[jgaoxx06]

Hey, does anyone know of any really good ways to revise for Chemistry exams? I've been revising lately, but nothing seems to be going in. I'm trying a lot of different ways, including:

- drawing spider diagrams of equations and posting them on my walls
- reading notes into a tape recorder and playing them at night
- writing notes out neatly onto sheets of paper
- reading revision guides

I can't really tell if my revision is working because I've done all my past papers before, so if I do it again, I still remember the answers. Can anyone help?

[Dan]

writing notes out neatly onto sheets of paper

Do this over and over again. That technique has served me well. Try to do it without looking at you original notes, and see how much you can recall. If there's something that isn't sticking. write it out a few times, wait an hour or so and repeat. It will eventually stick. The most important thing is that you understand it - not that you can regurgitate it on command. Also, once you get into the exam room, you will probably discover that you know alot more than you thought you did, so don't get too stressed.

[jennielynn_1980]

Look for books that have practice questions in them.  You could try the city library and see if they have Coles Notes or similar or if there are text books different from yours that have practice questions in them.

[Will]

See http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=4578.0 and fill out the questionnaire there. It'll tell you the best mothods of learning for you (hopefully).

[Alberto_Kravina]

See also http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=8573.msg39563

[JZ_1]

Sometimes it feels like nothing is going in, but in fact it is. What I do is skim over books and older tests or exams that I have taken. My method might not be good (since i don't quite remember getting an A as a final grade in any of my Chemistry classes). But for exams, depending on how many times you get to take it, try a variety of things and find which one suits you more.

By the way, I think you meant Good ways to REVIEW, not revise. 

[jennielynn_1980]

By the way, I think you meant Good ways to REVIEW, not revise. 

In Britain they say "revise" and "revision."  Just a different way to say review

[funboy]

gotta love colloquialisms

[skyglow1]

Here in new zealand we use "revise" and "revision" alot too. Never really heard of "review" being used that way

For me, the way to revise is writing out notes and condesnging them, then doing a TON of past paper questions for practise and experience, and looking through the mark schemes to see what answers they are looking for.

[JZ_1]

Wow, in addition to learning more about chemistry, i have learned more about language and places, thanks.

When I see the word "revise", I generally think of a pice of paper full of mistakes and needs revision or changing. Wow, I learned a lot.

[aaron_tina]

Maybe you can do more exercise about it!

[cuongt]

Maybe you can do more exercise about it!

ROFL nice replyahahaahahah

[zwp920]

Here in china ,general speaking,the method I used is ask myself the question as possible as i can make,and note it.also setup same question what i think is likely to be in the exam.

[P]

writing notes out neatly onto sheets of paper

Do this over and over again. That technique has served me well. Try to do it without looking at you original notes, and see how much you can recall. If there's something that isn't sticking. write it out a few times, wait an hour or so and repeat. It will eventually stick. The most important thing is that you understand it - not that you can regurgitate it on command. Also, once you get into the exam room, you will probably discover that you know alot more than you thought you did, so don't get too stressed.

I agree, but I wouldn't say they have to be neat as you arn't going to need the duplicates - go for speed and write them from memory several times quite quickly  -  take a break and then do it again.


My favorite revision sessions were spent in a field on a sunny day doing past exam papers and re writing notes from memory over a can of beer.         I figure that if I'm not enjoying the process, then I will get board and fall asleep - or just not take anything in  -  thus, the trying to make it interesting with the field, sun and beer!!
 

[Bronwen Dekker]

As a variation on the 'writing notes on a piece of paper' theme, I found it useful to put reactions into one set of categories; and then the next time I wrote them out to put them into different categories.

One type of category list might be: redox, substitution, decomposition...
Another might be: Reactions of alkenes, aldehydes...