Ok so it’s exactly two weeks and the exams I’m studying for will be over, but how come revision feels like such a chore? It’s either I wake up take one look at my notes and want to go back to bed, or I attempt a question mess it up followed by giving up. You see I feel by this point in time I should know every subject that could possibly come up but I’m worried “what if I don’t?” Also with two years of hard work under my belt I feel like I’m owed a result, but if I don’t revise and I fail then I’ll only have myself to blame, so it got me think what to the experts say you should do and how can I get myself more motivated:-

So searching through the Internet for thoughts on revision the main bit of advise that comes up is use past papers to revise from. Now this may well be sound advise, you get to see how questions are worded, you can look for patterns to see which questions come up frequently and it gives you a good idea of what you can answer and what you need to revise more. The trouble with this method is you feel deflated when you score 98% then you remember it’s not your exam so it’s all hypothetical, even though there’s people in the world who past this subject getting less of a score than you did on that same paper.

Another tip that comes up alot is the dreaded revision timetable. Now I’m sure the majority of the world will agree with me this is a fantastic idea in principal. The trouble is in the real world it just doesn’t work, just the other night I sat down prepared myself to do a whole past paper, when my housemate walked in and announced “the apprentice” final had just started. Which do you think won? Yeah you guessed it I watched the apprentice. So this is where it goes wrong there’s always a million other things I’d rather do than revision. Now matter how rigidly I set a timetable there’s always a get out clause “the washing needs doing”, “I’m hungry” and “I promised so and so I’d meet them for a drink”. So whilst a timetable may seem a great idea unless you have the military precision of Madonna chances are it won’t work.

The next tip that springs up is stay positive. Now well this is self explanatory I’m feeling depressed after trying a past paper and my revision timetable has fallen apart. So I’m in the pub with so and so saying “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” When really I’m thinking “I should be revising.” So whilst I’m sure a positive attitude will help I think it takes more than just that to pass an exam.

So now we come to the final tip I found which is revising with others. Now I tried this twice with two different people. The first time was a nightmare the guy I was revising with had obviously immersed himself in revision, so whilst I sat there struggling through the first question I had come across he’d finished his three questions in less than twenty minutes making me feel stupid. The second time I tried this the person I revised with was worse than me so whilst I didn’t feel stupid between the two of us we didn’t get a lot done. So whilst revising with others can be fun and sociable you have to choose who to revise with carefully.

So with two weeks to go and no real idea on which is the best way to revise. I guess I’m just going to have to try my hardest to get some revision done and then in two weeks time I’ll just have to try my best. Which if I’m honest is the only useful tip you can ever really learn. Now should I do some revision tonight? No it can wait till tomorrow.