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Organising Your Revision

• Make a list of topics to be covered and deal with them systematically.
• Reorganise your module materials (collate lecture notes, reading texts and notes and essays into coherent topic bundles).
• Add to and comment on your old essays and notes - you know more than you did then.

Forming a Study Group

• Practise past exam papers and give feedback to each other.
• Discuss different topics and the relevant issues.
• Take turns to give a presentation on an issue and open the floor for discussion.
• Read each other’s essays on shared topics to get different perspectives but do not borrow each other’s notes.

Planning your time

• Timetable your revision programme (e.g. daily study slots).
• Allow time for breaks.
• Review what you have revised regularly.
• Allow time for relaxation and exercise.
• Think of revision as a process of consolidation. This is an opportunity for you to make sense of the whole year's work.

Tackling Exam Papers

An examination should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat. The people setting your questions do not want you to fail, they want you to pass. The questions are not designed to catch you out but to give you the chance to show what have learned over the year.

Remember - you are unlikely to be asked to give an account of something, rather you will be asked to account for something. In other words, what is usually required is an argument, not a description.

Reviewing the Exam Paper

• Do not attempt to write anything until you have read the whole paper.
• Check how many questions need to be answered.
• Is it a free choice or do you have to choose one from each section?
• Read each question to make sure you understand what is being asked of you.
• Select the question you feel happiest with and put number 1 beside it.
• Choose the next best question and number it 2 and so on.
• Once you have made your choice stick to it.

Interpreting the Question

• Look at your questions carefully.
• What type of question is it (compare, assess, how far do you agree with... etc.)?
• What are the content assumptions underlying the question?
• What are the discourse assumptions?
• What is the issue to be discussed?
• What do you think about the issue?

Be very careful to focus on the question asked and do not try to turn it into one you wish had been asked.

For example, consider the following Politics exam question:

‘To what extent are war and diplomacy alternative or complementary approaches to the resolution of international conflict?’

• The question is asking for your opinion - how far do you agree with the proposition?
• The content assumptions are that war and diplomacy are both involved in international conflict (and all the relevant aspects of your module which have considered this).
• The discourse assumption is that there are different views on the subject.
• The issue is connected with whether they are alternative or complementary approaches (this will have been discussed during the module).
• Your opinion is whether and how far you agree with the statement (and the arguments you will use to support your opinion).

Opening Statement

A good opening statement must be fairly brief and to the point. You must reiterate the question in some way, thereby taking possession of it, but avoid repeating the question in your answer. This will entail stating the issue. You must also suggest what you think about the issue so that the reader is ready for your ideas and the argument you develop. It is important to remember that every sentence you write should enlighten the reader as to how you are interpreting the question and how you will be managing the content. This approach serves three important functions:

• It gets you started.
• It provides the reader with a general idea of where you intend to go with the essay.
• If you run out of time and cannot write a conclusion, at least you will have
• Indicated your overall view thereby giving the essay some kind of resolution.

Planning/Mapping out the Essay

Once you know where you want to go, you have to decide how you are going to get there. This is when you should note down:

• Topics you need to cover
• Terms/concepts you may need to define
• Examples you might use to illustrate your arguments (sometimes more economical than explanations + definitions)
• Authorities you might wish to draw on as support (models, theories, ideas, etc.)
• Evidence to support any arguments
• Theoretical models you may need to apply

Organisation of Ideas/Information

You need to work out how to organise your notes above in a way that will take the reader to your intended end point ― as reflected in your introduction:

• Positioning of ideas/points/topics
• Argument strategies ― e.g. argument/counter-argument
• Sections to develop points
• Paragraphs to deal with aspects of points
• Use a flow chart or numbering system to help you demonstrate the structure

Writing the Rest of the Essay

The next bit to write might be an explicit in-text map for the reader.

e.g. This essay will look at the issue from three perspectives (limiting the scope). The first will be concerned with the nature of war and diplomacy, the second will consider the role of each in international conflict, and the third will discuss how they interrelate in such a situation (indicating essay structure/direction/organisation of argument)

Having done this you are now on course to complete the task without wandering off the track. Make sure that you have a concluding paragraph or section which sums up concisely how you have answered the question.