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1. Make Your Own Flash Cards

2. Mix Pictures and Words

3. Use Mnemonic Devices to Create Mental Connections

4. Write Only One Question Per Card

5. Break Complex Concepts Into Multiple Questions

6. Say Your Answers Out Loud When Studying

7. Study Your Flash Cards in Both Directions

8. Don't Treat Flash Cards Like a Silver Bullet

9. Better Flashcards Mean Better Studying

Flash cards are one of the classic study tools, and for good reason - they promote studying through active recall, which is one of the practices through which our brains learn most effectively.

However, many students use flash cards... well, I don't want to say they use them the wrong way - but they use them in ways that aren't very efficient. Some of the mistakes people make when making and studying flash cards include:

1. Making them in a way that leverages only rote memorization

2. Creating complex cards that don't force true recall - which leads people to mistake recognition for actual knowledge

3. Over-using flash cards, or using them when a different tool or study method would be more effective

I want to help you avoid making those mistakes, as flashcards can be very effective when they're used correctly. For example, when I was learning Japanese, I made extensive use of flashcards for studying kanji. Doing so helped me learn very quickly.

You're probably studying a subject right now that would benefit from flash card study as well, so it'd be useful to learn the best practices for making and studying those flash cards.

In this article, I'll go over 8 of those best practices. Let's get into it.

Lots of people like to share their flash card decks, and there are also plenty of flash card apps and programs out there that will let you download pre-made decks and start studying instantly.

I think using pre-made cards can sometimes be useful - such as a case where you have an unreasonably high number of facts to learn and you're in a time crunch - but in most cases, you'll serve your brain better by making your own flash cards.

One of the most important and integral parts of the learning process is the act of:

Intaking new information

Wrangling with it in your brain

Creating something new with it - your own words, pictures, and methods of explaining that information

Doing so creates strong neural pathways, which enable you to easily retrieve what you've learned at a later date. That's why one of professor Marty Lobdell's tips in his Study Less, Study Smart lecture was to teach what you're learning - doing so forces you to present the information in your own words.

When you use pre-made flash cards, you're skipping that entire part of the process. In most cases, the time you save isn't worth it.

Plus, deciding to make your own flash cards gives you the ability to customize them and make them better. The next four tips will show you exactly how.

Adding pictures to your cards can make them a lot more memorable.

In cognitive psychology, there's a concept called the Picture Superiority Effect, which describes how people tend to remember imagery a lot better than they remember words.

When we think about it from an evolutionary perspective, this makes complete sense; written language has only been around for about 5,000 years (and Homo Sapiens have been trotting the globe for over 200,000), and our brains have evolved to be very sensitive to imagery. The locations of food, the animals that want to eat us or stomp us into the ground - these things are far more important to our brains than abstract squiggles on a page.

However, this doesn't mean that you should replace the words on your cards with pictures. Our brains are surprisingly adaptive, and it turns out that a mixture of pictures and words works better than pictures alone.

A 1985 study done in Toronto found that:

"A post-picture sentence improves attention to and perhaps rehearsal of the representation of the picture following its display."

By adding descriptive sentences - or even single terms - alongside pictures, you can increase your brain's ability to recall what you're studying.

Learn more

In preparation for writing this article, I decided to start learning and memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements.

I thought this would be a fun challenge, since I actually never took chemistry in high school, and I find science a lot more interesting now than I did back then. Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to make my own flash cards, which I was able to use as examples here.

You can see some of my chemistry flash cards above - and you might think they look a bit weird. What the heck do all these dumb drawings have to do with elements?

Here's how they're relevant: They're mnemonic devices. Now, a mnemonic devices is anything that helps you build an association between two pieces of information in your mind.

A classic mnemonic that almost everyone knows is ROY G. BIV - the acronym that helps you remember the order of the colors in the visual light spectrum. Rhymes make good mnemonics, too. You've probably heard this one:

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

That rhyme fails to convey how awful of a person Columbus was, but it does help us remember the date quite nicely.

