channels for studying, you can easily share resources as well as chat socially and engage with content in less serious ways (e.g., by creating memes).
Revising with people who do not have the same exams as you can still benefit you greatly, since you might have to explain things in more detail to someone who does not know the topic at all. Finally, simply being in the same room as your friends when you study can make your revision more fun, as you will be able to spend breaks together, rather than in isolation, and can have useful discussions about how you are approaching your exams.
Conclusion
As you revise for your exams, and especially when it gets tiring, remember:
- Exams do not define you. Instead, defining realistic goals can make it easier to maintain a good work life balance.
- Anything can be turned into a game. You can consider what aspects of your topic interest you, what you are good at, vary your revision techniques, and implement some competition and rewards where appropriate.
- You are not the only one studying for your exam. If you have the opportunity, you can partner with others to study together or simply share time together as you are preparing for your exams.
Good luck and have fun!
