How to use revision breaks wisely

April 20, 2018

• Effective Revision

Come exam season, it’s easy to get so focused on revision that you may forget to take regular breaks. However, breaks are an important part of the revision process that shouldn’t be skipped. This is because revision uses up a huge amount of brain energy- if you don’t take any breaks, you’ll get tired much quicker, which will impact the quality of your revision.

When you try and store too many new facts at once, your brain can get confused and mix things up- short revision breaks enable your brain a chance to process everything! But simply moving away from your desk might not be enough of a distraction. Here are some ideas for how to use your revision break effectively.

How long?

Everyone revises differently, and for varying lengths of time, so there is no hard and fast rule about how long your break should be. A good rule of thumb is to keep your breaks proportional to how long you have worked for. For example, if you’ve been working for an hour, a 10 or 15 minute break should be enough to refresh your mind. If you prefer working for longer stretches, a 25-30 minute break might be better.

You can vary the length of your breaks throughout the day too- making a cup of tea is a much shorter break than watching a TV show, but both are effective ways to give your mind a break.

Before you start your break

• Make sure you’ve come to a good stopping point. You don’t want to lose your place and have to spend ages finding where you were when you start back up again! The end of a topic or a section is always a good place to stop.

• Clear all your books away and tidy your desk. This means that when you get back to work, everything will be easy to find and the clutter won’t add to your stress.

• Go over everything you’ve just learned. Test yourself- this will either make you feel good about how much you’ve managed to take in, or will give you a good idea of what you still need to focus on after your break. Repeat this process when you start revising again after your break- this is called ‘overlearning’ and helps us to retain greater amounts of information.

During your break

• Get moving. Go outside, take a walk, stretch, go for a run- any exercise that makes you feel good and gets your blood pumping. This will rejuvenate you, so that when you sit back down with your revision, you’ll be able to work much more effectively.
• Watch something. Sometimes, all you need is to switch your mind off and watch a short programme or YouTube video to relax. Be careful not to start watching anything too long or addictive though!
• Talk with friends or family. During revision period it’s easy to forget about your social life, but a revision break is the perfect time to check in with those closest to you for a quick chat, which will help to take your mind of revision and boost your mood.
• Get some brain food. Make a cup of tea or a snack such as a banana or some nuts, which will help to boost your energy levels and keep you going throughout the day.
• Do some chores. This might not seem fun, but tidying your room or helping out your parents while on your revision break is a way to be both productive and get yourself moving, as well as helping to distract you from your work.
• Sleep! The most important revision break of all is when you stop for the day. Have dinner, relax, and make sure to get a good night’s sleep. This will help you feel better when you start revising again the next day. Sleep is also important for memory consolidation. While you sleep, your brain ‘backs up’ what you’ve learned that day and turns it into long term memories.

References

http://www.cambridgeacademicperformance.co.uk/2015/04/02/how-to-use-revision-breaks-effectively/

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