In addition to acronyms and rhymes, associative images make for great mnemonics as well. That's what my images are:

A neon sign is helping Marlin find NEmo. Ne = Neon

A diver saying "Oh no" because his oxygen line has been cut. O = Oxygen

C-3Po greeting carbon-based lifeforms. C = Carbon

Neo Cortex, who has a big N on his forehead, is a character in Crash Nitro Cart. N = Nitrogen

The weirder and wackier your associations are, the more easily you'll remember them. That's because your brain is adapted to remember things that are out of the ordinary. It readily deletes mundane things like the chit-chat you had buying your morning coffee, or which Ninja Turtle was on the underwear you put on this morning.

So feel free to make your pictures crazy. Also, remember that you're making these cards for you; it doesn't matter if the associations make sense to other people. They should be making their own cards.

Let's imagine for a second that you're taking a class on the History of Aircraft. I mean, why wouldn't you? Airplanes are freaking awesome.

Anyway, now you're studying for an exam and you need to know some information about the first airplane: The Wright Flyer.

So you pull out a flash card. On the front, you write, "First Airplane". Then, on the back, you include a few facts:

Wright Flyer

Flew in 1903

Flew four times

Used a sprocket chain drive

...and just like that, you're now the proud owner of a bad flash card. Here's why.

By including multiple facts on one card, you're more likely to run into illusions of competence.

These happen when you think you know something that you actually don't - a situation that usually arises when your brain mistakes recognition for recall.

Our brains are really good at recognizing things we've seen before. However, recall isn't the same thing - recall is the act of retrieving something from memory without an explicit cue.

When you study a flash card with multiple facts on it, you risk making this mistake. Say you pull out your "First Airplane" card later on during a study session. You're going quickly, and your brain readily pulls up the first three facts. Wright Flyer... check! 1903... double check! Flew four times... easy.

You forgot about the sprocket chain drive... but then you turn the card over, see it listed with the other facts, and say to yourself:

"Oh yeah, I knew that."

...and then you move on. You feel like you know the card since you got it mostly right, and because you recognized the fourth fact.

By ensuring that each of your cards only contains one question or fact, you won't run into this mistake.
Looking for more study tips? Check out this master list.
This tip builds off of the previous one, but it's important enough to have its own spot on the list.

See, some concepts or ideas are too complex to be encapsulated in one question. These kinds of concepts need to be broken down into multiple questions in order to be studied well using flash cards.

Take the card above. I've colored the Periodic Table this way in order to represent the different groupings of elements - which is a great way to start memorizing those elements.

Technically, we could build one question here:

"What are the element groupings on the Periodic Table?"

But, turning the card over, we see this:

Once again, we've got a card that invites those pesky illusions of competence. Maybe you can name all but one of the element groupings - but the last one might tag along and masquerade as a fact you can recall.

Alternatively, if you made card that simply asked for one of those element groupings, you'd know for sure whether you got it right or wrong once you turned that card over.

When I've studied with flash cards in the past, I've always studied them by myself - and I did so silently.

As a result, I'd get annoyed when my girlfriend would ask me to run through her art history flash cards with her. Now, though, I realize she was onto something - by having me quiz her on her cards, she was forced to say her answers out loud and have me verify them.

This is yet another way to keep those illusions of competence at bay, as there was no way to fudge the answers.

However, if you don't have a buddy or reluctantly willing significant other around to quiz you, you can get a lot of the same benefits by simply saying your answers out loud before flipping your flash cards. That way, you're committing to your answer before checking it.

When you're studying your flash cards, make sure you review them from both sides. By doing this, you're going to build strong neural pathways that can be traced easily in both directions. It's kinda like learning to skate in both regular and goofy stances:

If you don't do this, you increase the probability that you'll only be able to recall a one side of a card easily.

For example, the chemical symbol for the element beryllium is Be. If you've got a flash card with the symbol and the element name on either side, but you only ever ask yourself, "What does Be stand for?", then you might run into a test question like:

"What's the chemical symbol for beryllium?'

