Revision!

Greetings humans!

Well, I'm back where I began...with a post about exam revision. I know it's only Christmas, but I've been revising lightly since September and the real push will begin in about a month's time, which leaves me six months or so to prepare for my A2s. I know this seems like an awfully early start, but I'm determined to do better this year, and I also have the added motivation of a university place on offer.

I still have a trusty revision folder, which I'm using for rough revision notes:

This year, it's just a lever arch file that I bought from WHSmith. I decided to use a lever arch file since I'm only ever happy if I fill a folder up...and this should hopefully lead to more revision!

Inside the folder I keep a narrow ruled refill pad from Ryman and a set of dividers - I have three for RS (two exams), two for History (one exam) and three for English Lit (another will be written in soon, for one exam). I'm content with using paper ones because the chances are I won't be using them so often that they rip.

Here's an example of the notes I take for revision. Outline notes with a biro and highlighter, since I prefer to keep things simple - the focus is on the substance, not style! I also prefer this method to using mind maps etc. Although using different colours and so on does help me to learn, I'm not a fan of remembering images instead of words; I'm too much of a perfectionist and will probably spend more time considering the spacing of a mind map instead of using it as a revision aid!

For this year I have also purchased four Oxford notebooks - one for each of my A2 exams. I also have this bargain Stabilo fineliners, and I shall be marrying the two in my final, neat revision notes, which should hopefully fit into these notebooks. I'm too scared to use them at the moment though!

My final revision aid is reading around the subject - sometimes teachers don't tell you everything, sometimes a different person can present an argument or idea in a totally different way. I know especially at A-Level (and of course at uni), reading around your subject can make a marked improvement on your grade. Here I have An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Brian Davies, which is proving invaluable to me at the moment.

So that's how I'm planning on revising this year. Exciting, no?