Revision and exams

Exams are an inevitable part of studying at Sussex. Let’s be honest – they aren’t anyone’s favourite thing to do, but they can be made less scary by revising effectively and having good exam techniques. Use the advice here to prepare well for your exams.

What do you want to learn about?

It will be beneficial for you to work through this page in its entirety. However, if you only need to focus on aspects of revision and exams consider the questions below:

• Do you know the best ways to plan your time for revision and assessments?
  If not, go to the Planning Revision and Assessment Time section below for tried-and-tested ideas.
  
  
• Do you understand the difference between productive and unproductive revision techniques?
  If not, visit the section below on Effective Revision strategies and learn what works!
  
  
• Have you got a plan for how to tackle questions once you are in the exam itself?
  If not, check out the section below on Exam Techniques to get some useful tools.

Planning revision and assessment time

Revision timetables

Creating a revision timetable helps you use your revision time effectively. You can make it on paper and stick it somewhere you will see it every day, like above your desk, or create a digital calendar that you can easily refer to on your phone.

Start your revision early and use all the weeks until your assessments so that you aren’t just cramming at the last minute.

You can, if you prefer, download this revision template as a Word document or PDF as a guide to help you (Important: The PDF will open in this window so remember to click on the browsers back button to return to the Skills Hub).

Planning your time for online assessments

Online assessments may continue to be part of life at Sussex for some courses.

For online assessments, you won't be sitting a paper in exam conditions, but you do still need to revise. You may not need to memorise specific information but it is still important to develop an in-depth awareness of the topic. There is not enough time when you receive your assessment questions to produce good quality answers if you are starting the process from scratch

It is likely that you will have staggered deadlines and time between receiving an assessment and having to submit your response. However, it doesn’t mean you should spend the whole time doing extensive research as you might for a piece of coursework or spend this amount of time writing an answer.

Make sure you know how many assessments are online and what their format is. You need to know when they are released and how long you have to complete them.

A five-step guide to planning your time for online assessments

Your School may provide you with more specific guidance on how to spend your time but the following steps provide an example of how you might plan ahead for your assessment period if you had 24 hours to hand in each written assessment.
Each tabbed step below has a graphic associated with it on how your calendar might look (for a text only version of this process please access the accordion below the guide).

• Text only version for the five-step guide above

  Starting with a blank weekly calendar, add the following:

  Step 1

  Put in assessment release and submission dates
  The first thing to go into your plan should be the dates and times you expect to receive your assessment and the deadlines when these need to be submitted.

  Step 2

  Add your other essential activities
  Add the time you need for work, eating, exercise and other responsibilities and be realistic about the time you need to dedicate to these. You may also have other coursework deadlines to consider.

  Step 3

  Add time to write your answer
  You may have been provided with timings for how long to spend on writing the answer to each question, so add that in with enough time before the deadline.

  Step 4

  Add some planning time
  Put aside some time to plan your answer and go through your notes. If you have prepared well in the weeks beforehand, this should not take too much time.

  Step 5

  Allow time to proof-read
  Take advantage of the time available to proofread your response before you submit it. Try not to leave the submission until the last possible minute and make sure you know who to contact if you have technical issues.

Effective revision strategies

Recognition versus recall 

Think of your favourite film. You can probably imagine the plot, the characters, the actors and one or two of the best scenes. If you saw just a couple of minutes of the film, could you recognise when this movie was on the television? If you heard some dialogue, could you confidently say if it came from your movie or not?

The answer is almost certainly yes. This is easy. It is recognition of something you are watching or hearing. In the same way that you can recognise your favourite film from a poster, you can probably recognise the main ideas of your academic subject when you see them.

Sussex students working in a study pod

Now, think about your film again. Do you know what all the lines are in the best scene? Do you know what each character is wearing at the start of the movie? Can you name not only the director, but the producer, the cinematographer and the make-up artists?

This is much more difficult. This is recalling the details of the film, without looking at it. Recalling facts and information is much more taxing for our brains because we don’t have the material in front of us as a prompt. But in exams, we need to recall, rather than simply recognise.

This is important because the best revision techniques actively help you to recall information, rather than just passively recognise it when you see it. Make sure when you revise that you are training your memory to recall facts.

Passive revision techniques

Be aware that the following are passive revision techniques that only aid in increasing your recognition of information. Check that you aren’t doing them!

• Reading through your notes, your past assessments and key texts. If you are not doing anything with the material, then this is not very helpful for remembering what you read.
• Typing out all your notes. This can seem very useful as you are keeping busy, but it is mostly a waste of time since it it does not require much brain activity or engagement.
• Highlighting information in texts. It can be very easy to mindlessly over-highlight most of a document, but unless you do something with the highlights, you are relying on having the text in front of you.
• Listening to lecture recordings. If you simply listen to a lecture that you have heard before, you probably won’t take in anything more than you did the first time!

Check out these Top 10 Revision Tips!

You can download this Top 10 list as a Word document or PDF to print out or to save for future use, There is a text only version below (Important: The PDF will open in this window so remember to click on the browsers back button to return to the Skills Hub).

