Study tips - Planning your revision

Planning your revision

If you’ve completed the course and passed your continuous assessment, you are half way there!
Revision skills and techniques can be learned and practised, so don’t feel daunted.
Produce a timetable to spread your revision time evenly across your course material.
Although setting time aside is vital, remember that your approach and technique are just as important.
Be active - organise material and find ways of recalling it. For example, use mnemonics.
Break your revision up into stages.

Look through your course material for introductions, conclusion and summaries which will give you an overview of the course.
If you’ve made good notes throughout the course, use them to revise – you shouldn’t have to read the entire course again! Re-work them to produce summaries, make comparisons and see connections between things.
Don’t just read, allow time to see how much you can recall, then look at the course material to fill in the gaps.
Produce summaries of key sections or processes. Pin them up or put them on index cards so that you can look at them when you have spare time.
Practise planning answers to questions using old exam papers (you can buy these from OUSA).
Explain key parts of your course to someone else – this is a good way to process and learn the material. Talk to the cat if no-one else is around!
Make sure you can recall examples and evidence for key points.
If you usually use a computer, practise writing by hand.
Make arrangements to answer a question in exam conditions – do this at a friend’s house or in the local library where you won't be disturbed.

More advice

Go to the revision and exams website.

Registered students can obtain our Revision and Exams Toolkit from their regional centre.