How do you do it? What are your methods?

I swear i find it so hard to revise.

go through past exam papers and get an idea of reacurring themes and study them

I'd like to know this too. I fail at revision.

preferred method was to work out what was going to come up on the paper,and study enough to answer the questions needed plus two safety topics in case the ones i thought were going to come up didnt.

i think a lot of people go wrong in trying to revise everything that came up on the course, when in reality you are only really going to get tested on about 30-40 percent of it maximum, so essentially everything else is a waste.

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Did anyone here ever try that mind map stuff? I'm pretty sure it would have worked if I could have been bothered.

Like all things education related, I'd love to have another go at revising having experienced the grinding horror of full-time work, I'm sure I'd be better at it now.

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I think mind-maps work if you can be fucked. I never can, but I get my students to do them, and they work well. I think they're better for planning essays than whole-topic revision.

I've always known I'm too lazy for revision, so I just wrote notes on everything in class until my wrist was sore - up to 10 pages of writing (no diagrams or anything) over a two-hour lecture. It seemed to all stick in, so when I came to revise I took a look, thought "I know this, and I'm too lazy to read it again", and was fine. Over a course most important points should be references several times, so by the time you've written it for the third time it should stick.

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The only way I can remember anything is to write it all out, I copy out everything I need on the topic then I go over it to make notes which are grouped into more specific areas n themes, it takes me ages and I go through so much paper but its the only way I can get it to stick in my head. If its for 2 essays questions I revise 4-5 topics.

I cant do mind maps they dont work for me, I just like to know as much as possible so in the exam I can start actually thinking about in context to the question.

I guess it depends what you revise though coz in psychology I need to remember the topic area as well as all the studies n research that have been done (names n dates n finding etc.).

It really depends on what the test is on, god, I can't stress that enough.

If its science and maths, past papers are your best best,

if its an essay topic on a subject like history, I write down bullet headings of each point and fill in only dates, numbers and some harder techy stuff and see if I can reproduce the paragraph in wiritng.

As soon as I start a test, I re-write the header points FIRST THING on a scrap piece of paper before I start. This helps when I panic and go blank with nerves and keeps my train of thought for the progress and order of the essay

Well I had my first history exam today
basically i could only be arsed to revise one topic and fortunately for me it was that topic that came up. So it went well.

There's a great computer programme for mind mapping called Inspiration. Mind mapping is only good for some subjects though, like Biology or something. And for essays. I study economics and it's only useful for some sections.


I tend to go through questions in my textbook, or old questions from tutorials.

Ugh I'm going to die. I'm the worst person in the world at revision - I can't do it in my flat because I get so distracted with the internet/making tea/reading anything BUT what I should be reading...

Plus we don't have study leave this year

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Can I express jealousy that you guys are given weeks to do this?

pfft, US schools suck.

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I force myself to do all of my revision in the library. I'll get more done in 2-3 hours there than I'll do all day at home (too many distractions). Being around other people who are working hard seems to rub off.
I make huge beautiful posters for each topic. I use glitter pens, highlighters, felt tips...I really get into it. Then stick them up in the bathroom, in my bedroom, so that I gawp at them while I'm blow drying my hair or peeing or that kind of thing. That way it slowly sinks in.
Practice past exam questions...over and over again.
I still haven't found a way of remembering researchers' names and dates though. This pretty much means I never get higher than a mid 2:1 in psychology exams.