It’s quite easy to see the university experience as an excuse to party, procrastinate, and essentially conduct very little constructive activity over the years that you attend. And to an extent, if you want this to be what you experience then it is possible. But, most courses will carry with them a degree of difficulty (shock horror, I know) which might mean you may need to put the hours in and at some point, knuckle down and do some work. Of course, all degrees are different: those in the arts will often be assessed over the course of the year with assignments and essays, resulting in very little to do at the end of the year. However, most courses, particularly those in the sciences, come with the burden of a sizable amount of examinations in the May/June period. The dilemma is this: how does one live the kind of lifestyle I spoke about earlier but also perform well in their exams?
There isn’t really a great deal of revelation behind the answer to this conundrum. The trick is to keep on top of your work all year round, studying little and often. That doesn’t mean spending every waking hour of the day in the library, working round the clock to rewrite your lecture notes for the umpteenth time, as this is just completely unnecessary. It just means to do a little bit of independent study every day, or even every other day, just to keep the knowledge and skills that you pick up in your lectures and seminars ticking over until the time comes for serious exam revision, which won’t be nearly as difficult now.
Another very important thing is to know your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to revision, and what benefits you and what doesn’t. I imagine most of you will have gone through A-levels and as a result should have at least a small sense about the kind of revision you should be doing. For instance, I myself have never personally benefited from making a mind-map and sticking it to my bedroom wall, although I know for some this works wonders. Past papers have always been the ultimate revision method for me, particularly with subjects that are quite maths-heavy, as in my opinion there is no better way to understand how to go about doing some form of calculation other than having gone through dozens of examples just like it. Past papers work differently at university; there is no official mark scheme for the old papers, making it more difficult to use as a form of revision. However, the lecturers are always ready to answer any questions a student may have by email or even in their offices, not to mention previous students often create unofficial mark schemes for others to use. In short, there are ways around it.
In essence, I suppose revision is a very personal thing and everybody learns and retains information differently. But, one thing is for certain: cramming is never a good method and only ends in tears. It also isn’t great for long term memory retention, meaning that the things you actually do remember from your last-minute revision won’t stay in your head for next year’s study anyway, making the whole debacle slightly pointless. So, if there’s a take home message from this post, it’s DON’T leave everything to the last minute!
Will 🙂
