CHAPTER 8
Revision Skills
How to overcome anxiety of examination, the answer (Be prepared)
This is a difficult task as it requires diligent and disciplined study (hard work), this
hard work (preparation) is best applied from day one of the course which few
students really do.
Lecture Revision:
Two warming up activities must be applied at the preliminary stage are:
1- The process of taking good lecture notes starts before the actual lecture by
browsing (5 – 10) minutes through the relevant chapter gives you a better set of
notes.
2- In addition to that take few minutes to revise the last lecture notes.
The most critical first revision is just after each lecture, because the topic is still
fresh in your mind.
If time permits and no other classes are scheduled for the following hour, either
stay seated in the lecture hall or move to the library. Read through your notes
which you took in the lecture and make any additions or corrections which you
think are necessary. If you are confused about any topic, then consult your text and
make supplementary notes.
For students whom English is a second language or a foreign language you can try
this technique, tape-record the lectures. This is done primarily because of their
uncertainty about their language skills, particularly their ability to understand and
to get down into note form all of the essential information presented during
lectures. They play the tapes and check their notes, but frequently stop, rewind and
then replay parts of the lecture to make necessary adjustments to their notes. The
whole process can take a surprising amount of time. On average, it will take one
hour to replay a 50-minute lecture. The best approach is to train yourself to become
a more efficient note-taker.
If you have made tapes of previous lectures, then there is absolutely no harm in
replaying them, but try to do this at non-peak study times. Ideal opportunities for
these replays are when you're walking, shopping, cleaning or driving. These are
times when it would be difficult, if not impossible to write, read, or solve
problems. Students who revise `on the run' benefit in two ways: they have more
opportunities for working their way through their notes and study materials; and
they are increasing their time management and personal efficiency skills.
Weekend Learning:
Revising each weekend is one of the most practical and beneficial steps to increase
your learning potential and to maximize your marks. This sounds like a fun killer,
but revision is a necessity and the research on learning methods is crystal clear —
regular learning and spaced learning is far, far superior to last-minute cramming.
I would be naive to say, `Forget about cramming'. It's a tradition among students.
At some stage of students’ academic career cramming is necessary. Even those
who are very well prepared usually spend that last night before their exams doing a
bit of frantic revising. Inspite of this tendency, get the whole process into gear
early in the year and learn as you go.
If your weekends tend to follow a set routine, try to find a three-hour period which
you can dedicate them to revision. That time is not to be used for writing essays or
doing research reading. It is to be used only for revising, that is learning your notes
and other materials. Pull out the lecture notes and any other resources which have
been generated during the last week. Go through these notes very carefully,
learning them as if you had examination on the topics Monday morning at 9:00 am.
Isolating yourself on a sunny weekend morning to learn your notes is not exactly a
fun time recipe. No one ever said that all learning experiences will be easy - It is
hard work, but the product of that weekend work will be surprising.
Not only will you be significantly decreasing the pre-exam stress, but you will also
be gaining greater understanding of the concepts as you progress through each
subject.
The topics covered in Week Two become part of your working knowledge for
Week Three and for the rest of the semester and year. Most of the students will not
discover and master these topics until they retrieve their notes from those dusty
folders just prior to their exams.
Revisions for Quizzes and tests:
Your teaching staff are very aware of the difficulties in motivating students to learn
progressively through the course. Therefore, they schedule periodic quizzes and
tests to enforce you to study and to break any tendency to procrastinate. Here are
some helpful suggestions to bear in mind when revising for these assessment
exercises:
1- Consult your syllabus and take special note of any comments made about
assessments. Note particularly the different types of quizzes, tests and
examinations which are scheduled (or those which may be administered without
prior warning). Ask whether there may be multiple-choice sections and/or short
answer questions and major essay questions.
2- If your syllabus does not specify the types of test and examination questions
which you are likely to get, then speak with former students who studied your
subjects last year. They will most likely be able to tell you what to expect and how
to prepare for the assessments.
3- Plan for sufficient time to revise your lecture notes and other resources at least
four - five times. Repetition is a great teacher, but repetition takes a lot of time!
4- As you revise each lecture, ask yourself what are the three most examinable
topics in this lecture. Note them briefly on a separate sheet for later consideration.
5- Meet with a classmate whose ability and commitment you respect and compare
notes on these highly examinable topics. Discuss the topics you noted in common.
6- Remember, a good examiner will expect you to know well any basic course
topics A, B, and C. Particularly probing examiners will go beyond just memorized
definitions and will ask about relationship issues, A-B, B-C and A-C.
7- Superior students will not only know about these critical relationships, but also
about their implications and the assumptions upon which they are based.