...and totally choke on the answer. So build those bi-directional pathways, friend.

Remember that flash cards are only one method of reviewing material. There are lots of others that may be more effective, depending on what type of material you're studying and how far you are into the learning process.

Instead of using flash cards, you might:

Write an explanation in your own words

Create a quiz

Take a practice test written by someone else

Work lots of practice problems (your go-to strategy for math)

Make mind maps or Venn diagrams

Flash cards are very good at helping you drill relationships between two pieces of information - but that's it. That makes them good for learning definitions, vocabulary words, etc - but it makes them a particularly bad study tool for information that fits into a larger visual or organizational hierarchy.

For example, imagine trying to learn all the atomic numbers of the elements of the Periodic Table using flash cards. You'd have to rely entirely on mnemonics to do that; there's no obvious connection between the numbers and the element names. Magnesium is pretty easy to tie to Mg - but it's not easy to tie to the number 12.

Moreover, the layout of the Periodic Table is much more effective for learning those numbers. By learning the groupings and using other mnemonics, you can quickly get to the point where filling in the entire table from memory becomes easy. From there, you can simply pick a box and figure out its number.

Hopefully these tips will help you make better flash cards in the future, no matter what subject you're studying.

Looking for apps to make it easier to study and manage your flashcards? Check out this guide.

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8 Better Ways to Make and Study Flash Cards

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Table of Contents:

Why is Selecting Fitting Revision Technique Important?

Revision is simply the process of reviewing knowledge, information or concepts that you already know with the help of different revision methods. This helps you to remember what you learnt better for later use. It can also be used to update existing knowledge with new information and ideas.

If you're just starting your preparation for GCSEs or A-levels and already have started thinking about your exams, you may be feeling slightly nervous and lost. You are not alone! 🫂

Revision can be a minefield for all students. It is the time of year when the stress levels peak and many teenagers find themselves hiding under their duvet, unable to face the prospect of getting their heads down and focusing on their coursework.

There's so much content and so many different subjects, how are you supposed to learn it all? Today, we're ranking the top seven revision techniques from worst to best, so you can study with confidence, knowing that hopefully at least some of it is going in. Whether you are preparing for GCSE maths or just a common English test in school, you can still benefit from knowing these!

Don't forget, everyone is different, so if some of the lower-ranked methods have worked for you then don't let us stop you... 🤔

7. Reading Your Notes or the Textbook

If your main revision method is grabbing your textbook and reading it cover to cover, then you need to rethink.

✏️ In 2013 Professor Dunlosky analysed hundreds of studies and found out that rereading notes is "low utility". You can read the paper here.

Even though rereading a textbook is a go-to method for many students, it won't help you remember anything. The same goes for reading your notes - just reading them through will not help them stick in your mind or help you pass your exams. If you are insistent on using passive recalling, then make sure you at least are rewriting or paraphrasing your notes at the same time, as writing something out by hand has been scientifically proven to help you learn more.

You can also use blurting alongside rereading your notes. Blurting is a technique where you quickly read your textbook or notes, close them and write down everything you can remember. It helps you to understand where exactly you are struggling to focus on that area more. 📝

6. Making Colourful Revision Posters

Listen, we enjoy a colourful poster as much as the next person, but does a beautifully drawn poster actually help you learn? For some people, particularly visually stimulated learners, the answer is "yes!". However, sometimes, it can be a bit of a time waster. Be mindful of how you're making your poster - go for content over aesthetic.

The best way to use a poster to help you revise is to use a mind map. This will help you to link your ideas together and create connections in your mind that will make them easier to remember. Another tip is to make it a timed task! It's easy to spend hours and hours perfecting your pretty poster, but really you should only aim to spend about 45 minutes to an hour learning a topic at a time. Anything over this time frame and your brain will get saturated and it will stop going in! Once the poster is finished, stick it somewhere where you can see it often to help you absorb the information effectively.

