Late January: for most students, it’s that blissful time of the year when the next set of exams seems to be a long way away. A time to put their feet up and congratulate themselves on all the hard work they put into revising for the last bout of test papers and assessments.

More revision is the last thing on their mind. And who can blame them? Surely revision is now off the menu until the spring? Well, in some ways yes. But on the other hand…

…what if there was something to be said for at least thinking about the next revision period already?

This is an idea that will probably fill most students with horror. How could you possibly propose such a thing?

Well, hear us out for a moment. We’re not suggesting that you immediately hit the books again. It’s more a question of putting in a little light prep work that might actually make your revision for your summer exams go more smoothly. And if revision goes smoothly, generally that also means that exams go better and you get higher marks.

So, put your scepticism on hold for just a second while we try to convince you that there’s certainly some revision tasks you could feasibly do over the next few months, and that doing them will in fact make your life easier when it comes to exam crunch time.

Learn from past mistakes and areas for improvement

You’d think it was fairly obvious that the things you did worst on in the last exams are the ones you should spend a bit more time on next time round, but many people amazingly don’t do this and instead devote the same amount of time to their proven strong areas as their weakest ones. In fact, some people even fall into the trap of revising what they’re good at more, perhaps because these subject areas are safe and comforting to them.

By carefully looking at where you went wrong last time you can make sure your future revision efforts are put to much better use. Aced one paper? Okay, great. It’ll be more a question of brushing up on it next time round. Did unexpectedly badly on another one? That’s where you need to be putting in the effort next time.

Hunt out new revision resources and organise your materials

Another really helpful bit of prep work you can do is have a think about which revision materials worked well for you last time, and which just didn’t help you get your head round the subject. Once you’ve identified the dud books and websites, banish them from your revision routine and then scope out newer, better ones to replace them with. Have a look online and in bookstores. Ask your friends. Try out our excellent revision section. Just don’t keep using that hand-me-down revision guide that’s ten years old and is a real chore to read.

And once you’ve identified your materials gather them together. Buy any books now, and bookmark new websites in your browser. That way when you come to start revising you’ll have everything to hand and be able to get stuck in from day one.

Start using revision techniques when doing your homework

There are all sorts of really great revision techniques out there to help you stay motivated, memorise more easily and maintain your concentration span. We’ll be covering some of them on our blog over the next few months.

However, many people have a problem with revision techniques. They hear about one, think it sounds great, but then never quite get round to using it, or use it once and then forget about it.

This happens because using revision techniques is a habit that you need to work into your routine, just like many other things you do in your life. So you need to make sure they’re established habits by the time it comes to revising.

The best way to do this is to consciously and deliberately adopt them when doing your homework. If you can remember a day of revision that went really well because you had a good rhythm of bursts of revision followed by a break or a treat then great, keep using that over the next few months. By the time you really need it for exams it’ll be almost like a reflex reaction to doing work.