Early morning revision on exam day:
Most of the revision which has been recommended above relates to the months,
weeks and days prior to assessments. Many students have asked whether they risk
burnout if they study too much just before their examinations. The answer is
generally, no.
If you have been preparing and revising on a daily and weekly basis, then the
assessments shows only a polishing problem.
Imagine that it's the night before a test and you have completed your revision.
Should you get up early and run through the material again? Yes. Assuming that
you have allowed sufficient time for some good sleep, an early morning revision
will help to get your mind alert for the assessment.
That early morning session should be just a light scan of the notes. It’s certainly
not a time to confront a new and complex topic which you suddenly think is prime
exam material.
Revising at the exam venue:
Visit any campus during the examination period and you will find groups of tense
students gathered at the steps of the large lecture halls and other examination sites.
You will see small groups of students either debating contentious issues or
nervously laughing while trying to distract themselves. The most committed
students are sitting off to the side and quietly thinking or reading over the major
concepts from their notes.
A cautionary note is very relevant here. Let's assume your preparation has not been
exactly thorough and that you have been studying too much at midnight trying to
revise your notes for the first time. (Horrors!!) You arrive at the exam venue early
and start talking with a friend who seems to be sharing your misery. Just then,
another classmate rushes up and blurts, `What did you think about that article by
Green and Simmons?' Your mind goes into a whirl . . . `Who the Hell are Green
and Simmons??? What did they write about? Have I missed something which is
really critical? Will this article be the basis for the major essay? It probably will be.
Oh, my God, I'm going to fail!!!'
Perhaps that monologue will be very familiar to some of you. All kinds of
experiences and thoughts can plague a student's mind during the final hours before
an exam. Even though students have equal access to positive and negative
thoughts, they seem to be closer to negative ones on exam days. In order to keep
calm and maintain rational thinking during this critical period, stay removed from
your classmates. By all means, avoid any such kinds of students and hide in the
bushes if you must, or better yet, find a nearby classroom and sit quietly alone.
In the exam room: the last-ditch opportunity
Once you have entered the examination room, you will not be permitted to consult
your notes, unless you are sitting for an open-book exam. However, your mind will
still be capable of thinking about any special points, you have the ability to
exercise active recall or loose the idea.
After the exam papers have been distributed and you have been given the `go
ahead' signal, jot down quickly any notes which you think might break a way,
Having noted these points, you can then proceed with a calmer mind.
End of year exam revision:
The end of year exams are major events in the academic life of most students.
Most students will actively repress the inevitability of these exams, mostly because
of the associated anxiety. Repression and denial become strongly developed by the
time students reach upper secondary levels. Hence, the tradition of cramming.
In order to do full justice to your final exams, you will really need to schedule your
revisions over a six-week period. Yes, that is also the time when many essays,
reports, and other assessable projects are due, but examinations will count for the
majority of your final marks. Thus, it is best to allocate your time in proportion to
the distribution of these marks. If tests, essays and reports are worth 40 per cent
and your final exam is worth 60, then be sure your preparation time correctly
reflects this ratio.
As suggested earlier, learning anything well will take multiple repetitions. The
number five is a conservative index to guide your revision planning. That means
trying to organize the six weeks before your exams so that you can read over and
learn your notes five times. That might sound impossible or unappealing or both,
but revision and learning are functions of repetition.
From this chart, you will see that different subjects require different revision times.
In scheduling your revision periods, choose times when you are fresh and alert.
Remember, you can revise `on the run' by carrying flash cards or other materials
for use on buses and trains and while standing in a queue. Try to focus your
revision on topics which you believe to be highly examinable. If you strike
difficulties, contact a person who can explain the topic(s) to you.
Summary
- Revising for your exams is best done from the early weeks of the semester.
- Revise your class notes within 24 hours of each lecture and then learn them
in a dedicated revision session each Saturday or Sunday morning.
- When going through your notes, try to anticipate highly examinable topics.
- Make a list of these items and then compare your list with the topics gleaned
by several classmates.
- Be certain to start your revision for your final exams sufficiently early to
allow for many (five or more) repetitions through your notes.
- The crucial motto for good exam candidates: be prepared!
Practical exercises:
1- Prepare a schedule for the weekends during the present semester and include a
dedicated three-hour period at the same time each weekend for exam revision.
Give that time period high priority. It will win you many marks in the final exams.
2- Organize a weekly lunch meeting with two or three committed classmates in
your most difficult subject. Agree to discuss/revise the examinable topics raised in
the lectures over the past week.
3- Prepare a revision chart for the six weeks preceding your final exam period.
4- Revise your lecture notes and other materials and write a list of the three most
examinable topics from each lecture or reading assignment.