The Library staff realise that the Library gets close to full capacity over exam time, and so (with Central Timetabling) they've organised quiet rooms to study over the exam period. Go to http://www.tinyurl.com/quietstudy to see which rooms have been booked for which day.

The Library has a few rules they'd like to make sure you're aware of.

• Revise with friends in a group study area or use the Learning Grid.
• If you like complete silence, use the Silent Study Rooms on the Floor 2 Library Extension.
• If you wish to drink coffee or eat a sandwich while you work, be considerate and use the Learning Grid or Library Floors 1 and 2…
• ...as other floors are not for hot drinks or food. Do not eat on the upper floors, as many students find crunching, rustling and food smells distracting.
• If you wish to use a laptop, find a study space in the laptop area.
• Study in different places at different times of the day e.g. use the Learning Grid or outside
• If you want to chat, use Floors 1 and 2 (not the Silent/Quiet Study Areas).
• Don’t leave any of your valuables unattended and be careful if you nod off at your study space. Thefts in the Library do happen and that includes your revision notes and laptop with all your work on it.
• Remember when your exams are finished others are still trying to revise, so celebrate somewhere else, not in the library!

Planning revision

• Make a timetable - and the earlier the better. It's worth doing this well before your exam, because you often find, by the time you include their course work and other commitments, you've far less time than you thought. A good way to structre your time is by dividing each day into three units (morning, afternoon and evening), giving you a total of 21 units per week. Allow a fair amount of time for topics (and more for ones you find harder), and divide the topics up between the units. Make sure to include a minimum of six units of free time for sports, social time and hobbies per week!
• Equally, though, it's all too tempting to spend ages making and updating a colourful, elaborate revision timetable, and skive revision. Don't do it; you're so predictable! Instead, use your time wisely...
• What format is the exam? Prioritise which topics to revise, considering the choice given in the exam.
• Will questions combine topics? Do past papers indicate a pattern (though be cautious on this one because it can all change!)? Try to put what you’re good at to the fore. Plan to revise your weakest areas first, so you've time to seek help if needed.
• Refer to course aims and content to make sure you have a clear understanding of the objectives of the course…
• ...and above all, be realistic! Set achievable goals to keep spirits high.

The three stages of revision

Once you’ve acquired knowledge, revising takes three stages: understanding, memorising, and testing. Aim to produce a good set of notes to work from.

1. Organise your knowledge for revision. You need to sort through your notes, to check areas you are less sure of in the library and with friends, to ask lecturers or seminar tutors to clarify certain points, and to get an overview of your subject by reading the appropriate sections of reference books, which can provide summaries of lots of knowledge in just one place (bonus).
   
2. Learn to recall what you have learnt. Pretty straightforward, this one. You have to be able to commit information to memory...which is where the hardcore revision comes in.
3. Learn to restructure your knowledge in response to a particular question. An important aspect of preparing for exams is knowing what the examiners require from you. So many students fall down on this simple step. Many people can recall the necessary information, but don't spend enough time shaping it into the form asked for by the examiner.

Breaks and concentration

Study Tip One: Relatively short bursts of study are usually the most effective. Divide your revision time into around forty-five minute slots. Decide what it is you are going to find out in that time. Clearly mark your goal.

On achieving your goal, you should then break for ten minutes or so before starting again. You should attempt to write down what it is you have found out in the past forty-five minutes, however briefly, before you break. Jot down your ideas in note form and re-read when you begin your next session.

Study Tip Two: Provide yourself with a goal or a target, clearly mark your boundary and work towards it. Take one question at a time. Understand your material...

...then move on. This will stop you from becoming stale and help you to stay focused and alert.

Study Tip Three: Don't feel guilty about taking breaks; you concentrate best at the beginning and the end of study periods, and considerably less well in the middle.

Periods shorter than twenty-five minutes don't give the mind enough time to assimilate the material; longer than fifty minutes results in an almost total lack of concentration. Your brain gets fried, basically. It's not wise to revise more than three sessions in succession without a longer, more substantial break.

N.B. Turn off any distractions you can e.g. television, mobile. If you don’t have to be online, then try to disable the internet; if you can’t, make sure you don’t have Facebook or e-mail tabs open. You can always check all these during your breaks!

