Make studying fun! 📚

Exam season is here - this means it's time to swap your chill vibes Spotify playlist for some good study tunes.

We know it's hard to find the motivation to study, especially when you're struggling with the content. So, here are a few resources and tools to help you revise for exams:

Gizmo 👾

Introducing your new little purple friend, Gizmo, who helps turn your notes into flashcards and quizzes to help you study content better. You can either use your lecture notes or drop in a PDF of information, and it'll do the rest for you. It's great for those who need that extra nudge of motivation and who don't have the time (or can't be bothered) to make flashcards.

Another cool feature of Gizmo is that when you get a question wrong and reveal the answer, it says, "explain like I'm 5". It breaks the information down and uses examples to help you understand it better.

Quizlet 🖌️

Quizlet is a very popular study tool that, like Gizmo, also creates flashcards and practical quizzes. But, you can also find pre-existing flashcards and quizzes, which is great if you want to refresh your memory without spending ages typing out your notes, or you want to find pre-made ones by teachers. It's also available to download on your phone, making it an easy-access tool you can have on the go - you can test your knowledge anywhere!

Grammarly 🍏

Grammarly is a writing assistant that helps improve your writing quality and spellchecks for you. It's great to have as a university student, not only for revision but also for your assignments with high word counts - it can be easy to miss spelling and grammar errors when you're scanning through big chunks of writing!

It's also great for accessibility for those who may have learning disabilities and for non-native English speakers. It's not just one of those tools that writes your essays for you, it actually provides feedback on your writing and helps you understand the 'writing rules' and changes it makes.

Forest 🪴

Ahh, the app where you look after a plant! That's right, Forest is a popular productivity app that helps users reduce screen time, improve focus and manage time better by planting a virtual tree that grows while you stay off your phone. It's perfect for those who are easily distracted whilst studying.

When you are ready, just set a timer on the app for however long you'd like to concentrate for, and the app plants your virtual seed. If you stay in the app and avoid doomscrolling on Instagram reels, the tree grows, but if you leave the app, the tree withers and sadly dies.

Successful focus sessions add trees to your forest so you can visualise your productivity over days, weeks and months. You can make your own little forest, share with friends and create group sessions - see who's got the most trees!

Study Stack 📚

While Study Stack is another site that has flashcards, it actually turns them into games like crosswords, scrambles and hangman. This is really helpful if your subject has a lot of keywords to remember or certain dates and names. Even if there's a key sentence you want to remember, Study Stack can help you.

Once you've completed the games, you can go back to the flashcards and practice some active recall. It makes studying more fun, and you don't actually feel like you're studying when you're playing hangman, so why not give it a go?

We understand that this may be a stressful time for some, so remember to take care of yourself, take breaks when needed and ask for help from us, your tutors or your friends if you're struggling with exams. You're not alone ❤️

If you do need extra support with your studies, make the most of our Skills Hub.