The Easter break is almost here which means thousands of teenagers will have their heads down revising. Here are four ways to get the most out of your revision sessions.

According to experts the most ineffective way to revise is to read through your notes as not much goes in and your mind can wonder.

Teen magazine, Future Mag, has shared the following tips to help.

1. Make it active

Revision should be active, you should be making fact cards, drawing mind maps, highlighting notes, making lists, writing essay plans, and answering past questions.

2. Take Breaks

Don’t work for hours without a break as your memory and recall become less and less effective.

Instead plan your revision in sessions of up to one hour and take a short break between sessions.

You should also change topics each session, this can be hard to begin with as you may have just got stuck-in to a particular subject but it is an effective strategy. It focuses your mind to get a certain amount/task done in a set time and makes the time spent revising really count.

3. Make Small Sacrifices

For your revision sessions to be useful and worthwhile you will need to make a few sacrifices.

Find a quiet place to work and make sure the TV isn’t on.

Avoid social media for an hour.

Put phones on silent and out of sight.

4. Work Smart

Make sure you include lots of essay plans, past questions and past papers.

Remember, application of knowledge has more marks than recall in some subjects.

Look at mark schemes and examiners’ reports. That is how you will learn what examiners expect you to answer for questions - know what gains marks and, equally importantly, what does not gain marks.

50% of your revision time should ideally be spent on past questions.