Introducing: Revising Together

This post from the Library Team introduces the Revising Together session, including what to expect and how to sign up.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. How to prepare for the session
3. What happens during a Revising Together session?
4. How will attending a Revising Together session help me?
5. How can I sign up?
6. Support before and after the session

Introduction

• Are you confused about where to start?
• Do you want to commit time to concentrated revision?
• Do you want to try out new strategies and share tips with other students?

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of those questions, then our Revising Together online session is for you!

Revising Together is a focused revision session where you can come together for a fixed amount of time to prepare for your assessments. The aim is to help you set aside some dedicated time to learn some useful revision strategies and techniques that you can apply to your studies. In the session, we will introduce different strategies and you will have allocated blocks of time to try out revision techniques and connect with other students in a virtual space. Facilitators will be available so that you can ask questions.

Revising Together is a great way to sharpen your approach to assessments, and make progress on or adapt your revision techniques.

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How to prepare for the session

In preparation for attending one of these sessions, it’s important that you spend some time thinking about the topics you need to revise. You should:

• Choose a topic (or topics) to bring to the session to focus on revising.
• Come to the session with any questions you have about revision, any challenges you have faced in the past, and any advice you would like to share with others about what has worked well for you.

Ahead of the session, you will be sent a short survey via email which will help us to frame the session around your needs.

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What happens during a Revising Together session?

Our Revising Together sessions run over two hours, structured with intervals for revision and breaks. To help you maintain focus, we use a modified version of the Pomodoro time management technique. The Pomodoro timer helps you to keep track of the time during the revision blocks.

We will spend a few minutes presenting a strategy, then you will have 20 minutes to try it out. You will then have a 10 minute break to share your progress with other attendees (or get a coffee!)

Initially, all attendees will have their audio muted to allow the facilitators to introduce the session. However, during the breaks, you’ll have the opportunity to chat with other attendees about the revision strategies and any successes or challenges you may have had, or anything else you feel like sharing. You can ask questions throughout by using the chat function or your microphone.

You can choose whether you’d like to share your video or not, and if you don’t feel like socialising during the breaks, you’re free to stretch your legs or make a cup of tea!

After the three focused revision blocks, the facilitator will briefly wrap up the session and signpost you to further resources to support with your assessment preparation.

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How will attending a Revising Together session help me?

This session will help you to make time for quality revision. You’ll get to try out some new revision techniques and share tips with other students.

We’ll be looking at three different strategies in the session that will help you:

• Summarise what you know and what you need to focus on (KWL)
• Create purposeful notes that highlight the key points and summarise your understanding of a topic — great for open-book exams (Cornell Notes)
• Use both words and visual images to aid understanding and recollection (Dual Coding)

Revision may feel like a daunting task, but by working together and connecting with one another to try things out, you can find an approach that works for you and hear about tips and strategies that others find useful.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

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How can I sign up?

For our online Revising Together sessions, it is essential to book in advance. This is to allow the Zoom link for the workshop to be sent out a day before it is due to take place.

Please register here by clicking. Find out more next to the date you are interested in.

On the day, you’ll need:

1. A revision topic (or topics)
2. Something to write on or make notes on (this can be a laptop or pen and paper)
3. Zoom video conferencing software on your laptop or device to let you join the session

3. A cup of tea or coffee, and biscuits for the break (optional!)

We hope to see you there!

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What you can do before and after the session

Check out the My Learning Essentials webpage to find more online resources tailored for University of Manchester students.

We’ve got a set of resources focused on revision so why not take a look so you can be fully prepared for the session and have an idea of the strategies you want to try out:

• Managing your time effectively
• Revision strategies
• Open book assessments
• Note-making
• Student Team Podcasts — Revision playlist
• Library Support

You can find our full range of assessment and revision support in this resource:

• Start to finish: Revision

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