With the holidays coming up, exams are looming which means revision will (sadly) be an inevitable part of the ‘break’. Here are a few tips to help you get through which we compiled in collaboration with our sister chapter, Her Campus Leeds…
1. Have a break!
Although it may initially sound counter intuitive, the best thing you can do is take a few days off. When uni finishes for the holidays, just take the weekend to relax – don’t even think about work. Spend time with your family, friends, your dog, or maybe some alone time with Netflix. It’ll give you time to recharge and find some motivation!
This tip applies to the everyday as well – you need breaks! It’s impossible to revise 12 hours a day so make sure you give yourself time to do what you want so you don’t burn out.
2. Treat yo’ self
Now, this doesn’t always mean eating a chocolate bar when you finish a chapter, but setting yourself little goals and rewards is important. Whether it’s going to the cinema with your sister if you complete a book, or buying yourself a new outfit when you finish an essay – it works.
3. Make a list or plan
Revision timetables don’t work for everyone, and many of us seem to make them just to break them. If timetables don’t suit your working style, then don’t kid yourself by procrastinating to make one. What might be better is making achievable lists of things to do each day, meaning you’re not restricting yourself to set times but you can clearly see what you’ve done and what you still need to do – so you don’t forget or over work.
4. Find a space that works
In order for you to get work done, you need a space that will work for you. It’s best if this is quiet and uncluttered (so free of distractions, whether they be posters and photos or your Mum popping in every 10 minutes!) and allows you to spread your work out and get organised.
Picking a separate study space from where you socialise is also important for when it comes to your break time, as this allows you to have both physical and mental distance away from work and properly relax. Being in that study space will also then come to feel like work, and increase your productivity when you’re there.
5. Summarise, summarise, summarise
Research has demonstrated how much better it is to take notes by hand when revising than on your laptop. When you write them out for the first time, you’ll want to get everything down on paper, but as you continue to go through your first set of notes and rewrite them to aid your memory, try and copy out only the things you can’t remember. Do this until those key niggling few points fit on a notecard, which are then handy to take on the bus or in your bag to quickly flick over.
6. Life goes on
When revising, it’s important that you don’t stop everything else you normally do and just focus on the work. Doing this will not only affect your mood but you’ll feel a lot less motivated if your whole day ahead is just made up of revision. If you enjoy a regular gym session, make time for that. If baking is your way to calm down, whip up a batch of cupcakes to enjoy at the end of the day. It’s important to make revision a habit you get into rather than letting it completely take over.
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