• Question: What revision techniques do you suggest for exams in engineering subjects such as Resistant Materials?

    Asked by hallb005 to Amit, Joanne, Martin, Paige on 21 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by kathrynduffy3.
    • Photo: Amit Pujari

      Amit Pujari answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      I never studied ‘resistant materials’ as a subject in School.

      But I can tell you what worked for me. I think using diagrams to remember ‘how things work’, is quite a useful technique. Diagram helps you to understand things (rather than merely memorising it).
      Also, if you have to remember long list of properties, names etc. try using mnemonic (a formula that helps one remember something). Example: ROY G. BIV. R=red, O=orange, Y=yellow, G=green, B=blue, I = indigo, and V=violet.

    • Photo: Joanne Davies

      Joanne Davies answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Hello hallb005 🙂 Pleased to meet you. 🙂

      Use different methods to see what you like the most and to find out which ones are most effective for yourself.

      Subjects are always easier to learn when we fully understand the concept, so make sure you understand the subject. If there’s anything you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to ask.

      A good way for me to remember things is to write to down some key points.
      These help to jog my memory for the rest of the information.

      Another way to revise is by splitting up the topic into short paragraphs and learning about each of them one at a time.

      If you find handwriting helps, then write notes by hand, but if you prefer to type them, then that’s what you should do.

      Another thing you could do is get a highlighter pen (I like yellow ones the best, because I think they are the most effective) and highlight all the important bits.:)

    • Photo: Martin Wallace

      Martin Wallace answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      I remember the mnemonic for the colour spectrum we used was Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. Often remembering little rhymes and phrases help you remember things, for example SOHCAHTOA is permanently ingrained in my mind for remembering the method of calculating angles and lengths of right angled triangles, and Queen Victoria’s Cat for Q=VC.
      As Amit says, creating diagrams so you can picture things in your mind is very helpful so you can recall them during an exam, also using different colour pens helps a lot when you are creating your notes.

      I found by far the best thing you can do in any subject is to get youe hands on as many past-papers as possible so you can see what the questions were like in previous years. Try to do them without looking at the answers first to see what areas you need to concentrate on. If there is an area you are really good at, it’s probably not worth revising that too much.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Sorry hallb, I’m not sure, I didn’t take exams in engineering subjects in high school. But I hope these exams test applied knowledge vs. memorization!!!

Comments

  • Photo: Joanne

    Joanne commented on :

    Oh no! I just noticed Amit was voted out. 🙁

  • Photo: Usaid

    Usaid commented on :

    Hey hallb005, I did Resistant Materials at school for GCSE and found the exam really hard, because I didn’t look for the correct advice.

    Firstly, you should get your hands on a good revision guide (I used CGP). You need to ensure that your revision guide is tailored to your exam board (Edexcel, AQA, etc).

    Second, practice past exam papers, I found these to be absolutely crucial in nailing exam technique. You will learn to manage your time in the exam and answer the question, not what you think the question is asking. That’s a very important difference.

    Finally, try and get a copy of the syllabus for your exam, this will give a real indication of how good you need to be at different parts of the subject.

    Good luck!