5 tips to help students revise for an exam

1. Offer learning material in original ways

The exam period is stressful for students. They are busy both going to school, and revising for an exam after the other. They might feel a bit overwhelmed by all the textbooks and material that they need to review in order to prepare.

Want to help them de-stress and learn at the same time? It might be nice to share with them some online quizzes, and initiate interactive games. Run quizzes based on previous exam papers, or on your own lessons. Assess what your students already know, and what they need to revise even better.

You can make a game where the students are divided into teams and ask each other questions from the curriculum. Afterwards they will remember the answers. Interaction, whether physical or digital, is a great way to engage students. 

2. Make students attempt previous year question papers

Students can attempt previous years question papers at school - in your presence - or at home, as homework. 

More often than not, a large part of the questions asked for a particular exam can be found in past question papers. This is because certain portions of the school curriculum are so important that they cannot be ignored. These questions, or slight alteration of them, will therefore most probably be part of this year’s exam too. 👉 They are perfect last-minute revision material.

Attempting past question papers will also help your students get used to working with the exam pattern.

3. Help students simplify their study plan

You have probably already helped your students create a study plan, or given them some tips on how to do so. Yet you might notice some of your students struggling with it, finding it hard to follow. Maybe it was too ambitious, or it doesn’t suit their way of studying, their preferences and personality traits.

For many years, the accepted rule has been that you need to study two hours for every one hour of class time. Yet, thanks to new technology that makes research and writing faster, it is not always necessary to follow this general rule.

You could look at individual study timetables with your students, and find ways to simplify them. Help your students customise them.

4. Share targeted learning techniques

 Sharing a couple of  targeted learning techniques with students is a great way to help them while revising for an exam. 

You probably already know a number of interesting learning techniques. We would like to share 2 of them that are applicable to revising for exams:

Both the SWOT Analysis and the 60-second post-it are ways of assessing information. With the SWOT analysis students learn to assess their strengths and weaknesses, in view of the exams. With the 60-second post-it, they can assess what they remember about a certain topic, restricted by a time limit.

5. Share specific lessons with your students

Maybe you have created lessons of your own this year, to complement textbook material. Sometimes this is essential for you in order to bring actuality in the classroom, or to highlight certain parts of the curriculum. Custom-made lessons and presentations are adaptable to your own personal teaching style. 

In view of the coming exams, you can decide to share your lessons with your students digitally, or by distributing printed material. They will recognise your teaching style, and previously stored information will be re-activated. Often it is easier for them to learn from what you chose to highlight in your lessons, than from textbook material. Both sources are essential for preparing for exams.