Revision
Revision is the British word for going back over what you've already learned so it sticks for an exam. Done right it's active: you test yourself and try to recall things from memory, not just reread your notes again and again.
Most people think revision means reading their notes over and over. That feels productive, but it mostly builds a false sense of knowing. You recognise the words on the page and assume you've got it. Then the exam asks you to produce the answer from a blank page, and it won't come.
Good revision flips this. You close the book and try to pull the answer out of your head first. That's the part that actually moves stuff into long-term memory. It feels harder, and that's the point. The struggle to remember is what makes it stick.
Spread it out, too. Five short sessions across a week beat one long cram the night before. Come back to the topics you keep getting wrong, not the ones you already know cold.
Mia has a biology test on Friday. Instead of rereading her notes, she covers them and writes down everything she remembers about photosynthesis, then checks what she missed. The bits she forgot, she revisits the next day. By Friday those gaps are gone.
- 1Cover your notes and try to write or say the answer from memory first.
- 2Only then check what you missed, and mark it.
- 3Turn weak spots into quiz questions or flashcards and test yourself.
- 4Spread revision over several short sessions, not one long cram.
- 5Keep coming back to the topics you keep getting wrong.