Exam season is upon us, and the prospect of getting started with revision can sometimes feel as overwhelming as the revising itself. But fear not! Here is a list of some healthy and unhealthy revision habits that you might find helpful when you’re working out the best way to approach your revision, with practical tips that you can implement straight away. Remember, it’s really not as scary once you get started, and starting is often the hardest part, so once you have jumped over that first hurdle you are well on your way!
Healthy Revision Habits
Take Breaks
One healthy habit to begin to implement in your revision is making sure that you’re taking breaks throughout your scheduled revision sessions. At first, it might seem counterintuitive, but the brain works best when it’s relaxed, and giving it time to absorb all of the new information you’ve just been reading is going to give you the best results. Sometimes, we might think that it’ll be best for us to do long, 2-3 hour sessions in order to feel like we’re making the best use of our time. However, it’s actually better to do sessions of around 40 minutes in length, perhaps focusing on one topic, then taking a 10 minute break, before resuming again, either with the same topic or with something different.
There’s also a method called the ‘Pomodoro Technique’, which is proven to increase productivity, and also helps to decrease procrastination! You will need a timer that can be set at 25 minute intervals (a manual one is better as you won’t be tempted to use your phone at all – more on this later!), and a list of your tasks or topics that you want to revise. All you need to do is, after you have set your timer for 25 minutes, simply work on your task solidly during that time, then, once the timer’s up, take a 5 minute break. Every 4 ‘pomodoros’, or rounds, take a longer 15-30 minute break, and you should notice that, not only are you able to absorb the information better, it makes the actual action of revising much simpler and more manageable! (Fun fact, pomodoro means tomato in Italian, and the technique is so called because the founder of the technique used a timer shaped like a tomato when he discovered it!)
Exercise
We all know the benefits of exercise on our mental health, and during exam time it is vital that we ensure our mental health is at its best, and exercising is an excellent way to maintain this. The simple act of movement is great for your body and for your mind, and those endorphins are going to help to keep your mood up when facing some particularly tricky topics. If you already enjoy exercising, you won’t find it hard to incorporate it into your daily life whilst revising, and creating a routine around it will ensure that you are able to keep it up throughout the exam period and beyond.
If you’re new to exercise, why not try going for a walk when on a study break, or first thing in the morning before you get going? The benefits of being outside in nature are second to none, so if you can take your walk around some greenery then even better! This BBC Bitesize article has some great tips from Team GB athletes, too!
Make a Plan
When we’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, sometimes the first thing that we forget to do when we’re in a state of panic is to organise our time, and make a solid plan for what needs to be done. And this is the thing that is sometimes going to help us most of all! Having a clear revision plan and timetable is massively beneficial, as it gives you a visual idea of the work that needs to be done in relation to your upcoming exams, rather than allowing it to stay in your head, which is when it becomes overwhelming and hard to manage.
One thing to do is to work backwards from the dates of your exams so that you can prioritise the revision that needs to be done soonest, and you can allocate equal time to each of your subjects. You can do this in any way you like, such as using post it notes, or creating a big chart to stick to your wall, or even using a few pages in a notebook, and you can be creative with it too! It doesn’t matter which method you use, but creating a revision schedule is only going to benefit you in the long run.
Keep a Tidy Workspace
If you’ve heard of the phrase ‘tidy room, tidy mind’, then you might know that the same applies to your workspace, too! Often, when we are working and revising surrounded by mountains of different papers and worksheets that don’t have any order to them, it can feel overwhelming knowing where to even start when it comes to revising. A sure way to avoid this is to get yourself organised, even if it just means dividing up your notes by subject to begin with, then focusing on organising them by topics within each subject. Even if you don’t have your own desk or table space, make sure that you have a space allocated for your revision, perhaps getting some folders or plastic wallets to store your work in when not in use so that it’s easier to return to.
Eat a Balanced Diet
When we’re tired or stressed, or in need of some comfort, often it’s easier to eat food that’s not necessarily the best for us, but will be a quick fix in satisfying our cravings - generally for all things sugary! However, annoyingly the science is right, and the food that is going to help us perform better will be food with health benefits too, such as plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, with slow releasing carbohydrates such as porridge and grains. If you can, try and aim for your five a day when you’re revising, and eat lots of healthy fats that can be found in foods such as avocado, as well as brain food like fish. If you’re not a fish fan, or eat a vegetarian/vegan diet, try and get lots of pulses and beans in your diet, as well as seeds and nuts for the same benefits that are found in fish i.e omega 3. Of course, this is not to say that you cannot treat yourself, and sometimes that piece of chocolate or a biscuit feels like a necessity, as long as it’s all in balance with healthier alternatives!
Make Time for Fun
It might seem counterintuitive when you’re in the process of revising, but in the same way that a balanced diet is good for your brain and your body, having some balance in your work and social life is very good for your mind! When it comes to exam time, the temptation can be to just dedicate our time to revising, as there is often a worry that we might not be doing ‘enough’ when it comes to preparation. However, the only way that we are going to be able to make the most of our revision time, is if we spend time resetting and recharging by setting aside activities that have nothing to do with work!
