Navigating Revision Hell

My method of revision involves a lot of spider diagrams stuck up all over my walls. How do you get the information to stick?

This is normally the time of year where I decide that this science business is far too much trouble for what its worth,and I don’t even like animals anyway. Running away to join the circus starts looking like a plausible alternative to gaining a degree. Then I remember that I have no talents a circus would want, and face up to the fact that I have to start revising for exams.
That’s right, it is exam season. And I have reached the point of no return, the point where I give up pretending its not happening and actually start trying to learn things taught to me in the foggy past that was February.
The thing I really hate about exams (other than the obvious stress and requirement to become a hermit), is that they are designed to see how much you can remember, rather than feed your passion for a subject. I love my degree, but after spending the entire day writing about pollination and seed dispersal it is hard to keep positive.

How do you maintain your passion for a subject while it’s slowly destroying your soul?

Remember to enjoy the parts of revision that you found interesting in lectures. While seed dispersal is quite a dull subject, I did learn that chili is a plant defence against mammals that birds are immune to. This means that birds can eat the chilies and disperse the seeds without them being lost to mammal herbivory. Which is pretty cool!

Take breaks. I have done so much work today, and it feels like my eyes are bulging out of my head. There is no point trying to keep going at that point, so make a cup of tea, eat something and write a blog post. Just try not to make a cup of tea every ten minutes, that tends to end badly. Plus you will run out of milk and deeply regret it when you can’t have any breakfast tomorrow. No-one wants to start a revision day feeling bitter towards all of science because you haven’t had any caffeine.

Look at the bigger picture. While revision is awful, in about 3 weeks all of my exams will be over and I will be free to enjoy the summer and work on my dissertation, which I am really looking forward to. The fact that next term I will be working on an area of biology that I really enjoy means that I can motivate myself to learn about how dolphins feel or whatever else my animal behaviour course covers. I also have dreams of sun, friends and rose which are probably helping even more…

Lastly, if you are still revising hard after more than one day, you will probably be alright. Because there is no way you could spend weeks of your life cramming information into your brain if you didn't actually want to study that subject.

Do you have any different ways of keeping yourself motivated during exams? (I could do with the help…)