Revision tips
CamExams video: Mark Phippen, Head of the University Counselling Service, gives a 10 minute presentation on Revision Skills (recorded live at a CamExams workshop in March 2009). See also the UCS's self-help leaflet on Exams.
General advice for Cambridge students
Preparation
· Consider coming to the Exam Preparation sessions, which some colleges organise and CUSU run. They are intended to be useful to all students and are a good antidote to panic.
· Some faculties also run their own sessions on exams; your DoS may want to recommend these.
· Make sure you know everything you can know in advance about the papers you are taking: the format, the rubric, the syllabus, the requirements. This probably means consulting the 'Information for Candidates' document, and previous years' papers and examiners' reports. Your DoS will advise.
· Make a timetable that apportions what is to be done within the time available, so that you know when to leave one task and move onto the next. Settle on some kind of daily rhythm, with clear breaks and a definite end-of-work. 6-8 hours a day of genuine concentration is a formidable amount; don't try to do more, or you'll effectively do less. Occasionally, set some boundaries for 'crisis working', the sprint to complete a task within a strictly limited time (1 hour, 2 hours), rather than always plodding on with no end in view.
· Revise ACTIVELY. Don't just read through material, but make (brief) notes on your reading, summarize old essays, make new essay-plans. Decide what is central, what peripheral. Select. Prioritize.
· Be very clear in your mind about what you do know about (make lists?) and about areas where you're vague or uncertain. Sharpen up, perhaps, selectively, on a few of these – and resolve to avoid the rest. There may be parts of the course that you can usefully decide you will not be bothering with. The aim is to go into the exam-room knowing clearly what are the cards in your hand that you have to play.
· Do most of your writing from now on in longhand.
· Ask students in the years above how they best prepared, and remember to talk to friends about what they are doing. Remember that every student has a unique way of learning and only some of your friends' strategies could work for you.
· Use past exam papers (1) as a very handy stock of ideas; (2) to practise answers. Some supervisors will set past years exam questions while others will require you to take the initiative yourself, in which case you should and ask for feedback. Using past papers may may mean doing timed answers – exam-length answers written in twice the time – detailed essay-plans – or (important) opening paragraphs. Occasionally, force yourself to take on the Question From Hell, to see what you could make of it if you had to (lifeboat drill!).
· Critically read through your practice answers later on, after you have had more time to think about the questions. Check them against your notes. Can you follow your own reasoning? What might you have done differently? Some times its useful to do pratice with friends and mark each others.
· Self-knowledge: what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses? Is there a pattern in what your supervisors have been telling you?
· Keep a positive attitude. Here are some Reasons To Be Cheerful.
(1) You are spectacularly good at this, you got in here. You are not an imposter!
(2) Writing under pressure, imperfectly prepared, to a cruel deadline? You've been doing it all year, it's called the supervision system: exams are just more of the same.
CUSU provides confidential, free, non-judgemental support and information to individual students. Contact the CUSU Education Officer, Welfare Officer or Women's Officer by email, phone or by dropping into the office if you would like support or information on any topic.