Effective Revision/Exam Techniques

Things that work for me!

First I had to find a quiet place to study free from interrupted or distractions like phone, TV or kids. 

I drew up a study time-table and allocated 20-30 minutes slots for study with 10 minute breaks in between.  I also allocated time for relaxing, eating, sleeping, chores and family time.

I find the best technique when studying is to read over your notes and make sure you understand them.  Read aloud, it helps.  Then cover the notes and test yourself to see how much you remember to narrow down the points you need to go over again.  Reduce your notes and write them on flash cards.  These are great for glancing over just before the exam.

Mind maps work great for me.  I find using different colours and drawing pictures helps me remember important topics and lists.  I stick them on the wall and stare at them.

Try answering past papers to get a feel of the questions that might come up.   Time yourself and focus in on the marks awarded for each question.  This is a good guide as to how long you should spend on each question.  5 marks = 5 minutes writing.

I get very nervous just before an exam but I find if I take the first 10 minutes to read the whole paper it helps me relax.  Then I decide which questions I am going to do.  I always do the easiest questions first as it gives me a confidence boost and takes the least amount of time.  If I get writers block, I leave the question and come back to it later, you never know, the answer might jump into my head just in the nick of time.

Bring water and a watch into the exam.

Remember!  Revision and exam time is short, so make the most of it and put in the effort, it will pay off.

Happy Studying and      

   

Plagiarism

Before starting college I had never understood what plagiarism was.  My first week was an eye opener.  Almost every lecturer gave a class or at least mentioned plagiarism and referencing.  I knew then that it was serious. At ITB plagiarism is highly frowned upon and apart from losing marks on assignments, a student could be expelled for more serious cases.  Read on to find out what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

What is plagiarism?

To put it simply it is when you use someone else’s work, ideas or words and pass it off as your own.  Copying or borrowing anyone else’s work without giving them credit is plagiarism.  

Samples of plagiarism:

Downloading information, videos or pictures from Internet sites without referencing the site.

Copying information, ideas or quotations from a book, journal, newspaper or magazine article and not acknowledging the author.

Copying someone else’s paper or buying a paper on the internet and turning it in as your own work.

How to avoid plagiarism:

Use quotation marks every time you copy a sentence or paragraph directly from a book, journal, article etc. and reference the source according to the
Harvard Referencing style.

Paraphrasing:  If you put someone else’s work into your own words you must always reference the source.  Don’t try and take the easy route and re-arrange a few words, it must be re-written in your own words and referenced.

Never download information from the internet and pass it off as your own.  ITB and most other colleges use a system called Turn-it-in which allows them to check if the information is plagiarised.  It scans the document and compares it to everything on the world-wide-web - and you know how big that is!


Referencing:  I found this the most difficult part of writing assignments.  I could not get my head around having to put every full stop and comma in the right place.  Our lecturer gave us a very handy guide that made life a bit easier.  It covers everything that you might come up against.  Click here for a copy, print it off and keep it beside you when writing all your assignments.

Finally:

When writing assignments you have to put across the fact that you understand the topic but you can’t fall into the trap of passing off other peoples work as your own.  It is favoured and often required that you use other people’s ideas and theories in writing your assignment.  You can do this quite simply; reference, reference, reference.

Never plagiarise! It’s just not worth it!  

Time Management

During this first year at college I've come to realise that effective time management is key to success in personal and college life.   Being a mature student is hard.  Having to run a home, three children and college is very time consuming.  It was a struggle at first and a lot of adjustments were made by the whole family but it got easier when I learned to manage my time more effectively.  Here are a few tips that have worked for me.

Planning and Organising

First things first!  Buy a family organiser calendar.  I couldn't live without it now.  Take a little time to write in all the must-do events, appointments, kids lessons and sports etc. Even if the kids have practice at the same time every week - write it in every week.  This allows you to check the calendar and know what's coming up without having to remember everything.   Deadlines are important so write them on the calendar so the whole family knows they are coming up.