Revision tricks

1. Studying language, grammar or anything else linguistic? Always try to learn verbs, language or grammar tenses last thing before you go to bed. When you fall asleep, your brain will start to process this language, running it around in your mind before you reach deep sleep: meaning you should absorb the information a lot quicker
2. Might sound stupid, but some people's minds respond especially well to revising to certain background music: anything without lyrics is cool, and the music shouldn't be distracting or even too noticeable - aural wallpaper, if you like. Studies have shown that, when playing back the music, people can recall considerably more info than they would have without it
3. Use professional memory strategies: things such as mnemonics and associative techniques are used by professionals to memorise huge strings of information. Rhyme, association and linked colours will help fix things in your mind — it's true, honestly! See the "Accelerated learning" section for more info.

Ways to do this could be by: simply summarising it; making maps or charts showing the key points; testing yourself; getting friends to ask you questions on it; setting yourself mock exam questions.

Many people find a good way to summarise their notes is in visual form - as a bubble map or a tree diagram. This will allow you to show the links between the main ideas and to include examples and illustrations.

From your summaries of different topics, you could produce a single summary sheet which outlines everything you will need to learn on that topic for the exam. You will be then able to keep referring to this and checking you understand the relationships between the different areas.

A very good way to hone your understanding of a topic is to condense it, in your own words, into two paragraphs; to condense again into one paragraph, then again into three sentences. It helps you to memorize, and to really think about, the topic.

What is important out of all this is that you keep your revision active not passive. Many people spend a lot of time reading and rereading their notes without realising that their understanding is not increasing, and that they won't be able to recall anything of what they've read. Only when you can make the topic 'your own', expressing it in your own words, ideas and summaries, will you have fully understood the issues in hand.

Can't get motivated?

...or just finding it hard to start revision? A lack of motivation is usually caused simply because you don't know where to begin: as the pile of work's so huge, it's hard to know exactly where to make a start from.

Rather than hopelessly tiptoeing around it all, doing revision planners and very little else, just jump and do the first thing you flick to in your pile of work — even if it's just making notes on an utterly random chapter. It won't be fun, but do this fairly intensively for two hours or so: when you step back you'll have some sense of perspective on the work to go, and an idea of where to go next.

Some of us are really visual beings: we love photos, design and aesthetics. People like this usually remember stuff by visualizing the page on which it was written. Visual thinkers usually respond really well to creating visual revision aids: colourful diagrams, post it notes, spider charts. Anything that appeals to their aesthetic sense.
	Some other people learn through sounds. People like this often have a really good ear for music; able to imitate sounds, pitch perfect maybe. They're the people who get the most from lectures, as they fix spoken words into their minds more easily. Reading out loud, or sounding out words clearly in the head would be a good way to remember info if you think in an auditory way. Try presenting a three minute talk off the cuff on a particular subject to a friend or just to the mirror; expressing stuff in your own words, out loud (even recording them as MP3s, to play back) will probably be a good way to fix things in.
Other people are really kinesthetic. They react to the world in a way which responds to touch, the way things feel, and they often learn via movement. People like this found practicals in science the most stimulating learning at school; and often harbour frustration with 'all talk, no action'. People like this can respond well to writing revision notes on small cards, and moving, regrouping and reorganising them to represent different information; in response to different questions. Alternatively, try and incorporate language learning into an exercise routine.

It's also important to remember that most people are a mixture of styles; mainly visual but with auditory skill, for example. Knowing your learning style will help maxmize your revision. It's a widely practiced technique!

Accelerated learning happens in 6 stages, sometimes abbrivieated to 'MASTER'.

Mindful State

You must ensure that your environment is appropriate for learning. That means tidy, well lit and aired, with everything you need to hand and organised. It also means that you need to be in the right state to learn. Think about your lifestyle whilst studying, make sure you have eaten and take frequent breaks, are not tired or hungover! See the Feel Good section of the website for more info.

Acquiring Information

Now you need to accquire the information you need to learn. Make sure you use your preferred learning style — see the "What is your learning style" section for more info.

