Reading your notes or other materials is one strategy for revision but it can also be quite a passive activity. Active reading techniques help you engage with the material which aids processing and retention of the information.

• A good first step is to determine whether the material is actually worth reading as part of your revision. You will be under pressure to get through as much revision as you can and it's important to stay focused. Use the headings in an article or chapter to assess whether it's on topic and useful to you. You can also take a glance at the contents page of a book or do a keyword search in an online article to look for relevant content.
• Think about where you can draw connections between this reading and other materials you have read. Make notes in the margins to highlight these connections and pull out any themes.
• Try and highlight any evidence presented to back up claims made in the material. Consider what you think of this evidence and how it is related to other things you might have read.
• Test your understanding of what you are reading as you study. Try reading for 20 minutes and then putting the material to one side and noting down the key points without referring back. This will also help you to determine where you need to spend more time reading.

It can sometimes help to translate your notes into a different format. Not only does this make them more visually appealing but the act of transferring your notes can help them to stick in your memory.

• One of the most simple visual techniques is to keep your notes visible. Write a short list of key points on the topic you are revising and put them somewhere you will keep seeing them - the side of your laptop monitor, the bathroom mirror or above the kettle.  
• Create a mind map to show connections between ideas and concepts. Sometimes called spider diagrams, these maps start with a main topic in the centre and then branch out into headings and sub-headings. They can be particularly useful if your topic is complex with lots of interconnecting areas and you need to get an overview. You can draw these diagrams yourself on paper or use one of the many apps available to help you create one.
• Use sticky notes to create a moveable outline of your topic. Use one note per sub-topic and attach them to a surface like a wall or table to create a map. Unlike a mind map you can easily reposition these notes as needed.
• If you're feeling artistic you can use sketch notes. These visual notes combine words and images to create visually appealing notes. As well as looking good, this process helps you to think about the information in a new way and remember key concepts.

Although a deep understanding of the material is crucial to exam success, sometimes you just need to remember facts or theories. Re-reading your notes or rewatching recorded lectures can help but why not try some of the techniques below?

• Use mnemonics to help you remember strings of information. These are memory aids with a phrase where the first letter of each word represents the word you want to remember - for example the phrase Naughty Elephants Squirt Water can help you to remember the order of points on a compass. You can use existing mnemonics or make up your own, whatever helps to jog your memory.
• Tell yourself a story. Revision stories help you to think about information in another way and it's often easier to remember a narrative than a string of facts. Imagine that you want to remember a set of theories and how they interact with each other and what might happen. Think of a story where each theory is represented by students in a class or passengers on a train. Thinking about information in this way will help your recall in an exam situation. 
• Have you ever found that you seem to know the lyrics to songs without actively trying to remember them? We subconsciously absorb information and you can use the same technique in your revision. Try recording yourself reading your notes and listen to them like a podcast. Repetitive listening whilst doing every day tasks can help you to remember the information.

Looking at past papers in your subject helps you to familiarise yourself with the format of the exam and gives you a chance to complete model answers as a revision tool.

• Use past papers to test your knowledge at the end of a revision session. You don't have to write a complete answer, just note down the points you would cover to test your recall. You can find a selection of links to past papers in physical sciences on this guide. 
• Try completing the past paper in a timed scenario. This will allow you get used to exam conditions and help you to plan your time ahead of the big day.
• Go through your answers afterwards and give yourself a mark. Try to be honest in your assessment. If you can get hold of the grading system used in the actual exam this will be a useful guide to demonstrate where you need to improve.
• Practice question types that you struggle with. This will give you a chance to get used to the format and identify any gaps in your knowledge you need to address. For example, if you struggle with essay questions then past papers give you the change to develop your strategy.
• Although very occasionally exams contain questions that have been asked before, memorising answers is not the aim of this revision technique. The point is to use them to test your knowledge and become familiar with the language used. If you try to commit answers to memory you run the risk of answering the question you think is being asked rather than the one that is actually on your paper.

Revision can be a lonely activity but it doesn't have to be. There are lots of ways you can get together with friends to do effective revision and offer each other some moral support.

• Forming a study group can help you to stay on track with your revision. You can share revision tips and keep each other motivated but it can also be a really useful way to gain a deeper understanding of a topic. Everyone will bring different interpretations and knowledge to their studies and learning about these can help you to get a new perspective on topics.
• Do a quick fire quiz on core topics, taking turns to ask each other questions. You can use ready prepared flashcards for this or just ask questions at random. This is especially useful to test your recall of key facts and figures that you might need to use in an exam. It's important to vary the order of the questions you ask or you run the risk of just learning the order rather than the actual answer!
• Try teaching your topic to a friend or a group. Explaining the concepts to them will help test your understanding and how you can communicate beyond listing facts. You might find this method especially useful if you struggle to articulate a response in writing as it offers a different way to revise. If you find long explanations challenging try the 'Just a Minute' format where you have 60 seconds to talk about your topic with no hesitation or repetition. 
• As with individual revision it's important to build in breaks but make sure that you don't get sidetracked by conversations with your study group too much.