Make a List

Making lists is great for clearing your head.  I make short-term (daily) and long term (weekly or monthly) lists.  Prioritise your lists in order of importance.  Leave out the things that you DO NOT have to do.  Delegate jobs if possible or just learn how to say ‘no’.   It’s a little word and sometimes hard to say but explaining to people that you just don’t have the time will help.  We're not superheroes, we can't do everything.

Set Yourself Goals

Decide what you want in life.   Set short-term and long-term goals.  My first goal is to get through the first year and take it from there.  Set specific and realistic goals.  I've realised that there is no point setting unachievable goals; I want to be able to reach for these goals not collapse in the effort.

Flexibility

I had to become flexible.  Time-tables and good intentions go out the window when it comes to emergencies and family.  Try to factor in time for surprise events - they're a regular occurrence in our house.  When your daughter comes to you at 9:00pm and says she needs home made buns for the cake sale in school the next day - you have to be flexible, drop everything and make the buns.  If you factor in emergency time then it's a bonus when they don't happen.

Treat Yourself

Tell yourself you are going to “watch your favourite program” or “eat that cake” after you’ve finished certain tasks and stick to it.  Factor in time to treat the kids too, they will be much more tolerant of you studying if they get regular time with you.  Balancing work and play within your life is important so don’t feel guilty when you’re out with your friends enjoying yourself – it’s well-deserved, planned, play time.

Want more tips and free planner templates then click here

SQ3R Reading Strategy

SQ3R was introduced to me early in my first year at ITB and I have come to realise the enormous benefits of this technique.  In the past I spent hours reading books and highlighting almost everything on the page.  Now I have learned how to maximises my time and energy.  If you want to acquire this skill, then read on!

SQ3R is a reading technique using five steps:

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

Step 1. Survey/Skim.  Glance through the chapter; look for headings, sub-headings or anything else that jumps out at you.  A temptation might come over you to read the entire chapter but resist as it only uses up your valuable time.

Step 2. Question.  While skimming, ask yourself “what is this chapter about?" and “what do I want to learn from this chapter”.  Make sure the contents are relevant to what you want to learn.

Step 3. Read.  If after completing step one and two you are happy that the chapter holds information relevant to you then read the chapter.

Step 4. Recite/Recall.  While reading the chapter take notes; it is important to take notes in your own words not the authors as it will be easier to remember and understand.  Use a dictionary to look up words you don't understand.

Step 5. Review.  When you have finished taking notes you should read through them and test yourself by re-writing the key points.

It might sound too simple but believe me, it works.  This method will dramatically cut down your study time and assignment writing time. Give it a try!    

Effective Presentation

This is exactly how I felt when I was told I had to give a power point presentation to my class!

I sweated over it for weeks.  The good thing was we could present any subject we wanted so I decided to do it on something I knew quite well.  I completed two weeks work experience at Youthreach and knew quite a lot about the organisation.  That was half the battle won!

I took our lecturer’s advice and kept the information short and to the point.  I didn’t use too many words just bullet points.  I added pictures of the members of the centre doing activities of interest and hoped I could keep the audience interested.  The main advice we were given when compiling a presentation was to have three main sections:

Introduce the subject (tell them what you’re going to tell them)

Main body – explain the subject (tell them)

Conclusion (tell them what you told them)

The presentation was to take five minutes (no more, no less) so practicing was inescapable.  I gave the presentation to my family a few time and they were sick of me by the end.  But, it was worth it.  The more I practiced the more confident I felt.

I was very nervous on the ‘big’ day.  When I went up to the top of the room to start, my mouth immediately went dry; luckily I brought water with me.  I stuttered at the start but soon got into the swing of things.  I was glad I had practiced because I was able to talk to the audience without looking at the screen and I knew what was coming next.  My timing was spot on.

I was glad it was over but I feel now that I would be more confident if I had to do it again, it was a great learning experience.

Here's a few power point tips to help you write your presentation