5. Creating Revision Flashcards

Flashcards can be a brilliantly effective way to revise if done properly. The main tip for revising with flashcards would be not to overload the flashcard with too much information. The idea of a flashcard is that it is a bite-size piece of information that is going to help you learn a specific fact or word. There are several different ways to revise with flashcards:

✅ Write a question on one side and the answer on the other. This helps you to test yourself, rather than rely on someone else to help you.

✅ Make a flashcard into a mini-poster depicting one fact or piece of content. However, the same warning goes here as above. Your flashcards should be effective, not beautiful. Try not to spend hours perfecting them, but instead focus on learning what goes on them.

4. Teaching the Subject to Friends

This is one of our favourite innovative ways to revise! Instead of trying to teach yourself content, grab a friend, family member or even pet and teach it to them instead! It has been scientifically proven that explaining something out loud to someone else helps you to understand and memorise it yourself. If you don't have someone willing to learn from you, you could make a podcast or video and listen to it or watch it back. It can also be a great asset for future students who will take the same subject!

Not only that, studying with friends (if done properly 🤨) can be really great to raise your productivity, and confidence and improve grades in general!

✏️ Research shows that stress levels are lower when a friend is by your side during a stressful moment. The level of cortisol, the stress hormone lowers and self-worth gets higher.

✏️ There was research done in 2019 that showcased the importance of peer learning. School students that had no friends had lower grades than students who had even one friend to support them in one way or another.

✏️ Studies show that studying with others also develops soft skills like team-working which are essential in every career path.

3. Studying with Others

Studying with friends can be productive, but what if you find something interesting to talk about? 🤔

✏️ Noah, Year 12 says: "I've always struggled to revise with friends. We'd all get distracted by other things and never actually get anything done. And when I tried studying alone, it didn't work out very well either. I'd procrastinate, scroll TikTok and get discouraged because I felt like no one was watching over me.

But then one day, I was introduced to homework clubs! It was like magic: I could study with peers who were all just as motivated as me, and they helped keep each other accountable for getting stuff done. It was like having a team of cheerleaders in your pocket!"

If you too struggle to find the motivation to revise alone, why not join an online study group? One of the most comfortable ones is on Edumentors - Virtual Study Club. There you can gather with other students and revise together. A tutor will also be present, but they won't be asking questions. Some students may feel anxious about working in groups with a tutor, however, the tutor is there for you! They won't ask you questions or test you unless you ask them to. It can make a huge difference to know that somebody else is watching you and making sure you aren't slacking, and will probably stop you from going on your phone... 📱

2. Doing Past Papers

This is one of the most important and normally underrated methods there is! Content, themes and even sometimes questions get repeated. By doing every exam paper available to you, you have not only tested your exam technique and noticed any gaps in your knowledge, but you have also potentially help your future self by learning the answer to a question which may come up again. It's an invaluable resource available to students for free on the exam board website, and really cannot be understated! You can also have someone who helps you explain the questions you got wrong!

1. 1 to 1 Support from an Online Tutor

If you don't understand something, you can always go to forums, friends or your teachers for support. Nevertheless, there is no point in getting stressed trying to teach hard exam topics to yourself. It's always better to find someone who is an expert in that subject. Bonus, if they have already taken an exam you are taking! They will help you perfect your exam technique and give you tips and tricks. You can work with in-person tutors or online tutors. However, for someone who is preparing for several exams and needs to juggle multiple subjects, online tutors are the most comfortable. It's convenient and easy to schedule!

Tutors can help you:

✅ Boost your knowledge.

✅ Increase confidence.

✅ Practice exam technique.

✅ Enhance your revision.

✅ Get emotional support throughout the learning process.

You can read more about the benefits of online tutoring here.

Summary

So there you have it, the 7 top revision techniques from worst to best. All of these methods are valid and useful, so take some time before your mocks to try them out and see which are the best for you! Create a revision timetable and you are ready to go! Don't forget your health during exams, though. Grades won't do any good if you struggle with your mental well-being daily. Try out different brain foods and read more on how to improve your mental health during exam season.

