how to stop procrastinating when revising

Once an exam’s over and you’ve got your results, it’s natural to immediately want to forget about it, especially if you’ve passed. 

But before you put the exam and all of your learnings to the back of your brain, take time to reflect on your performance. If you have more exams to take, analysing your previous exams can help shape how well you do going forward. 

As obvious as it may sound, good time planning is key to ensuring exam success. Think about how much time you realistically have to dedicate to revising between now and your exam. By scheduling chunks of time rather than a few minutes here and there, you'll be more likely to stick to your schedule.

Another obvious point - the sooner you start your revision, the more likely you are to complete it in time with minimal stress. 

Repeatedly recapping what you’ve learnt is essential when it comes revising. It not only applies to past exam performance, but it should also be built into all of your revision sessions. 

At the end of each revision session, draw two columns and record what you know and what you're still not sure of.

Cramming in too much revision in a short space of time will only leave you feeling extremely stressed. This will also lead to you not completing all of your revision in time.

While you’re scheduling in chunks of time to concentrate on revision, also consider how many topics you have to learn and then break the information down into manageable sections. 

When you’re at the stage where you’ve revised all of your topics and have streamlined them down into smaller prompts that you can easily recall, that’s the time to start testing yourself. 

When you’re doing this, it's important to avoid looking at your books or notes so you can figure out where your information gaps are.

Completing past papers is a great way to get in the right mindframe for an exam. While you won't be asked these questions in your exam, you'll no doubt have similar topics so you can get used to the types of questions you'll be asked as well as the timeframe you'll have to complete them. This will make you feel more prepared for the real exam.

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