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Revision Strategies That Work!

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There is no doubt that there is plenty of informaton, and misinformaton, circulatng about the best way to
study for your HSC exams. This guide, therefore, has been writen with the help of students who have re-
ceived ATAR results of more than 95 so that you may beneft from their experience. We hope that there is
something in this for everyone to make life a litle easier in the lead-up to the exams!
The Basics Core Principles for Efectve Study
Making a Study Plan. It is easy to become overwhelmed by
the task ahead of you and so to avoid facing your anxietes
through procrastnaton. Drawing up a workable study tmeta-
ble will increase your sense of control over the task (and
hence, reduce anxiety) and also will help you to become more
efcient with your tme. It is important to be realistc: dont set impossible goals for yourself.

Allow for the limitatons of your atenton span. Avoid scheduling large slabs of tme for one subject. Al-
ternatng subjects for study will help you to sustain your concentraton and interest.

Dont cram several reviews are more efectve. More material will be retained in memory if you sched-
ule several review tmes over an extended period rather than one long session.

Work in terms of tasks not tme. Rather than having a vague aim to study biology for two hours, set a
partcular secton of work for each study period. A sense of achievement comes from successfully com-
pletng small tasks, and breaking the work up into smaller sectons makes the whole process of revision
seem less dauntng.

Review your approach. If your study plan is not helping you to revise efectvely, review your strategies
and consider making changes. Resist the temptaton to throw away your plan and allow yourself to fall in
a heap. Some minor adjustments may be all you need to stay on track.

Make sure you include some recreaton tme. If you allocate tme for such actvity you will be less tempt-
ed to waste tme avoiding work because of the unrealistc demands you have made upon yourself.
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Specifc Strategies for Examinatons
Find out what you need to know. Your method of revision should con-
sider the nature of the examinaton. Find out from your teachers what
the structure of the exam will be and what subject areas will be on the
exam. Course outlines and handouts can provide important informaton
about exam tmes, locatons, formats and requirements. Exam review
sessions are invaluable and not to be missed! Not only will they give
you an idea of what will be on the exam, but also give you a chance to
ask questons. Former students may also be able to give you helpful
informaton about what to expect.

Use past exam papers to direct your study and take notes. This will
give you an idea of the sorts of questons and overall structure of the
exam. However, do not assume that the same format will be used this
year. Teachers change their exams over the years, so double check to
make sure of any changes. At this stage, use your notes and other
sources to give full answers to past exam questons. A good strategy is
to practce writng responses to past exam questons throughout the
term. When you fnish a topic, check to see if there is a related past ex-
am queston. It will be easier to prepare a response while the topic is
stll fresh in your mind. You can use these notes later to revise for the exam.

Practse past exam papers under exam conditons. Do this closer to the exam tme. Without looking at
your prepared answers or other notes, test your recall of knowledge and your ability to write under tme
constraints.

If there are no past exam papers available for a subject, try to predict possible questons. Look over your
lecture notes and make a list of probable questons. Think about the sorts of questons the lecturers asked
in the subject and take note of any areas that were highlighted as important. Prepare answers for some or
all of the questons you predict.
Further Important Tips

Reduce anxiety and stay motvated
Although a small amount of stress before exams may aid your performance, too much anxiety will nega-
tvely afect your exam performance.
If you feel overwhelmed by exam stress or study motvaton problems and unable to cope, it is worth
speaking to someone.

There are several strategies you can try to reduce your anxiety before and during exams.

Start early and stay on track with your exam preparaton to reduce your stress levels. If you have trouble
getng organized and making a study plan, seek help from someone that you trust.

Look afer your health. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food and try to fnd tme to exercise. Many people
fnd that yoga and breathing exercises can help keep them in tune both physically and mentally.
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Keep things in perspectve. Although it may seem at the tme that the next exam will be the most im-
portant event in your entre life, this is probably not really the case and thinking like this only puts
more pressure on yourself.

