How to focus your A-Level revision At this point in year 13

You may have started revising for your A-Levels. In order to study a healthcare degree at university, it is useful to achieve as high grades as possible. Here are some things to consider when planning and preparing your revision for January onwards.

Reflect on mock exams If you have completed mock exams in November, these papers will be imperative to directing your revision. Ensure you review these thoroughly, so you are able to see where the gaps in your academic knowledge are, as well as where your exam technique is lacking. Some students do not sit mock exams until January. If this applies to you, be sure to review your papers after your mocks.

Colour code topics It can be helpful to source a subject checklist (these can be found online) and go through all of your topics and colour code them red, amber or green, according to your confidence level. Some advice my school gave us, was to focus on amber topics (topics you are ok with, but not 100% confident with) during independent revision. You may struggle to understand red topics on your own, so save these for when you are revising at school, and are able to ask for a teacher’s help with.

Create short term revision timetables. Something that helped me focus my revision for my November mocks, was to create a month-long revision timetable, using Google Calendar. I wrote what tasks I wanted to be completed, and colour-coded them according to my subjects. The benefit of using a digital calendar, is that tasks can be moved around if necessary, so your timetable will not look messy and untidy. This was previously something I struggled with, when using paper timetables.