Just before the Easter holidays, my school provided a workshop for Year 10s and Year 11s called exams made easy. With end of year exams soon and GCSEs around the corner it was the perfect time to be demonstrated on ways to revise, that isn’t just a waste of time.

The man presenting the workshop, Danny, was enthusiastic and his way of speaking was compelling. He captured everyone’s interest by being energetic and making each method revision seems quick, simple and effective – which they were. We were given a worksheet which had a clearly laid out working space. Each method was described, put into practise and then ready for us to make notes and write down examples and with each method different and varying in style; you were bound to find a method new and perfect for you.

Out of the four methods shown (cue cards, memory palace, number words and benchmark), I found two very useful: cue cards and number words. The cue cards method was not new to me – it was simply making notes on cue cards, highlighting key words and phrases – however, the number words were. The method was to take a prominent date, for example 1564 – Shakespeare’s birthdate. From this you had to make a sentence, matching the subject or not, with each number corresponding to the amount of letters for each word. For example A-1 Great-5 Writer-6 Born-4. This makes for an effective way of remembering multiple facts tied to one number simply.

Although the workshop had a very positive outcome, it did feel a little rushed. Sometimes the presenter would talk too fast and not give enough time for people to understand the technique, despite the fact this workshop took over two lessons worth of time. I also did not like one of the techniques however this was plausible because the purpose was to find revision techniques for everyone, so of course not all of them would work for me.

In conclusion it was very beneficial to me and my peers, plus we got a free pen and highlighter, which made everyone happy and motivated to revise.