7 Revision Tips To Help You Smash Your A Levels

1. Download the Specification

Every single A level subject has a specification which breaks down everything you need to know, including how the exams are split and the weighting for each paper. This is an invaluable document and easily available yet many students have no idea it even exists.

The 4 major UK exam boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC) all have their subject specifications openly available for you to download. Simply go to their website, find your chosen subject and download its specification.

This will help you understand everything you need to know, and it’ll be a nice roadmap for every exam paper you sit.

2. Make a List

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Create a list or overview of everything you need to study and tick it off as you learn it. As well as creating a revision structure, this will also motivate you as as you’ll see the progress you're making.

The key is to have a system that works for you. A system that lets you see where the boundaries to your revision are but also visually shows you the progress you’re making. Confidence breeds confidence and seeing yourself work your way through will help keep you motivated.

3. Revise in the Mornings, Not in the Evenings

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Some people leave revision until the end of the day after school. But you're likely to be tired then, which makes understanding and remembering the information difficult.

Revising in the mornings when you're refreshed allows the neurotransmitters in your brain to regain their sensitivity and consume information easier.

4. Get Enough Rest and Sleep

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Insufficient sleep can affect your mental performance, so getting a good nights rest without disturbances is incredibly important. Your phone's light can actually disrupt this too while you sleep so be sure to keep it out of reach and sight!

5. The Brain has Unlimited Capacity and Duration, So Use it

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The brain actually doesn't have a limit in terms of how much it can remember or for how long. You can in theory remember something indefinitely, provided it’s rehearsed sufficiently enough for it to be processed deeply.

A good method is to describe it out loud as well as explaining the meaning behind what you're learning. This forces your brain to process the information on a multiple levels into your semantic memory which is considered to be longer lasting. Provided you then rehearse it sufficiently it should be easier to recall.

6. Practice Past Exam Papers

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Past exam papers are readily available on the exam board websites along with the mark schemes. These are a great indicator of what can come up but also show how the questions will be asked.

Download the last 4-5 exam papers and mark schemes and go over them using the mark scheme to correct your mistakes. Write the correct answers anytime you get something wrong and use the method outlined in no.4 above to cement the correct answer in your memory. Then do the papers again and again until you start to improve.

In the exam itself it will follow a similar style of questioning which you should become accustomed to once you are scoring well. Practicing like this will help you answer the questions in the way the exam wants you to answer them and you should begin to see improvement.

Take a 15 Minute Break Every Hour

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Take a break every hour.

Concentrating for too long can be mentally exhausting so it’s important you take a break. If you don't you’ll soon find it becomes harder and harder to learn. Taking a break helps your mind relax so earn that break every hour and spend it doing something fun just to break things up.

Saj Devshi helps students master their A levels on Loopa psychology. Catch him on there or twitter on @Sajdevshi.