Description: Tutor Kelly shares her experience of studying for exams while living with a chronic health condition. In this article, she gives some useful revision tips to anyone going through the same situation.
How you revise for exams can have a significant impact on your results, and trying to study with a chronic illness is no mean feat. I’ve been through GCSE’s, A-Levels, and a Degree with a chronic illness, and learned a lot from those experiences. So, I’ve collected some useful revision tips that have worked best for me and my students, and I hope it helps you with your exam preparation too!
Revision Tips for Students:
Focus on the most important things. If you’ve got limited time/concentration/energy, then you need to make your revision count. This means identifying the most important topics for the exam. What comes up most frequently in past papers? Are there any big topics you don’t get? Focus on the big picture to start with, and don’t get too caught up in little mistakes.
Work in short bursts. It can be difficult to pace yourself at school while working to a fixed timetable, but it’s crucial during revision periods. Break your work down into smaller chunks. Make sure you don’t work for more than a couple of hours without a serious break. You know your body best, so make sure to stop before you exhaust yourself. It’s better to finish with a little energy than to overdo it and not be able to study again for several days. You can always pick your revision up again later
Use flashcards and quiz and recall. One of the most effective ways to revise for maths and science courses is with a quiz and recall. Most students revise by re-reading their notes again and again. They might put a few key formulae on flashcards. But, until you can recall something entirely from memory without your notes as a prompt, you don’t know it well enough to remember in an exam. I recommend students create flashcards for all important equations and concepts they will need to remember.
Past papers are your friends. Use them all, as many as you can find. Take past paper questions and put them on flashcards. You don’t have to answer them fully every time you see them (if you did this, you would just end up memorizing the answer, not the reasons why you reach the answer), but explain aloud the steps you would take to answer this sort of question. This is especially important for past paper questions you got wrong the first time you answered them. Most students will go through the answer once and assume they’ll remember it, but then trip up on similar questions in the exam. If you push yourself to quiz and recall it, you’ll never forget it.
Space your revision out so you’re not cramming. Don’t leave everything to the last minute. If your health is unpredictable, you never know if you’ll find yourself ill the day before the exam, panicking that you haven’t memorized your equations yet. Start early and you’ll be much less stressed.
Exam Tips:
If your health is affected by stress or overworking, then expect your health to get worse during exam season. Even if you’re 100% prepared, that won’t change the fact the exams are nerve-wracking and create a stressful environment. Take this into consideration, and don’t plan to do too much work on any one day.
Check for adaptions that can make your exams more accessible. There are a lot of processes in place to adapt exam conditions for disabled or chronically ill students. You could ask for a separate room that’s less distracting, more comfortable chairs, extra time, breaks during your exam, and a place to lie down, or even a computer to write with. There is no shame in getting help and adaptions; it’s just about giving you as good a chance as anyone else on the exam.
If you have multiple exams on one day, see if they can be moved. Find out whether you can have an exam pushed back an hour or two. You can take the extra time between exams to rest and recover.
Don’t plan any revision for the day of the exam. The most important thing is to have the energy for the exam itself. Even if it’s an afternoon exam, don’t plan more than a half-hour review for the morning of, or tire yourself out doing other things.
If you can get the adaptions you need, make the best of your revision time, and not overwork yourself, you will do great in your exams. No one is perfect, or will stick to these all the time, but if you keep them in mind they can help you get back on track whenever things get a bit overwhelming. I hope you’ve found these revision tips helpful, and wish you’re the best of luck with your studies!
Are you looking for a tutor who understands studying with a chronic illness? If you would like to work with Kelly, contact us today.