You can share this information with your friends, show them how beneficial studying with them can be and maybe you'll be able to start preparing together without getting distracted. 📚 This will help you to hold yourselves accountable and be as ready as you can for your exams!

To find out more about revision methods, why not sign up for our Memory Techniques and Revision Strategy Summer Course for Year 10 students to get personalised guidance on how to study for your exams?

If you feel overwhelmed and need the help of a tutor who has gone through the same exams as you, book a session now at Edumentors.co.uk.

Good Luck!

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The Top 7 Revision Methods, Ranked 2023 - Edumentors Blog

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Revision is simply the process of reviewing knowledge, information or concepts that you already know with the help of different revision methods. This helps you to remember what you learnt better for later use. It can also be used to update existing knowledge with new information and ideas.

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January 22, 2020

For students, the pressures of the exam period throughout school, college and university can be daunting. For students who need a helping hand juggling revision schedules or remembering key information for exams, Mind Mapping is a proven method for boosting organization, focus and recall ability.

Mind Mapping with software tools such as Ayoa allows you to capture your ideas and knowledge from a subject, and then turn these directly into tasks, such as 'Create revision notes', so you can track your progress with ease. You can also set Due Dates and Reminders to help you prioritize your to-do list and ensure nothing gets missed.

Mind Mapping for exam preparation can have a really positive impact on the information you learn and retain. Follow these 6 smart studying tips with Mind Mapping in Ayoa to help you combat exam stress and perform at your best.

Tip #1: Use your study time effectively

Knowing how to manage your time effectively is the key to studying success. To ensure that each subject gets the attention it needs, map out a revision timetable. Using a Mind Map to do this will provide you with a clear visual overview of your revision plan. By picking specific colors to categorize different subjects, you can bring order to your revision timetable, and feel confident that you've covered every subject.

Research suggests that students who take regular breaks retain more information, so aim to study in short bursts. When you take a break, we don't mean checking your phone or social media accounts. To enjoy a truly restful break, get outside or cook some food, and give your brain time to recharge. By doing this, you will also give your unconscious mind the chance to incubate and absorb the knowledge that you have just learned.

With Mind Mapping in Ayoa, you can create a revision timetable in no time at all. With a range of colors, branch styles and images to bring your map to life, effortlessly export your completed Mind Map as a PDF image or text document to share with your friends. Or alternatively, print out your Mind Map and put it on your wall to refer back to and track your progress.

If you need a hand getting started, Ayoa also includes a number of Mind Map templates to help you get your map off the ground. For example, our 'Revision Timetable' template is broken down by week and day, so you can plan your revision clearly and with ease.

Tip #2: Wave goodbye to information overload

Instead of writing reams of linear notes, create a Mind Map for each subject you need to revise. Add a central idea to represent each subject, then draw main branches off from this to represent the information, facts, and figures that you need to remember. A Mind Map uses one keyword or phrase per branch, allowing you to condense entire classes or lectures onto one sheet, so all your notes stay together. Having one clear, visual resource to refer to makes managing large amounts of notes easy, allowing you to see connections between topics, facts, and ideas at a glance.

Tip #3: Speed up your note-taking

This one is a no-brainer. Use Mind Maps to take notes during your classes and avoid having to trawl through piles of old notes during the revision period. While your classmates are furiously scribbling down everything the teacher says, fire ideas down using single keywords on your Mind Map. Your clearly structured map will make a lot more sense than illegible lines of scribbles when you come back to them later. When the exam rolls around, refer to your Mind Map notes to jog your memory of each class in no time.

If you can take a laptop into class, Ayoa's Speed Maps are ideal for quickly capturing notes. Fire facts and ideas into a limitless web, without worrying about formatting - Speed Maps automatically format your branches into different colors, so you can focus solely on capturing the information you need. The free-form structure of a Mind Map encourages you to think creatively, so you can explore your topic thoroughly. You can then seamlessly switch to Organic Mind Map View later to build on your ideas or add more creative formatting and styles to your map.

