With term one coming to a close, many of us are faced with exams to revise for. When it comes to geography and history, most of these exams are essay-style and often worth a large proportion of the module mark. These can be really daunting to revise for because of how much reading you have to prepare and how much it feels you have to remember. This guide can help break down all of the revision and make you feel more confident about your exam prospects!
Types of Exams
- Open Book
Open book exams means that you can have all of your resources in front of you while taking an exam. This means that any resource from the module, reading you’ve prepared, or anything you can look up in the case of an online exam is fair game. With open book exams, the expectation is that you will have correct and specifically cited papers, so make sure not to miss out on references. These types of exams are the ones that I’ve taken for my human and physical geography exams and it is much less stressful to know that I could Google whatever I needed (and I definitely made use of that while sitting my exams)!
- Closed Book
Closed book exams means relying on your memory to answer any essay questions. In this case, you can do your best to remember specific sources to cite, but sometimes it is best to stick to broader concepts and examples with a couple of case studies sprinkled in. It’s impossible to memorize everything, so it’s best to stick to what you know well already.
- Timed
Timed exams give you a set amount of time to answer the essay questions. This is often a couple of hours and will force you to produce an essay within the allotted time. Since this time is much shorter than what is allotted for other coursework, no one is expecting you to compose an essay of incredibly high standards. In my experience of 2 hour timed exams, most essays range from 700-1500 words with around 5-15 sources. Personally, I have taken online exams and am a particularly slow typer, so my essays end up being around 800 words with 10 sources which has been perfectly acceptable to earn me a first. These exams are a stressful few hours, but don’t worry about being picture perfect!
- 24 Hour
24 hour exams, as the name implies, are timed exams that last 24 hours. The expectation is higher than a timed exam, but still not the same standard as coursework. For this type of exam, try to stick to the slightly less than typical word length and citations amount for your course/module. These exams give you more time, but often make for an incredibly stressful day so it is important to stay calm and motivated!
Building a Revision Guide
I always begin my revision by reviewing my lectures and using them as a guide for the rest of my revision. You can do this by creating an itemized version of your lecture or your lecture notes. This will boil everything down to its key components and give you a framework to build off of. After this, review any required reading for the module or any readings cited in the lectures and begin to add paraphrased points onto your guide as they fit into each lecture’s topic. Always paraphrase rather than copying in quotations to avoid rephrasing any points while you’re writing and always add the citations to your guide so you’re not frantically searching for them. Once you’ve finished reviewing, start to flesh out the guide with new sources. To earn a first, you want to show that you’ve broadened your scope of research and extended your reading. An easy way to find new relevant sources is to read the papers cited in your required reading. Also make sure not to overlook reading you’ve done for other modules or for your essays because these become easy and familiar sources to pull from. While building the guide, highlight similarities between the topics and readings. This will help synthesize your argument when the exam questions are presented to you.
Tips for Revision
- Stick to a routine!
Revising consistently means having a routine that works for you! I recommend picking a place you know you can be productive in and picking dedicated hours that you can work in.
- Revise with your coursemates!
Especially for writing heavy exams, it can be very beneficial to share resources (with no plagiarism, of course) between your coursemates to help fill out your revision guide.
- Choose if you want to print or save your sources digitally!
The majority of people that I know save all of their sources digitally, but if you are a more tactile learner make sure to print out your potential sources way in advance.
- Prep as if you can write an essay for any topic!
Unfortunately for timed exams, you need to revise for whatever the examiners will throw at you. This means essentially doing all of the reading for over 10 different potential essays. This can be lessened for 24 hour exams, but is still the backbone of all of your revision.
- Make sure you are eating properly!
Keeping up your brainpower means eating the proper amount of sustenance! During 24 hour exams, you may want to prepare meals in advance to eat throughout the day. I also recommend celebrating finishing an exam by getting a nice meal!
- Prioritize your health!
Unfortunately, cramming can create even more stress and manifest poorly in your health. When I was cramming for exams, I gave myself a horrible migraine the night before the exam and was almost scared that I wouldn’t be able to take it. This ended up with me needing to skip out on reviewing two of my lecture topics, but it was worth it to keep me from being sick all night. You should prioritize your health in these scenarios!
