It's the night before the exam, and you haven't looked at your notes yet. Now is not the time to panic. Selective revision gives results even with only an hour to spare.
Successful students are not just those who try to learn their entire course (a feat that frequently leads to a broad but unfocused understanding), but those who know eactly what they need to know, and learn it. Even if you have only one evening left before your exam, organising your material can help you manage this. The guide below is aimed at those who have only a few hours to revise, but works equally well as a planner for long-term revision.
Materials Needed
Paper, coloured pens, plenty of caffeine
1. Check out old exam questions.
If you haven't got any past papers or example questions handy, then write some yourself: this takes longer, but forces you to think more deeply about your material. You might want to use your textbook or course notes as a stimulus, as these will usually be divided into core question areas.
2. Group these questions into themes.
Try for as few themes as possible, but don't leave out anything vital.
Example: The Iliad.
Heroism
Does Achilles set an impossibly high value on his honour?
Is the heroic ethos useful for an understanding of the Iliad?
Hector is the hero of the Iliad. Discuss.
3. What do you know?
Give yourself five minutes per theme to play word association with your chosen theme. Don't worry about details, succint summaries, or answering the questions – this is the easy part.
Example: Heroism
- war booty = physical symbol of honour
- heroes fight for war booty
- Achilles sulks when his booty (honour) is taken away from him
4. Choose three main themes.
Your criteria should be:
- prevalence of a theme in exam questions
- your strengths and interests
- your weak points
5. Divide your time into four parts.
One part for each theme, and one for a recap. Give yourself a break between each slot – even if it's only five minutes for a stretch or a run around the garden, this is important for refreshing your mind.
6. Revise Theme No. 1
What didn't you know? What points could you develop? What exactly were the details you could not remember. Write all this down.
7. Discuss the importance of XYZ.
If you can answer this question, then you can answer any on your chosen theme.
Example: Discuss the importance of heroism in the Iliad.
- Introduction: Honour, gained by war booty, is essential to the Iliadic hero.
- When Achilles' war booty is taken away, he refuses to fight, and questions the whole system of booty=honour.
- This makes the audience reconsider honour and heroism.
- Achilles returns to the fight with different heroic values. Professor Anon sees this as the birth of a 'new' hero. Professor Nemo argues that Achilles is returning to his former heroism.
- Conclusion: By the end of the Iliad the audience sees honour and heroism in a different light, and understanding these change is vital to understanding the Iliad.
8. Categorise your answer.
Relevant categories might be: Arguments, Evidence, Case Studies, Quotes. Do not try to learn everything. There may well be six different quotes that prove that Achilles was a hero, but you'll only need one of them.
9. Make a spider diagram.
Pare down your information, and keep the categories separate – colour is essential!
10. Recap.
Try to answer the questions that relate to your chosen themes, first of all without your spider diagrams.
