I’ve recently joined the #StudentBloggerSelection and this week’s
theme is ‘showcasing your skills’. Since exams aren’t that far away anymore (my
first one begins in 7 weeks time *gasp*), I thought that I’d share some of the
ways I organise my academic work which will hopefully be of some use,
particularly during the next few difficult weeks.
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Number 1: Organisation is extremely important.
Yes yes, you’ve probably heard of this already, but honestly,
an organised folder makes revision and life heck of a lot easier. Revision is definitely
a time where you don’t want to be going through useless pieces of paper, or
notes that aren’t in the correct order etc, so by organising everything in
accord beforehand really does you favours in the long run. I personally abhor disorganisation
because I know for a fact that my revision won’t be as efficient as it could be,
and really, I just think that it adds on unnecessary stress that you obviously don’t
want!
Number 2: One folder per module
This is something I highly recommend. I started doing this
last year where I had one ringbinder per module, but as the notes and notes
started to pile up, the folders got pretty full! That led to some of my essays
to go missing (not the greatest thing in the world) and some of the sheets starting
to rip out. So this year, I decided to invest in leaver arch files and it
suited me great! Everything is neatly put into place according to topic, so no
complaints!
Number 3: Putting your notes into place
The first thing that should really go into your folder is
the exam specification. To put it simply, this is your friend over the next few
months. Exams won’t contain any questions that haven’t been in the
specification, so really, it does save you time from learning irrelevant
information. After that comes my hand written notes from the textbook, then
notes from the revision guide. I do both because the textbook seems a lot more
detailed than the latter but it does contain so information of no use
sometimes!
After that comes the handouts my teacher gives out. These again are directly from the textbook so I just highlight the most important pieces of information. Then comes the answers to questions in the textbook.
Number 4: Separate folders for revision?
I never really did this, until now. My folders always
contained past papers, practice essays and the lot; but now since my folders
have way too much irrelevant pieces of paper, I decided to invest in extra
folders purely for revision.
Some will contain past papers only, and others will contain
revision material and timed essay practice.
Number 5: Make a checklist
Make a checklist for all your subjects then tick off all the
topics you’ve written notes on. This way you’ll keep on track to see how much you’ve
got left to cover.
Number 6: Make to-do lists.
Again this is important. You will be on track with your
revision and see what you have left. Some diary planners my already have this
(I have a Filofax which contains these to do lists), but making your own won’t
hurt.
These are all of the ways I organise my work, but it does
change from time to time. The more you discover the ways to organise things the
better!