Revision is taking over my life and is probably taking over a lot of others especially this time in the school year. I am in year 10 at school and at my school we have mock exams in all subjects to prepare us for next year. Our headteacher also gives us something called a 'learn to learn' afternoon where he teaches us how to learn and how to revise. The tips he gave us all worked a treat so I thought i shouldn't be the only one who gets the benefit out of these but all of you so this post will consist of not only my revision tips but his aswell!

Firstly, you have to believe you can do this and you CAN revise; there's no point even trying to do it if you aren't wanting to do it but just remember if you don't learn how to want to revise you'll end up with a job you never wanted (harsh but true).
You also need to be sat or lying somewhere comfortable. Personally, for me I either like to sit in my bed as that is where i'm most comfortable but there it can make me just want to sleep all day so it's nice to sit somewhere different. If it's a nice sunny day why not go and sit outside? You can revise and catch a tan!
You should take regular breaks when revising; the average attention span for a boy is 5-7 minutes where as a girl's is 10-15 minutes so to make sure you are actually paying attention to revision you should take regular breaks to go to the toilet or stretch your legs or put the kettle on.
It is also good to make sure you have snacks close to hand so when you get peckish you are not sat there trying to revise but really just daydreaming about food. When I'm revising, I feel the best revision food is some cold,ice water with cucumber and lemon slices with a bowl of fruit especially mango (mango's are my baby) or something like some chopped pepper as it is known that eating fruit,vegetables and proteins make the brain healthier and more in the mood to crack on with some revision
A timetable is always helpful! If, like me, you are revising for more than one exam at once, it is good to make a schedule so you aren't focusing on one exam and forgetting about the others until the day of the test.
It is also good not watch the TV or maybe put on the radio or make yourself a playlist.However, when I'm revising history i use this as an excuse to watch 'Hitler; The Rise Of Evil' which surprisingly is an amazing film!
Now let's get down to the actual revision and some tops I have.
1) Chunking- This is useful for things such as science where I have modules which have different sections. I take the headings from every page in the text book and, splitting my page into how many sections are necessary, read through the revision text book and putting necessary information into the boxes. Most teachers say that text books have everything you need to know and this isn't true as one of my science teachers admitted saying the text book is full of 'fluff'- stuff that isn't necessary to your exam and will be of no help.

2) My headteacher gave us some statistics; we remember 20% of what we read, 30% of what we hear, 40% of what we see, 50% of what you say and 60% of what you do. So if you do all of these things you will remember 90%. I find to remember as much as I can, I will use the chunking method and do the do to then read and record myself speaking the notes onto my Ipod or phone to then listen back to it while reading it along again or just before I go to sleep.
3) Teaching others is a handy way of learning the things yourself so maybe revising with someone else is helpful as they can help you and you can help them. However, bear in mind that revising in a fairly big group is not advisable as you will not revise and will be to busy talking about what happened at that party the other night or what that boy text you that morning.
4) Test Yourself- There are many ways of testing yourself but for me,for such things as history where you have to remember so much it is good to right model answers out that you think may appear on the test and then taking the key points and on a separate piece of paper writing little  keywords that will be able to trigger your memory into knowing what the original answer says. After trying this a few times you can work on trying it with out the piece of paper and seeing if you know it well.
5)HIGHLIGHT, HIGHLIGHT,HIGHLIGHT! Everyone has a certain amount of a photographic memory and by highlighting keywords, it can trigger your memory into locking onto that certain word/phrase that you highlighted and will help you remember the rest of the information.
6)Have fun when revising! This is a massive almost impossible task when what you are doing is the most boring thing you will have to entail however, if you laugh during your revision you are more likely to remember your revision. If you think about what your first memory was as a child it will be something either upsetting or something of a happy/funny occasion and that is why we remember it as our first ever memory so if you have fun while revising and if that's playing some old S Club 7 then go for it!