Tip #4: Mind the gap

Mind Maps allow you to drill deep into every aspect of your revision using radiating child branches. With all your revision notes clearly mapped out, you can visually identify any gaps in your knowledge. Simply look for the emptiest parts of your Mind Map and you will know where you need to focus more time and effort in your revision.

As your revision gets underway, you will start to add more branches to your Mind Maps. The limitless canvas in Ayoa gives you the freedom to add as many branches as you need without the restricted dimensions of a piece of paper. Plus, you can add attachments such as links, images, audio and video files to add depth to your revision and turn your map into a resource hub. These extra details will remain hidden until clicked on, keeping your workspace clutter-free.

Tip #5: Boost your engagement

The visual nature of Mind Mapping promotes better understanding and engagement. Plus, Mind Maps have the power to convey much more information than a word, sentence or even an essay. The colors, symbols, images and organic structure all appeal to the way the brain naturally likes to work. Mind Maps are, in fact, an image themselves; they are a colorful picture of your revision notes. Your brain can process the information in a Mind Map much quicker than linear notes, boosting the efficiency of your revision and your ability to recall your topics.

Make your Mind Maps more memorable by adding your own images to them. Or, choose from Ayoa's extensive Unsplash image library for a memorable way to convey meaning.

Tip #6: Test your knowledge

To check that you have mastered your subjects, create a new Mind Map with only the main topic branches, and then try to fill in the rest from memory. The act of Mind Mapping using keywords, colors and imagery links the visual with the logical, thus increasing association, imagination and creativity - making it the perfect tool to improve memory. You should find that you have remembered more than you expected, and have maintained the connections between ideas - which is ideal for answering in-depth exam questions.

In Ayoa's Mind Maps, you can use the Autohide feature to collapse and reveal branches and test your knowledge. The Mind Mapping technique helps students to unlock their potential through the power of visual learning. Revising with Ayoa is a fast and stress-free way to get exam ready, with a clear focus and A* organization.
Mind Mapping in Ayoa is here to help raise your chances of achieving better results - so you can go into your exams with confidence. Discover more here or get started with Ayoa for FREE.

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6 Ways To Revise With Mind Mapping - Get Exam Ready - Ayoa

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Sign-up - it's free For students, the pressures of the exam period throughout school, college and university can be daunting. For students who need a helping hand juggling revision schedules or remembering key information for exams, Mind Mapping is a proven method for boosting organization, focus and recall ability.

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Exams are, unfortunately, a vital and necessary part of every student's school experience. Whether it's low stakes spelling tests in primary school, or final exams after two years of preparation for GCSEs or A-Levels, we are tested throughout our education. With this comes the need for revision. We can all agree that there are a million things we'd rather be doing, but effective revision is your key to exam success.

It can often be daunting to start revising for an important test. This article will go through ten of the best revision methods to help you get the most out of your preparation time and might even help you enjoy it!

Flashcards are one of the most popular methods for revision. They are simple to make and use, but also incredibly useful and versatile.

Obviously, the first step in using flashcards as a revision technique is making the cards themselves. Make sure you know what content you are expected to revise. Looking at specifications for national exams like GCSEs is a great way to ensure you don't miss anything important.

Once you know what you need to learn, break down each subject into smaller topics and sub-topics. This should leave you with 'bitesize' chunks of information for each card. For a full guide on making effective flashcards, have a look at this Think Student article.

One popular style of flashcard is having a question on one side and the answer on the other. Instead of simply reading information, you are actively recalling it, which is good practice for exam situations. This works especially well for fact-based subjects, such as the sciences.

Depending on the subject, your flashcards might look very different. It may be more useful to use flashcards for key terms or vocabulary in language subjects. In this case, you can write the word or phrase on one side and the definition or translation on the other.

The same technique applies if you are revising for a history exam and have lots of dates to remember. Try making flashcards with the key date on one side, and the event on the other.

