Setting Revision Objectives

Setting yourself both long and short term objectives is a vital part of the revision process. Doing so will allow you to guide your own learning. It will also enable you to assess your progress and keep on task. Whist it will take a few extra moments to devise a small number of goals, this additional effort will pay off in the long run. Bring structure and clarity to your revision by thinking ahead.

Take Tips From The Exam

If you can, try to get hold of a copy of the exam specifications or assessment objectives and use it to formulate your long term revision objectives. Knowing just what examiners are looking for will help you to create goals and objectives that are relevant to the precise exam you will be sitting. Write a list of all the exam requirements and cross off those that you feel you fulfil naturally.

Choose a few of the remaining requirements and concentrate on these. You might choose to work on displaying detailed knowledge and delivering a convincing argument, for example. In this manner, you will be able to focus on improving your personal skills whilst preparing specifically for the exam itself.

Short Term Goals For Individual Revision Sessions

Before you begin a revision session, set yourself three goals that are directly relevant to what you are working on. For example, you might give yourself the task of learning twenty technical terms, focusing on your spelling and gaining confidence with putting the words into essay-style sentences. Write down these objectives before you begin to revise and go back to them once your study session has come to a close. Think carefully about how far you feel you have achieved your goals. If you feel that you need to do some extra work on one or two, jot them down somewhere and make a note to incorporate them into a future revision session.

If it helps you, consider giving a title to each revision session you plan and complete. This title could be based on one or more of your goals. For example, you might call a session, ‘Learning the Names of the Bones in the Body’. Keep a list of all your past goals and objectives and all the titles of your completed study sessions. You can call on this in the future and look back over it in order to refresh your memory before the exam.

As well as setting yourself long and short term goals that are directly related to exam technique and the subject matter of your revision, take time to think about the bigger picture too. You might set yourself the goal of revising at least five days a week, revising for twenty hours in total within a week, concluding the revision of a certain subject before a given date, going up one grade in your favourite subject… The possibilities are endless.

The secret is to devise goals that motivate you and help you to work in an effective manner.