Take a break. Notce when you are tred or losing concentraton. If you feel like this late at night, you
could make more efectve use of your tme by going to bed and getng up earlier the next morning to
study when your mind is feeling fresher. A good way to refresh a tred mind is to go on a brisk 15 mi-
nute walk. A 15 minute TV break is mind numbing rather than refreshing and can easily turn into a one
hour break.
Set rewards for yourself. Rewards for good progress can assist with motvaton. Try setng yourself a goal
and rewarding yourself when you achieve it. A reward can be as simple as a cup of tea or your favour-
ite TV programme.
The importance of maintaining some balance during your HSC year cannot be
understated. Make sure that you stll engage in a variety of actvites throughout the
year. Of course, this is ofen easily done due to the level of social actvites on ofer!
Revision tps

Efectve revision enables you to get material from your short term memory into your long term memory.
Long term memory is like a library informaton that is placed in it in a systematc way is more likely to be
retrievable. Below are some tps to help you revise.

Try to comprehend the overall structure of each subject. What were the main concepts? How did the
teacher set out his/her argument? Pay partcular atenton to establishing how all the individual pieces of
informaton ft together to produce a coherent whole.

Organise notes into topics/areas. It is easier to remember individual details when they are grouped into
mini-sectons. Make a list of the areas you need to know in each subject and write down headings and
subheadings.

Add material you have learned from your reading to your notes according to the subject area. Underline/
highlight/ write comments in order to emphasise the idea of each secton.

Revise actvely. Dont fall into the trap of spending 99% of your study tme mindlessly writng out notes
and 1% of your tme actually looking at them. The more actve you are in writng notes, the beter you
will be able to remember them.

Study the past, if you would divine the future. Confucius
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Writen summaries for each topic - Numbering each point can
help with recall in the exam.

Diagrams such as fow charts and mind maps. During the ex-
am, it is easier to recall informaton which has been repre-
sented diagrammatcally. Colours are partcularly helpful to
stmulate the memory.

Audio Try recording your summaries or prepared answers to practce questons onto a portable record-
ing device. Comprehension improves if you listen and read at the same tme. The other advantage for
those who like multtasking is that you can listen while doing something else like walking, ironing or
sitng on a bus!







Distnguish between recall and recogniton. Many students, afer having read over material several
tmes, assume that because it looks very familiar they have learned it. Simply being able to recognize ma-
terial does not automatcally mean that you will be able to recall it later in the exam.

Practse recall. The following suggestons may be useful:
When learning defnitons, divide a piece of paper in two vertcally and write the words on one side
and the defnitons on the other. Cover the words and practse recalling them, using the defnitons.
Then cover the defnitons and practse recalling them, looking at the words.
Use cards with the subject on the front and the informaton to be recalled on the back. Look at the
subject, practse recalling the informaton, then look on the back of the card to check.
If you need to memorise diagrams, make large ones and stck them up on your walls.
Use rhymes and mnemonics to assist recall. For example, to remember electron loss and gain in
oxidaton and reducton, the following may be easy to remember: OIL RIG - Oxidaton Is Loss; Re-
ducton Is Gain (of electrons)
Revise with a friend or a study group to share knowledge and exam strategies and to practse recall.
Im a great believer in luck, and I fnd the harder I work the more I have of it.
Thomas Jeferson
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Have a specifc place to study without distractons: somewhere
quiet, without TV or music
Study the hard subjects frst, when youre most alert and focused
Have a specifc tme of the day for studying, and make it the same
tme every day
Work out how long you can concentrate for before you lose focus.
Its going to be diferent for everyone, so keep a track of your ide-
al concentraton tme. Then take breaks when youre approaching
your limit
Have everything you need close by - books, notes, pens, pads, etc
- all within easy reach
Let friends and family know your allocated daily study tme, and
ask them not to disturb you. Turn of your phone and leave Fa-
cebook alone for a while.
Start studying when you say you will: delaying the start will only
make the task harder
One thing at a tme: multtasking may sound smart, but it means
youre not giving each task your full atenton
Avoid eatng a large meal before studying, as it will just make you
drowsy
Study Checklist