Senses

Learning is faster when more of your brain is stimulated, so it helps to stimulate a range of senses when you accquire information. Think about using background music, using pictures and diagrams (or perhaps mind maps), scented pens, play-dough or small toys to demonstrate ideas or just to fiddle with whilst you read. Reward yourself with dried fruit when you complete tasks.

Trigger

Creating triggers helps you recall information more quickly. Good triggers include mnemonics, acronyms and periferals such as displaying your notes/diagrams on the wall when you have completed them. Remember to display them from left to right in a logical order. Condensing your notes can also help — see the "Active revision" section.

Exhibit

Exhibiting your knowledge is an important stage. That means demonstrating that you know if by using it, either by practicing an essay or past paper, by teaching it to a complete beginner or a coursemate - why not share revision topics?

Review

Never forget this stage! Repetition is proven to improve the likelihood of you retaining knowledge! Start your revision by summarising what you will learn, then learn it, then summarise what you have learnt for yourself! Also, make sure you review how you have learnt it.

1. Be prepared. Sort out all of the equipment you need (e.g. student card and pens) the night before, and double-check the time, location and what time you need to leave to get there, so that you don't have to worry about these on the day.
2. It makes us sound like your parents, but seriously, get a good night's sleep the night before. Revising til the early hours will not only make you tired for the next day (lowering your memory recall functions) but you probably won't take the new stuff in anyway. A proper sleep will make sure you're refreshed and ready to go.
3. Be sure to eat some breakfast even if you're not hungry, or even if you feel sick with worry, as you need food to make sure you've got the energy to concentrate and remember what you've revising. If you want some tips as to which foods are good, see our Feel Good page on healthy eating.
4. Try to avoid last minute cramming. It's so tempting to try and fit in five new topics on exam day, but it's like staying up late to revise the night before — it'll drain your energy, and you probably won't take it in anyway. Your brain needs more time than a few hours to properly process information and find where it fits with the rest of what you know.
5. On the same coin, if you've got an afternoon exam, don't exert yourself too much on the day. Just go over a few main points, instead of trying to learn more.
6. Arrive comfortably in time but not too early as the long wait could make you tense. Avoid exam conversation if you know it will worry you (both before & after the exam).
7. Once you're in the hall, RELAX! It's too late to be worth worrying now, so just take some deep breaths and try to enjoy the paper. You must have taken your course for a reason? Some tips:
   • Read the whole paper through twice carefully before starting. If you have a choice of questions, read every part of every question to make sure you pick the one you could do best on;
   • Plan your answers, making sure to stick within how long you have for each question (taking into account mark allocations, and leaving some time at the end for checking). Even if it takes a few minutes, for a longer essay-type answer, it is invaluable to make sure that you're going to be able to get all your points in in a structured way. If you have several essays to do, you might want to write all your plans at the start, so you have the rest of the time to just answer;
   • Answer the questions that you're given, as opposed to the questions that you wanted to come up (and take special care of words like "evaluate", "compare" etc.);
   • Remember that exams aren't for writing 'perfect' essays. Be realistic, just focus your attention on answering the question and getting the key points across, rather than being distracted by 'what if's.
8. There are always some things to avoid in exams. DON'T:
   • just start the first question before making sure you've read the directions of the paper;
   • answer any questions before looking over them all;
   • write without thinking (it's just wasting time);
   • waste time putting irrelevant material in;
   • spend too much time on one question and not leave time for the next one.
9. If you're starting to get stressed, or if things aren't going well:
   • If you feel panic setting in, take a minute to breathe and focus. Put your pen down, sit back, stretch your limbs and get yourself together before carrying on. Pushing through and trying to ignore it will probably just make it worse;
   • If you get stuck on a question, then don't get downbeat. Jot down any thoughts, but then try to forget it and move onto a question you're more confident about;
   • If you end up running out of time and can't finish a question, then write down a skeleton plan for what you would have written had you had the time, to show you still know the content.
10. After the exam, just try and forget about it and move on to the next one. Going over a blow-by-blow account may just stress you out more; there's nothing you can do about it once you're out the room! Reward yourself and do something fun straight afterwards, giving yourself at least a few hours before resuming revision. If an exam has gone particularly badly, try and put it into perspective: you may be able to not do so well in that exam as long as you've done well in other exams/previous years.