It’s half term here in the UK and lots of you out there will be spending time doing extra studying. Here are my ten top tips for effective studying! A few of these tips are general and can be applied to studying for any subjects, however some are more specific to maths.
#1 Clear Your Workspace
I am someone who gets my desk messy pretty quickly, but before I sit down to do any work, I always spend a few minutes tidying up. I find a clear space means that I am less likely to be distracted by anything around me. I also believe that this habit helps to build a studying routine that tells your brain that it is time to focus on taking in information.
#2 Turn Off Notifications
On average, people spend over three hours on their phone every single day. While you’re studying, you could really do without that distraction. If you don’t need your phone to look things up whilst you are revising, then turn it off. At the very least, make sure you turn off your notifications. Your friends, social media and the news don’t need your attention at all times! You will be much more focused and productive if you spend your time studying, focused on the subject.
#3 Use the Specification
Your exam specification outlines everything which is expected of you to succeed at the qualification. I believe using the maths GCSE and A-level specifications when revising played a big part in me getting the top grades. I recommend that you get a copy of the specification so you can highlight all of the important parts that you want to cover – these are highlighters I like.
When you’ve read the whole document and highlighted key aspects, you can make your own list of topics you need to cover for the exam. You can then go through this and tick topics off as you understand them, before starting to practice exam questions.
#4 Revise Little & Often
There are so many topics to cover and understand for maths exams, so it’s definitely best to go through things in bitesized chunks. Make sure you take short breaks of at least five minutes an hour as your brain needs a rest to ensure you can continue to understand and retain information.
#5 Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help!
If you’ve spent some time on a topic or question but are still really stuck, don’t be afraid to ask for help! Your teachers or classmates will definitely be happy to help you out if they can and there are also loads of great YouTube channels out there as well! Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already. Otherwise, it can be beneficial to book a tutoring session or reach out to a social media page/group.
#6 Start with Harder Topics
It’s very tempting to always revise the topics you like and those that you aren’t particularly struggling with. Unfortunately, if you take this approach, you’re likely to miss out on the harder topics which are usually worth a fair amount of marks in an exam. If you start with a harder topic when sitting down to study, the topics you move onto after that will hopefully seem more straight forward. You also won’t spend your study time dreading what is coming up next – by doing this, you are much less likely to procrastinate!
#7 Do Past Exam Paper Questions
I like to start with exam questions by topic, you can find these on sites like Maths Made Easy and Maths Genie. Then, if you don’t understand something, make sure you go through worked solutions or reach out to someone for help. When your exams are closer, I then suggest going through full past papers. I wouldn’t start with the most recent papers as these are good to do when you’ve gone through a few already. If you manage to go through all your own exam board questions, it’s worth looking at other exam board past papers as well!
#8 Avoid Caffeine
Cups of coffee, tea and energy drinks can seem like a really great idea to fuel your energy when studying, but be careful! Caffeine can fuel anxiety which really isn’t helpful when you are trying to learn and understand mathematical concepts.
#9 No Cramming!
Cramming before an exam is really stressful. It also increases your chances of panicking and blanking out in an exam. Remember what I said earlier on about studying little and often – if you do this, then you will feel much more relaxed about taking an exam. There is nothing worst that trying to learn lots of different things close to the time of an exam!
#10 Use Additional Online Resources
There are so many great additional maths resources on social media platforms which full of great content. Following and engaging with maths pages can compliment traditional ‘sit-down’ studying and make learning more enjoyable. I post maths videos, questions and quotes every day on my Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Another couple of my favourite pages at the moment are MathsUK and MathsChelsea.
Thanks for reading! Let me know any other tips you have in the comments.