Evidently, there are many ways to use flashcards. As with all methods of revision, try out different styles and see what works best for you. For more inventive ideas on how to use flashcards, check out this article by Think Student.

Although knowing the required content for a test is important, a big part of preparing for an exam is getting used to the style of questions. For this, past papers and exam questions are the best resource. They allow you to both check your knowledge and familiarise yourself with the setup of the exam paper.

For example, some exams have separate question and answer sheets. Others have one booklet with both the questions and spaces to write answers underneath. Knowing how the paper will look will make you more confident in the final exam.

For most public exams, past papers are readily available, free of charge, on the exam board website. on the AQA website is an easy way to find past papers for GCSEs and A-Levels under the AQA exam board. However, if you are with a different exam board, look at their website instead for a similar past papers page.

After completing a past paper, marking it and making corrections is just as important. Corrections allow you to identify what you already know and then the areas you still need to work on. Mark schemes are available alongside all past papers on exam board websites. They are a great resource to see the specific wording that examiners are looking for. Key phrases are often bolded or underlined on mark schemes.

You could attempt some past questions at the start of your revision to check which topics need the most work. Alternatively, you may want to learn everything first. You can then sit down in exam conditions, and time yourself as you complete a full exam paper.

Mind maps are a quick way to condense a topic, making it much more manageable to revise. You can challenge yourself to fit all the key points of a topic onto a single piece of A4 paper, in the form of a mind map. This often makes revision less daunting. It narrows down the huge amount of content taught in lessons to a clear guide of the essential information to know for the test.

This Think Student article is a great guide on using mind maps for effective revision.

Making mind maps is, in itself, a form of revision. It helps to use different colours when creating a mind map to make it more visually appealing and to help the information stick. Colour can help your brain to remember information because it can associate certain colours with facts.

You could also make a mind map of all the information you can remember without looking at a textbook in black pen. You can then go over your mind map to add the information you missed in another colour. This way, when using the mind map to revise, you can see exactly which facts you need to focus on.

There are a huge number of exam resources available on YouTube. You can find everything from short clips for a specific topic, to dedicated revision channels. They are a great option for students who prefer to learn by listening, rather than reading or writing. Watching videos is also one of the quicker revision techniques as it doesn't involve making your own resources.

However, if you do want to make written resources, it is very easy to combine these two revision methods. You could make a mind map whilst watching a video, which sometimes works better than writing notes from a textbook. This is because you can't copy word for word. You have to absorb the information as you hear it in order to write it down.

These mind maps can be a good resource to come back to later, instead of re-watching the video. Noting things down while watching is also a good way to make sure you don't get too distracted. It can be all too easy to tune out the sound of the video. You might be tempted to click on an unrelated video and interesting as it may look, it probably won't help you pass an exam!

A simple YouTube search will show just how many revision resources are available. To get you started, some popular revision channels include freesciencelessons, which you can find for GCSE and A-Level science help. For revision videos about GCSE and A-Level English, check out Mr Bruff using .

It can be hard to maintain focus when you're revising alone, particularly with distractions like phones nearby. This Think Student article has some ideas to improve your concentration. One revision method that provides a different approach if you're tired of studying on your own is to try to explain a topic to someone else. This could be a parent, a sibling, or a friend who doesn't take that subject.

In an exam, most examiners are looking for you to explain your answers in lots of detail. Being able to teach someone else a topic means you'll definitely understand it well enough for the exam.

If you prefer to have resources to revise from, you can try recording yourself teaching someone the topic. You could listen back to the recording to see if you missed anything out. You can then play it back closer to the exam as a recap of the essential information. It can help consolidate what you already know.

Another thing to try if you want a break from studying alone is to organise a study group with your friends. Having friends around, all of whom are also revising for similar exams, can be a great way to motivate yourself to study. We can all agree that finding the motivation to get started can be one of the hardest parts of revision. For more ideas on this, see this article from Think Student.

