My Revision Strategies
Hello everyone,
I would say that I am fortunate in that I love my degree subject and don’t find learning (most!) of the content a dull and laborious task. Having said this, a Life Sciences degree does have a hefty amount of content to learn, and in modules like Molecular Cell Biology it is necessary to learn lots of small details (for aspiring Life Scientists, this includes the roles of various complexes involved in regulating the cell cycle, or cytoskeleton features for example). So, how am I making my way through the material and remembering it?
1) I have the lecture presentation open on my laptop and have my annotated lecture notes in front of me. Once I feel like I have understood and remembered a process, I type it up on a word document and compare it to the original. I find this extremely helpful because I can easily spot an error and also see if I actually understand what the particular part is about. I also type much quicker than I write, and it is much easier to read than my handwriting!
2) Drawing annotated diagrams. Not only does this help me to understand more fully how a process works, it also prepares me for the exams in which diagrams may be required as part of a question.
3) Come up with mneumonics. This is useful for Life Sciences because there can be many aspects of pathways involving subunits/enzymes in different orders, and knowing a mneumonic will help you remember this, and make you feel reassured that you’ll be able to answer a question on it easily.
4) Have a terminology page. Throughout the year I would add new terminology to a document dedicated to each module, and I often go back to this to help in my understanding.
5) Past papers. I did a lot of past papers when preparing for A Levels and found this very useful. This is a good way to practice exam technique and identify areas of weakness. In addition, you may even surprise yourself and realise you know something more than you thought!
6) Spider diagrams for planned essay questions. Again, this can show you if you know a particular topic well enough and therefore be able to write a good answer on it. I always colour code the page too.
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I hope this was useful, and good luck for anyone with exams! Until next time!
