The desk set-up. Spotify and comfy headphones are a must.

Don't have a clue.

Hello! I have been very bad at keeping this blog updated in the last few months. I've been desperately trying to keep up with my reading (which has mega stepped up this term) and nursing a burgeoning addiction to Dragon Age games. My computer physically can't run Inquisition but am I looking at sale prices?? Of course. Also, I rediscovered Sims 4 this week. WHAT am I doing.

So my exams in January went fine (which isn't what I wanted, but technically I'm doing great) and I'm sticking to a similar routine this time around. Which is - writing up all my lectures and seminars and making note packs for all my texts. This time I'm hoping to take that one step further and learn some quotes. Will this work?? Will I get bored and stop revising some time this week?? Because it's me, yes probably. Ugh.

I hate revising. I hate exams and spending months going over the same information again and again so that you can spend 3 (YES, THREE WHOLE) hours in the same room at an uncomfortable desk fighting nausea and trying to remember something that you had memorised to a tee last week. Lucky for me, my coursework makes up only 1/3 of my overall mark for my modules.

(This term my coursework has picked right up!! Yay!! I had 58, 60 and 68 last term and so far I've got 63 and 65 this term. Phew)

But as a seasoned exam-taker (ten GCSEs, 4 AS's and 3 A-Levels in my pocket) I thought I'd share what has somewhat helped me survive the brutal showdowns that my university exams, at least, have been.

Choosing the right music to revise to

This may not work for everyone as I know some people like silence while working. I myself dabble in a quiet working minute. I think the trick is listening to old music (as opposed to brand new music). Music you know and love is both comforting and functional as background noise. You don't need to really engage yourself with the music if you know it well enough so you can properly concentrate on what you're looking at. It also works as background noise that drowns out any other distractions like people talking or car alarms or drilling or whatever. Plus it makes revising a little less of a drag.

Materials

This is truly up to you but it's not rocket science to know that you need pens, pens and more pens. Paper, paper, paper. Or infinite Microsoft Word documents. Highlighters, sticky notes. Those arrow-shaped fluorescent things that I own myself but can't name.

Then you make notes. My method is to write up your lectures and seminars (making sure to catch up on anything missed, even if it is just taking notes from a powerpoint if you can't get a recording of the lecture or someone else's notes) and then condense these notes and your annotations on the texts (which you will be making if you're an English student. I got over my fear of annotating in pen this year - it's quite liberating) as well as secondary literature into big sets of notes.

The notes work in themes or topics. This is the easiest way of doing this that I've found. Look at your lecture notes and find themes or topics that were significant for those texts. Use these for headings and subheadings in your notes. This is much easier to do on a computer as you can copy notes over in any order you want. Include quotes and page/line numbers. Then make flashcards or whatever to try and remember some of it.

Small comforts - hand cream, lip balm and my dad's Nespresso machine.

Know your texts

This means rereading. I'm going to sit down and do this soon (there are a few texts I actually need to finish off from this term :S). If you know your texts well you'll be able to think more quickly in the exam about what texts to use and how to use them. Know the plot, the themes, the characters, the form, the imagery. Once you have this down everything gets a lot easier.

Have your own ideas

This means making sure your own notes and annotations are included in your revision. Lectures and seminars are intended as springboards and originality will help you in the exam. Hopefully, as you reread your texts more ideas will pop out at you. Make a note of them and add them to your note packs. Your own thoughts about the texts are always supported by what you're reading.

Past papers

You can time yourself and answer the questions properly but I had a lecturer who told us not to bother. I think it's actually more beneficial to look at the questions and see if you can allocate texts and themes, and then start penning a plan. If you can make a fairly elaborate plan with examples and structure then your revision is going well. If not, back to the notes! Use past papers to measure the success of your revision.

I decided not to include the mountain of poetry anthologies and novels in my photos.

Don't burn yourself out

I have learnt that crafting revision timetables is absolutely pointless. Setting yourself very specific and many targets to complete each day may work if you are disciplined. But if you, like me, struggle with revision and sustaining it this is about the worst thing you can do. LITTLE AND OFTEN. Obviously there needs to be some substantial work done on as many days as possible, but don't give yourself loads to do, exhaust yourself on the first day and then give up on revising altogether. Set yourself vague targets, like just a text to look at on a specific day. No timeframes. Just, for example, Paradise Lost on Tuesday. Make a list of texts you want to revise (not all of them!!) and tick them off as you go. Don't put unnecessary pressure on yourself. Get your shit done, but give yourself a break too. You can't be as thorough as you need to be if you're too bored and tired of working to care about it.

That's pretty much it. I'll let you all know how everything works out in May!

Lots of love,
Catherine