With the date of exams fast approaching, do you have a systematic revision plan in place for all your subjects? Do you have a good grasp of the layout of each exam paper and the marking scheme? Are you reviewing material covered on a weekly and monthly basis? And what about tests in general - do you usually feel you make the most of your knowledge? Do you always answer the full set of questions in an exam?
Reviewing the facts
Revision means, literally, to "see again" and this holds the key to your exam preparation and performance. Re-viewing material, even briefly, on a regular basis helps to reinforce understanding and retention. It channels information to the long-term memory. Think of your mind as a bucket with a small leak and a constant dripping out of information - to keep the level up, it needs to be topped-up regularly. Just like a forensic investigator, keep going back to the scene and review the information gathered. Over a period of time, the various items begin to fit together and a clearer understanding emerges.
Top tips for revision
KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO
Relate all your revision tasks to the structure and format of the exam paper. Make use of revision checklists (see the Exam Centre on www.skoool.ie) and the marking schemes available in all your subjects to match the main syllabus sections and exam topics to the time available for revision. Plan to get a certain number of sections covered each week. Devote more time to the more important sections of the course.
REVISE IN 'CHUNKS'
Break up items into manageable "chunks" that can be reviewed regularly. This makes it easier to tackle your least favourite areas and helps morale because you feel you are getting more done. Write specific material on "flash cards" (small cards which can be kept in your pocket for quick review), e.g. verbs, vocabulary, formulae or definitions. These can be very useful at this time of year.
PREPARE BY DOING
As effective study must be active, all your revision should be based around testing your recall and practising your output. Merely recognising material in your notes and textbooks is no guarantee of successful revision - you must be able to recall it without the aid of notes. Work with a pen and paper, write down points, sketch model answers to exam questions, and then check your results.
REVISE FROM THE TOP DOWN
It is easier to understand and retain material that is well organised. Start with a good grasp of the main ideas or concepts, then follow with the sub-topics and supporting details. Try to retain an overview of the subject at all times during revision - how does this topic relate to the main syllabus sections and the likely questions? In this way, you will avoid getting bogged down in insignificant detail.
BEWARE OF NEW MATERIAL
At this stage of the year, you should be aiming to consolidate existing knowledge and build on this foundation rather than trying to learn new material. Once the course has been covered to your satisfaction and you have a reasonable choice of questions in the exam, you are best advised to consolidate your main choices rather than chasing after new material for options which you are unlikely to take in the exam.
Answer the questions!
To prepare for an exam, you must practise doing what the exam requires you to do - giving out information, not taking it in. Prior to the exams in June, you will probably have had the benefit of many class tests and a mock exam where the Leaving Cert conditions are simulated for your benefit - you can learn a lot by reflecting honestly on your performance in these tests. You also have the benefit of a wealth of freely-available information about the exams. Past exam papers, marking schemes, study guides, even chief examiners' reports on some subjects are all there to be used.
MAKE USE OF PAST PAPERS
These should be your constant companion in all revision tasks. For each topic you revise, consult the past questions on this subject and then attempt answers to them. Check your answers, fill in the knowledge gaps where necessary, and file away the correct model answer in your notes for future reference. You will also start to notice any trends in the questions asked.
FOLLOW THE MARKS
It is only in recent years that the Department has published the marking schemes for all subjects and these are an invaluable aid to exam preparation. You can see how the marks were allocated for each question on last year's paper, what the sub-division was between statement of point, explanation, example etc, and what quantity of answer was required in each case. This knowledge will greatly inform your work over the coming weeks and helps to remove the mystique of the exam. Check out some of the frequently asked questions in the "ask the expert" section of www.skoool.ie
TRY A DRESS REHEARSAL
Each exam paper contains its own particular structure and challenge, with varying emphasis on answering style and depth. While much of your ongoing revision will be based on individual topics and questions, it is a very useful exercise to tackle an exam paper in its totality (at least once before June). It forces you to consider your strategy - the questions you will want to attempt or avoid, the issues of timing, the number of points you will need to make in each part of a question. Having performed this exercise a couple of times, your confidence levels rise as you fix on your strategy for the exam and realise that there can't be any major surprises for you in June.
Examining the pitfalls
This may come as a surprise to you but the job of examiners is to give you marks, not to take them away. However, they are powerless to help you if you fall into the most common traps. These are the biggest pitfalls they have identified:
NOT READING THE PAPER CORRECTLY
Examiners say that this is one of the most regular and fatal errors. They call it the "triggered answer". You have your Michael Longley essay ready, you see his name on the paper, you are delighted and you set straight off and write out your pre-planned essay - and then you're shocked to find your grade so low. It is your fault. You didn't look at the exact terms of the question - they were looking for an account of his style (how he writes) not his themes (what he writes about).
NOT FINISHING THE PAPER
Mismanaging your time within the exam can easily cost you a full grade. The biggest exam "crime" is to leave suitable questions unattempted. Remember: it is much easier to get the first 20 per cent of the marks for any question than the last 5 per cent. Therefore, if you find yourself stuck for time as you struggle through your third answer out of five, do not spend your remaining time extending and perfecting that answer. Instead, move on to questions four and five, even if your attempt is sketched or in point form. If you have answered only three questions instead of five, the highest mark you can get is 60 per cent.
IGNORING THE MARKING SCHEME
You must take the marking scheme into account when you allot time to each question or part of a question. If the marks allotted to a question clearly indicate that a few paragraphs are sufficient, do not write an essay on the subject. Avoid the temptation of writing everything you know about a topic - just give the appropriate amount of information.
REPETITION
Make the point once. There are no extra marks for restating facts, even if you phrase them differently. Examiners say repetition is a very common mistake. It is also a time-waster and an irritant.
MISSING PART OF A QUESTION
Sometimes part of a question can be carried over onto the next page and, in the pressure of the moment, you don't see it. As a consequence you might fail to do a compulsory part of a question or miss out on the chance to take an option that would have suited you better. Always take time to familiarise yourself with the whole paper before you start answering it.
Two final points to remember:
In literary subjects, don't use irrelevant quotations you may have learned off as it only irritates the examiner. In numerical subjects, always include your rough work with your exam script - you might get some credit for formulae or calculations contained therein.
• The Study Skills series is written by Keith Roe of PUC.net.
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