Group revision can be as intense as you choose. If the exam is coming up soon, you should really be working individually in silence. Although this doesn't sound particularly fun, it is surprisingly easy to get some good work done when everyone around you is doing the same thing. It also means you can't get too distracted. Your job as part of a study group is to keep those around you on track.

If you have a bit more time, there are plenty of ways to make your revision session interactive and fun. Ask each other questions to test your knowledge, read over your friend's essays for extra ideas or work through difficult maths questions together. Any activities that help you prepare for the exam are useful.

If you're feeling particularly creative, you could even try subject-specific games. Pictionary with parts of a cell, for example, would work great for a biology test. It would certainly make revision more entertaining!

This technique is very similar to the use of flashcards. Post-It notes are best used for the most important bits of a topic or sections you are finding most difficult to remember. If you have too many post-it notes stuck on a wall, your brain will have an information overload and you won't remember anything.

Post-it notes can be easily kept in areas you will see every day, which really helps the information stick in your memory. Perhaps you could write common maths formulas on post-it notes. Then you could stick them to the front cover of your maths textbook, as a quick reminder to go over them.

The hardcore post-it note fan might even stick the notes on objects they use every day. This could be as simple as a mirror or the door to your wardrobe. This makes it easier to do a little bit of revision every day, as it's unavoidable to look at them!

Additionally, taking post-it notes off once you have learned them is a great way to measure progress. You can gain so much job satisfaction motivation from watching the notes disappear over time.

Google is often the first resource we think to check if we have a question in our daily lives. It is sometimes easy to forget that it also contains endless revision resources. As with YouTube, you can find quick answers, or websites with full exam guides.

In this list, you'll find some popular websites to have a look at, all of which can be used for free. Each site contains detailed guides arranged by qualification and exam board:

Physics and Maths Tutor - this has guides for GCSEs and A-Levels in Chemistry, Geography and more, not limited to Physics and Maths as the name suggests! There are a variety of resources available, including summary notes, practice questions, and flashcards.

- this has revision courses from KS2 all the way up to A-Level. It is very interactive, with questions to answer between chunks of content to check your understanding. You can also create a free account to save your progress on topics.

BBC Bitesize - this has revision guides for KS3 and GCSE, as well as the equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has clear explanations arranged by topic in a variety of subjects, as well as videos and quick multiple-choice tests to check your knowledge.

Obviously, there are many more resources available on the internet. Some contain both GCSE and A-Level content, so remember to look for the right difficulty level and exam board. It's worth doing some research to find which websites are best for the exam or topic you are revising for. You'll discover in time which work best for your learning style.

Your school notes and other resources from your lessons are revision resources that are often overlooked. These will have all the information you need, specifically taught to prepare you for a test on that topic. Often, students use their class notes when making condensed resources such as flash cards. Even after you have made revision resources, your original notes are still useful.

Something that can make your notes even more helpful is the work you do as you go through the school year. Something as simple as putting a sticker next to the lessons you found difficult can help you focus your revision when exam season gets closer.

While they may not be your main resource, it is always helpful to remember that you have schoolbooks full of useful, relevant information.

All of the above revision methods will work best if you plan your revision beforehand. You need to decide which subjects need the most revision and when you have time. This Think Student article has a full guide to creating an effective revision timetable.

To get the most out of your revision time, make sure to have a clear study space, and drink plenty of water. These may seem like small, irrelevant habits to have. However, picking up these mannerisms can make a surprising difference when it comes completing effective revision sessions.

Most importantly, remember to give yourself breaks in your revision schedule. Revise little and often, starting as early as possible. Doing this will mean that, once the test or exam day comes, you'll be fully prepared. Most importantly, celebrate when you reach the end of revision!

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Top 10 Revision Techniques 2023 - Think Student

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Exams are, unfortunately, a vital and necessary part of every student's school experience. Whether it's low stakes spelling tests in primary school, or final exams after two years of preparation for GCSEs or A-Levels, we are tested throughout our education. With this comes the need ...