If you have spent the whole day working, why not see if a friend is free for a walk around your local park in order to get some fresh air and socialise? Or, at the weekend, have a couple of plans booked in that enable you to do revision either side. This time can be incredibly stressful, and it is so important that you look after yourself and make sure that you’re able to find balance amidst the pressure of exam season.
Unhealthy Habits
Spending (a lot of) Time on Social Media
The negative impact of social media is written about everywhere, so you don’t need me to tell you about them, but during exam time, it is more important than ever to set strict boundaries on social media, for a variety of reasons. The first is that social media is incredibly time consuming, and is built to be that way, which is why after you have intended to just watch one video, suddenly you look at the time and you see that 45 minutes have flown by! When we’re feeling anxious or stressed, it is very common for us as human beings to procrastinate, and social media feeds are prime for procrastination, which is why we have to be so careful with our use of it when we have revision to do.
Not only is it dangerous in terms of the amount of time we can end up spending on it, but it can also lead to us not feeling great about ourselves due to comparing ourselves to other people – whether this is people we know, or those we don’t. It might be that people are posting about the amount of work they have done or haven’t done, or that amount of fun it looks like they’ve having, but during this crucial time, it is really important to limit the amount of outside ‘noise’, so that your sole focus is on yourself and your own work. And do remember that a lot of what you see on social media isn’t always real, and that you’re most likely only seeing a fraction of what is really happening in someone’s day to day life!
Last Minute Cramming
Everyone responds differently to stress and deadlines, with some even working best when they have a limited amount of time to complete a task, but when it comes to revising for exams, it is always best not to cram everything at the last minute! Not only can cramming increase stress around the particular topic that you’re working on, but it is more than likely that you will find it harder to remember everything that you’ve been cramming in. One tool that is particularly helpful for improved recall is repetition, and the longer you give yourself to revise a subject, the longer you will have to practise this repetition and give yourself a better chance of success! Also, trying to squeeze everything in at the last minute is more than likely going to increase anxiety around that work, so for your mental well-being, try and give yourself a good amount of time before the exams to begin your revision so that you can be kind to yourself.
Isolating Yourself
On the flip side of the above point, there can be a temptation to want to shut yourself away and just focus on revising for weeks on end, and whilst in theory this sounds like the action of a model student, it might end up doing more harm than good! When we close ourselves off from our friends and family in order to revise, it’s easy to lose perspective on the task at hand, and the workload may seem more overwhelming when we don’t make time for activities outside of revision. As mentioned earlier, finding a balance between work and play is so important during this time, and sharing your feelings or concerns with loved ones or teachers is going to make all the difference. If you are worried about a particular subject, try and speak to that teacher to get some further guidance, or if you’re finding it hard to cope, reach out to someone that you trust, and try not to keep the feelings held inside. Everyone has been through the exam process and understands your struggle, and a problem shared is a problem halved!
Revising With Your Phone in Your Room
Let’s start by saying that, if you need to access any notes or recordings from your phone to help you with revision, then you absolutely should use it for this reason! However, if you can keep your phone in a different room from where you are revising, it will only serve you well by doing so. Like we spoke about earlier with some of the effects of social media, having your phone in the same room as you may increase the temptation to look at it frequently and distract you from whatever job it is that needs attending to at that time. We know how easy it is to spend more time than intended when on our phones, so cut out any chance of this happening by simply keeping it separate, and that way you won’t be tempted to look when your phone goes off! If you need to look something up online, try and use a computer that doesn’t have as many distractions for you, and if this isn’t possible, ask a family member to keep an eye on your phone usage when you’re using it for revision purposes.
Compare Yourself to Others
There’s a famous saying that ‘comparison is the thief of joy’, which can be applied to lots of different areas of life, but it feels particularly relevant to the whole exam period, from revision, to the exams themselves, to getting your final results. Although it might not seem as though revision and exams are a particularly joyful experience, there can be a sense of satisfaction from knowing that you have worked hard during your revision process and in the exams themselves, and you should feel proud of all the hard work you put into them.
When we start comparing ourselves to our peers, however, any work that we’ve done doesn’t seem as ‘good’ as what someone else has managed to achieve, whether they’ve been revising until 3am every morning, or have been getting level 9s in their practice papers, comparing yourself isn’t going to help at all – you can only do what you can do. It is really important to hold on to the work that you have done, and have faith in yourself throughout the whole process, including when you receive your results. We have a whole blog post here about surviving results day! Remember, you can only do your best, and everything else is out of your control.
We hope you have found these tips helpful, and we wish you all the best with your revision and upcoming exams! If you think you might need a tutor for any of your subjects, you can contact us here, and a member of our team would be very happy to help you.
Blog Post Crafted by Cicely
Cicely works on our Admin Team, and also tutors extensively.
In 2020, Cicely discovered her love of teaching, and has been tutoring English Literature and Drama ever since, as well as running a drama school audition help service with her friend and fellow actor to help prospective drama school students with their audition speeches.
Cicely has had her poetry published in anthologies and online, and in her free time is an avid reader. She loves living by the sea, a good podcast, and taking long walks in the countryside.