• Top 10 Revision Tips! (text only version)

   Top 10 Revision Tips! Brought to you by the Academic Skills Team

  1. “The best time to start revising is day 2 of your course. The second best time to start revising is now.” Start your revision as early as possible. Plan your revision timetable this evening and get going! You will feel the benefits once the exams start. Remember to start on the topics that you are least confident about, and dedicate more time to them overall.

  2. The most important concept in revision is active vs passive revision. Active revision means doing something with the information you need to learn (usually testing your memory). Passive revision techniques include simply reading through your old notes, listening to old lectures, type out your notes so that they are neater, and highlighting important information in texts. Don’t fall into to the trap of thinking that this is enough!

  3.  Revising can be hard work, so break up your revision sessions into chunks. A good starting point is 45 minutes, followed by a 15-minute break away from your studies. But make sure you return to revising after the break!

  4. Flash cards and sticky notes are great for active revising. You can condense notes down onto a single card or note. You can write a specific term on one side of a flash card and its definition on the other, or a question and answer pair. Put key facts on sticky notes and stick them around your home, rearranging them every few days. Remember to test yourself regularly on the information on the cards and notes so that you are being active.

  5. Working through past papers is a great way to test your knowledge, either by writing plans or full answers.First, try answering the questions without looking at your notes, to get an idea of which areas need more work. Then, with your notes, practise planning the framework for your answers. Finally, come back and answer the question again without your notes.

  6. Form study groups with other students to keep up your motivation. Try to explain a theory to another student without using your notes and see how much they understand. Test each other regularly.

  7. Make sure that you vary your methods of revision. Making endless flashcards can be disheartening and overwhelming. Differ the material you revise from the difficult to the more familiar. This makes it more interesting, and small chunks are easier to remember.

  8. Test, test, test yourself. Start each day trying to remember 10 facts you learnt from the day before. Test yourself on what you have learnt at the end of the day, the next day and at the end of the week. Change the order of what you test yourself on so that you don’t get used to the same pattern.

  9. Review your revision plan at the end of each week. Did you do enough? Did you remember more this week than last week? What time of day do you revise the best? How can you improve your revision for next week?

  10. Don’t spend all your time revising over the exam period. Build some flexibility into your plan so you can enjoy some breaks. Self-care is important at this time – get enough sleep, eat well, keep hydrated and take some time to destress with friends.

Active revision techniques

Read the seven sections below and consider which techniques may suit you the best.

• Flashcards

  Flashcards allow you to practise summarising information and can help you identify any gaps in your learning. You can use them in a variety of different ways:

  - Condense notes about a specific topic on to a card.

  - Write a term on one side and a definition the other.

  - Write a question on one side and the answer on the other.

  Example image of flash cards

  The most important use of flashcards is to test yourself! Don’t just read them, actively hide the answers so you are practising recall. Ask your friends and flatmates to test you.
  Include colours and images to improve your memory, but don’t spend more time making them pretty than testing your recall of the information. There are also lots of apps available to create flashcards.

• Rhymes, stories or mnemonics

  Use songs, rhymes or stories to learn facts, e.g. "Horace fell down a well and started laughing". (Horace Wells was an American dentist and one of the first to routinely use nitrous oxide/laughing gas on his patients)

  Mnemonics can also be a helpful way to memorise facts. Use the first letter of a series of words to create a phrase that is easy to remember. For example, emergency responders remember the symptoms of a heart attack through the mnemonic PULSE:

  Persistent chest pains, Upset stomach, Lightheadedness, Shortness of breath, Excessive sweating.

• Sticky notes

  Sticky notes are good for summarising information and remembering key details. Use colours to identify themes and stick them around your home - but move them regularly so you don't get used to having them in a specific place.

• Practice questions

  If you can access past papers or practice questions, working through these is a great way to test your knowledge, either by writing plans or full answers, First, try answering the questions without looking at your notes, to get an idea of which areas need more work. Then, with your notes, practise planning the framework for your answers. Use lists to compare points for and against a statement. Finally, come back and answer the question again without your notes.

  You can search for previous examination papers from your subject area.  To use the past papers system you'll need to log in with your ITS username and password.
• Study groups

  Revising as a group can give you an opportunity to quiz and test each other. Have a go at explaining topics to others without referring to your notes. It’s a great way to aid your own memory and understanding.

  Sussex students working in a group at the student centre

• Mind maps and other notes

  Mind maps can be a great way to identify connections between ideas. Use colours and images, which will aid your memory. You may find drawing diagrams useful to remember processes or cycles.

  How-to-mind-map by Lex McKee is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

  However, do not just create a mind-map from your notes and look at it. Do something with it. Test what you can remember from the mindmap. Can you recreate it without looking at it? Can you summarise the concepts even further to help you memorise them? Can you add remember examples for each of the nodes?

• Spread out your tests

  Test yourself on the same material at the end of the day, the next day and at the end of the week. Change the order of what you test yourself on so that you don’t get used to the same pattern.