Everyone has different revision techniques and i could think of so many more such as mind maps, queue cards or sticking post-it notes all round your room; but these are some of the ones I've been using at the moment.
My final most important tip is to NOT LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE;Revision takes time and planning even if you like me and are a 'cram reviser'
I also realise that this is actually a silly time to be posting this as most major exams such as A levels or GCSEs in the UK are nearly over but maybe you can keep these in mind for the next time you have a major test.

I hope this helps you and thankyou for reading!

Hi Everyone! It's been along time since i have posted due to a mass of exams( revision tips post to come!)

On Monday (11th June 2013) I Went to see Lewis Watson at Sound Control in Manchester. I had been to this location before and I knew that the room was fairly small so it would make the concert very intimate and personal as there would be as many people. I arrived to queue with my two friends Lydia and Sara and by the time we had got there the queue was so long! The doors were late to open which created even more excitement between everyone queuing. When we got inside, we headed to straight the stage to get a good place to stand. However during this concert my height really did let me down as ! was stood behind the tallest man at the concert! I managed to peep over his shoulder for the duration of the concert.
 The first support act was Shannon Saunders; I knew her before the concert and ! was happy to see she was supporting Lewis as her voice is amazing! She sung a few of her songs including a cover of 'Swim Good' by Frank Ocean and finished with my favourite song of hers 'Heart of Blue'.
I found Franks music quirky and fun, with the lyrics to his songs being so witty.He included songs on his ukulele aswell as his guitar and he included in his set an genius cover of Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus which everyone loved. He played other songs such as floors and ceilings which i fell in love with on the spot. Sadly all the photos i had of Frank we fairly bad quality and his eyes were always closed which from the photo below seems to be his 'look'!

There was then a small wait until Lewis came on stage. When he came on stage it seemed that nobody could handle themselves as the room filled with screams. He played most of his songs including some of his older ones such as '#3' and also some off his new EP such as 'Made Up Love Song #43'. He also tweeted before the show (@levvis) asking for the people going to the Manchester show to learn the words to his new song 'Calling' which he had actually posted onto his YouTube channel (holyloowis) back in July last year and I fell in love with it back then, becoming my favourite song of his. I had been waiting for him to release onto an EP and the time has finally arrived as it will be on his next EP named 'Four More Songs' after his earlier EPs entitled: 'It's Got Four Sad Songs On It BTW', 'Another Four More Sad Songs' and ,his latest, 'Into The Wild'. But having Calling playing song for something special Lewis had planned was the icing on the cake for me. He asked everyone to create a circle around a certain area where above placed a camera that would film him playing in the audience and so everyone rushed round in a circle to make sure they were part of this special, acoustic performance of 'Calling'which was being filmed and is now on his YouTube channel which I am able to watch over and over till the end of eternity!
The concert then carried on as normal and after he hosted a small meet and greet along with Frank and Shannon. What also made this concert so special was how friendly everyone there was in the fact if someone overheard your conversation they would join in and laugh with you and others would help others by offering to take photos or to help someone find there friends; it was such a friendly atmosphere of people of all ages.It was safe to say this was one of my favourite concerts because of how personal Lewis and the two supports were with the audience and how small the concert was on a whole; it made everything 10 times more amazing!Lewis engaged with the audience; when people shouted 'I Love You', he'd shout back 'I'm quite fond of you'; when someone asked if they would marry him,he'd tell them that they were taking a very forward approach on the situation; when most of the audience came in at the wrong time during 'Into The Wild' he whispered "Gotcha!" into his microphone. He engaged with everyone so well during the whole of the concert right up until he left.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Lewis as he had to leave but I did meet Frank who was so funny and down to earth. Also Shannon who was also so down to earth and seemed to be overwhelmed by the fact so many people knew her or loved her music just from hearing her that night.
I'm not a photo person so i didn't get a photo with any of them but I did get an autograph from Frank which did me just fine!