Revision: NatSci
Natural Sciences Tripos, Part IA
You probably know how you revise best by now, and revising for your first year exams isn't going to be that different from your A-levels (though maybe a bit more work and a little bit more initiative). However, there are some important things to remember and hopefully some of the below information will be helpful. This is all just our opinion based on our experience of exams last year...
Firstly, although this can be difficult, try not to get too stressed about these exams, because they don't count directly towards your degree. They really only are used for predicted grades, which are used in references from the college, for example if you apply for a summer job/experience after second year. The Easter holiday is a good time to start your revision and generally just get yourself organised for next term. Give yourself enough time to work in the holiday so that you feel at least partly prepared for the exams, at least so that you can get down to the proper revision when back Easter term starts. This leads to the first important tip: get yourself organised! Make sure that you have everything you need printed out – this includes material from lectures and practicals that you can find on Camtools, as well as a selection of past papers (start with the most recent ones first). This really is just a suggestion, but it can be helpful to group the essay questions into topics/themes, so that you can see all the related ones together (This will help you to recognise the examiners' favourite questions and the overall usual style of the questions). Put everything together in organised folders, so that you have everything you need in front of you, ready to start revising. Get yourself coloured pens, big sheets of paper, whatever makes you happy :-)
Next, think about what you are actually going to do to revise – you really cannot just read lecture notes (so dull!). Use variety a methods to help stop you getting bored – lecture notes, look back at your supervision work, write your own notes, textbooks, reviews online (pubmed), watch videos (youtube), make posters and brainstorms, draw diagrams and flowcharts. It's a good idea to attempt to change the format of the information from that in which it was given to you, e.g. draw a diagram from a block of text, or reverse a diagram that was given to you. And most importantly, do lots of past exam questions!! There is no need to do whole papers really, work on the relevant questions to what you have been revising. You should definitely get a feel for the exam questions over the Easter holiday, but save lots for your revision in Easter term.
When it gets to Easter term, you will still have quite a full timetable so it can be frustrating because you can't find much time to revise. It is also a bit daunting that you are still covering new material in lectures. Try to concentrate on learning this as you cover it and don't just let it pass you by, so you don't need to spend lots of time revising it. Once lectures finish you will have about 2 weeks before the exams start. You will probably have a few revision supervisions, make the most of these. If you are organised and focused, this is enough time to get prepared! You have to remember that it is always going to feel like there more you can do. There is, since there is no syllabus like at A-level. You cannot and do not need to learn everything the course has covered, so don't try to!! Remember that for an essay, knowing the lecture notes for that area, plus a little bit of extra information is enough to get you a first. Once you are similar with the exam paper layouts, you will realise where you get a choice on answering questions, and you can focus on the topic/style of question that you are most interested in or you understand best.
Really importantly, decide where and when you work best. This might be your room, the college library, a department library, or maybe you need to have a variety – when the weather's good sit outside in college, go to Parker's Piece, the Mill Pond, or the Botanic Gardens. Krissy and I spent a really productive afternoon the day before the Biology of Cells exam sitting on Christ's Piece eating strawberries and cherries from the market and testing each other! As to when is best, think about whether you work better in the morning/afternoon/evening and think about fitting your revision around sport/societies/meeting friends etc. It might be helpful to think about revision as a 9-5 job, for example: Be in the library at 9, take an hour for lunch, take other small breaks, stop at 5 to do something fun in the evening. Be realistic in what you think you can achieve and try not to worry about what others are doing. The person who spends the longest studying will not necessarily be the person that gets the best grade.
Also important: spend some time working together. It can be very helpful to get together with other natscis to test each other, ask for help, share answers (esp essays/essay plans), create posters, bounce ideas around. It will usually be beneficial to you all and is more fun and less intense than working alone.
Overall, get organised early-on and give yourself variation when preparing for the exams. Remember that you do not have to learn everything! Stay focused, but enjoy Easter term as much as you can – you will be in a better state of mind to sit the exams if you stay relatively relaxed.
Good luck!
Sam Denney (sd484) [Catherine Ainsworth (ca345), Christina Bullard]
IMPORTANT: We have uploaded all the past Physiology exam papers onto www.myotherdrive.com They are just copied straight from last year's Camtools and you can copy them from here. You will need this information to access them:
Email: pembrokenatscis@gmail.com
Password: physiology
Biology of Cells:
- Organise exam questions into subjects, especially the short answer questions.
- Writing essay plans is definitely as useful as writing the essays in full.
- Don't forget the practical exam – it is quite straightforward if you look at the past exam questions for guidance and review all the material from practicals.
Physiology:
- Practise lots of multiple choice and get together with others to go through the answers, then take any you are not sure about to your supervisor. These don't take too much time and are good for breaking up your revision.
- The style of the 2009 multiple choice seemed different to previous years, so make sure you look at the 2009 multiple choice questions. (not on myotherdrive, but should hopefully be able to find a copy in the library – or maybe through your supervisor)
- Do lots of essays/essay plans and try to make them integrated – also good for discussion with others. You don't need to learn all the subjects in depth, so learn enough to cover you for the exam, e.g. decide that you will attempt the questions on respiratory system and learn that subject etc.
Chemistry
- The best thing is just to practise the exam questions.
- Definitely go to the revision supervisions and try to do all the questions they set you.
- Don't panic about the last lecture set (inorganic), it seems bit abstract but you will get the hang of the questions.
Maths:
- Lots of past questions! You can see what comes up again and again.
- Know which types of questions you are best and look for those first on the paper. Feel happy if there are 1 or 2 questions on the paper that you can answer confidently.
- Do spend some time choosing your questions (appliable to Chemistry too) in the actual exam. Start with your favourite questions first to give you more confidence, and don't spend too long on a question – give yourself half an hour for each one (or whatever time you should, depending on which maths you're doing), and move on to the next after that time.
- Make posters of the equations, identities etc. that you need to remember.