Keeping motivated while revising

Revision is not the most exciting part of studying but it is important. Here are some tips to keep you going! Check out the advice on procrastination in Time Management if you are having trouble starting.

• Keep in mind throughout the year that what you learn, you will need to revise later. Make sure your notes are clear and memorable. Make flashcards as you go rather than just in the revision period. The earlier you start, the less you will have to do later.
• Build up how many hours you spend revising in a day.
• Vary the material you revise from the difficult to the more familiar. This makes it more interesting, and small chunks are easier to remember.
• Vary your methods of revision. Making endless flashcards can be disheartening and overwhelming.
• Aim to revise for short 45-minute sessions followed by a 15-minute break. Reward yourself with fun stuff in your break so you will be more likely to stick to your schedule!
• Even when you are on a break, your mind will keep working - often sorting out complex ideas!
• Be strict about returning to your revision after a break.
• If you're revising independently at home, it can be a struggle to remain productive. It is important to establish a routine - set an alarm, get dressed and eat breakfast as you normally would to prepare for the day.
• Studying with other people can really help keep up motivation. Just be sure to stick to revision and not distract each other!
• Keep notes and flashcards with you at all times, so in short moments at the bus stop or waiting in a queue you can test yourself for a minute or two.
• Challenge yourself to remember 10 facts from your revision session the day before. Build up this number over time.
• Make sure you are sleeping and eating well and getting time away from revision so that you are stronger and more motivated when you return.
  
  

Sussex students relaxing and talking on campus

Exam techniques

The best way to do well in exams is to make sure you are well prepared and have done your revision. That said, there are things that you should be doing in the exam to perform as strongly as possible. They may seem obvious, but many students forget to do them under the pressure of a timed assessment.
This advice comes from experienced examiners.

• Check your technology

  If you have online assessments, check all the technology requirements beforehand:

  • Do you need to install any software?
  • Do you need to adjust any settings on your device?
  • Do you have a strong enough internet connection?
  • Do you know what to do if you have technical issues?

  If you need help with your technology contact ITS

Read the instructions

Make sure you are clear about how many questions you need to answer. If questions are divided into multiple sub-questions, check whether you have to answer any one of the sub-questions or all of them. Check the back of the paper for further questions/sections.

Activity: Choosing which questions to answer

You may be given a choice of questions to answer. Look at the four sentences below and put them in the correct order, this will help you choose which questions to answer (there is a text only version below the activity):

• Text only version for the activity above (with answers)

  There are four sentences below in an incorrect order, you need to think about what order they should be in:

  a. Underline the key words or phrases. Don't pick a question which contains any terminology you do not fully understand.

  b. Write down a few notes and ideas if you aren't sure between question to choose. This should help you see which question you could write a better answer for.

  c. Read all your options carefully before choosing.

  d. Make sure you understand what the question is asking you.

  Below are the four sentences now in the correct order:

  1. Read all your options carefully before choosing.

  2. Make sure you understand what the question is asking you.

  3. Underline the key words or phrases. Don't pick a question which contains any terminology you do not fully understand.

  4. Write down a few notes and ideas if you aren't sure between question to choose. This should help you see which question you could write a better answer for.

Check how many marks are available

Check how many marks are available for each question. If the same number of marks is available for each question, then make sure you allocate roughly the same amount of time to each. Don't spend so much time answering your favourite question that you write only scrappy notes for the other questions you choose.

Plan your time

Plan the time you can spend on each individual question. You should aim to complete your answers well before the close of the exam, but it is wise to use any extra time you have to re-read your answers and correct any mistakes.

Essay-style exams

These exams often give you a choice of questions to answer, all of which require an essay-style response to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding. You are expected to provide evidence to support the points you make, structure your response and communicate your thoughts in a clear, concise and logical way. Pay careful attention to any word limits or other instructions provided on the paper.

Short-answer exams

With a short-answer exam paper, you are likely to have several questions to answer. Questions which carry more marks will require more detail and more of your time. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to answer these.

Plan each answer before you start writing

Jot down skeleton plans on a page which you can later cross out as rough work, before writing the actual answers to be read by the examiners. This will help you to make sure your answer is clearly structured.

Answer the question

Make sure you answer the question that is on the paper and not the one you hoped would be there! Underline any directive, topic or limiting words in the question to make sure you focus on exactly what you are being asked.

Name the key thinkers/experts

When you discuss ideas/techniques associated with specific individuals, mention their name and if possible, give an indication of the book or article title.

Give examples

If applicable, illustrate theories with concrete examples.

Multiple choice questions (MCQs)

MCQ exams are very different to written exams. Often the marks are evenly weighted for all the questions. But some are bound to take you longer than others to answer.

• Read the instructions carefully.
• Read through all the questions quickly answering all the ones you definitely know first and leaving the hard ones until last.
• Try to think of the answer before you look at the choices.

Formulas and equations

Write down any working out in a clear logical order - it could get you some marks even if your final answer is wrong. If you find yourself running out of time and unable to work through to the answers, write down which formulas you would have used to get there.