Top 7 Ultimate Revision Tips for IAS Exam – Crack UPSC Successfully!
According to research on students, it has been found that the human brain starts forgetting things as soon as they learn them. Based on this research, we can assume the importance of revision for the prestigious and toughest IAS examination in the country. Revision is very crucial to revive the knowledge you gain in the whole year.
Top 7 Ultimate Revision Tips for IAS Exam – Crack UPSC Successfully!
According to research on students, it has been found that the human brain starts forgetting things as soon as they learn them. Based on this research, we can assume the importance of revision for the prestigious and toughest IAS examination in the country. Revision is very crucial to revive the knowledge you gain in the whole year.
Usually, people think that revision is just recalling lessons you learned before but it is not like that. Revision is a lot more beyond just remembering previously learned lessons. There are hundreds of techniques available out there that may be useful for you. However, it all depends on the individual how he quickly learns things. Some learn by visual techniques while some prefer reading texts. Let us help you with the ultimate revision tips that help you before appearing in the exams.
● Choose a Calm & Quiet Place
Revision needs focus and you can focus only when you have a quiet and calm environment around you. You can’t pay attention to a drawing room or in the hall. So, a bedroom or study room is a nice place to continue revision. There should be proper lighting in the room. Always prefer to sit on the table and chair while studying. Have a table lamp to focus on the page and a clock for watching time.
● Time For Revision is Important!
Start your revision early each evening before your brain gets tired. If you just sit down to revise, without a definite finishing time, then your learning efficiency falls lower and lower. The graph of your efficiency will go down. If you decide at the beginning how long you will work for, with a clock, then as your brain knows the end is coming, the graph of your efficiency will certainly go upwards.
● Plan Your Revision
Don’t leave the revision for the last few days of the exam because then you will be tired and less able to learn by the time of your actual exam dates. Your revision plan should have a daily outline including times of meals, breaks, exercise, and sleep. Also, keep some time for recreational activity.
● Write down the exact date and time of your exam.
Look at the past papers to know what you have to focus your revision on. Check with your faculties and official website of the UPSC to confirm the format of the examination paper. Past papers are also useful when you want to know how much you have learned.
● Study Material
Once you have a revision plan, make sure you have all the class notes, books, reference material, etc. Read through your notes and if there are grey areas, use your reading list or books in the library to cover them. You may also get into the group study with your friends and talk to other aspirants on your course to make sure they are revising the same topic.
● Take Breaks
Make a revision plan that includes all your subjects. While you plan your revision, you should also keep in mind to mix the strong and weak subjects so that you don’t do all the difficult topics at once. Include learning targets you can achieve & tick off when accomplished because it boosts up your confidence. Keep the learning periods of 35 - 45 minutes otherwise your concentration goes. Alternate learning periods with breaks or information/notes organizing.
● Adopt Different Revision Techniques
Rewrite notes and organize them in a different way. Rewriting helps the memory process. Summarise notes. Write topic headings and key points on the index cards. Use the back of the index cards for quotations. Every person has a photographic memory, so you can make use of the highlighter to highlight the important text with color. You may also record important points and things on your mobile phone and listen to them whenever you find time say while on the road.
Besides the above, you may also organize your vast syllabus into small tables, diagrams, drawings, or even cartoons to help. You may make mind maps.
● Mind Maps
Let us explain to you what mind maps are. Write the title of the subject in the center of the page, and draw a circle around it. For the major subject subheadings, draw lines out from this circle. Label these lines with the subheadings. If you have another level of information belonging to the subheadings above, draw these and link them to the subheading lines.
● Memory Hooks
Memory Hooks are things you can associate with your subject key points. For example, you want to remember some of the historical events in history, you may associate it with your birth date or an event that you can easily remember.
● Solve Previous Exam Papers
This is quite commonly known and suggested by all the experts that UPSC aspirants should solve the previous year’s exam papers so that they can get the exact idea about the paper pattern, exam pressure, and to put your revision to the test. It is important to solve the question papers at least 15 days before the exam date so that they should get a considerable time to correct your mistakes by the exam date.
