Stress-free and efficient exam revision techniques
It's normal to want to gravitate toward revising for subjects you like when you revise. Our top tip would be to sandwich your good ones with ones that you don’t particularly enjoy as much.
Alternatively, you could take each subject and use the traffic light colours. Red for ones that you don’t enjoy, yellow for middle ones and green for the ones you enjoy the most. Make sure you revise for half an hour a day and one subject of each colour! That will limit you to 90 minutes of revision which is more than enough per evening. You have to consider that you need time to rest, have fun and eat properly - that’s a lot to cram in an evening after school!
Example of a traffic light table
| Monday 30 mins per subject | Tuesday 30 mins per subject |
| Maths | French |
| History | English Literature |
| Science | English Language |
Beat exam stress with these activities:
SATs Activities GCSE Activities
More stress-busting tips
1. Time!
It's not possible to revise successfully for hours at a time. Your brain will only take on so much information in one go. You could potentially waste your time if you study for hours and hours in a row. Be smart about your revision. Have a visual plan.
2. Think of your brain as a filing cabinet
Nothing wrong with a bit of cramming the night before an exam, as long as you have put in the hours of revision before it! Think of your brain as a filing cabinet. Each piece of information is filed as a memory. Each new piece of information is put at the front of the filing cabinet. So gradually, that file goes further to the back with each revision session. Therefore, when you revise, you collect a ‘memory’ from the back of the filing cabinet and put it back at the front so it is easy to access.
3. Recognising symptoms of stress
Understanding and identifying your physical symptoms of stress, is very important. Everybody experiences stress differently but normally the physical signs are the first to present and that is the time to take action. Headaches, sweaty hands, flushed face, tummy ache and jiggly legs are common signs of stress, and as soon as your notice it- change what you are doing! Go for a walk, watch something on TV, have a break away from the cause.
4. Reward Yourself
Make sure that you reward yourself for your hard work. Take time out to do some fun things with your friends and family. It can be difficult to get a good balance in life as some things are stressful and difficult, but they must be balanced out with other things that are fun and carefree. Having this balance will help you to manage everything that life throws at you.
EdPlace students progressed over 150% across English, maths and science in a school year. We want to help your child's grades soar.
