Rereading feels productive because the material becomes familiar. Unfortunately, familiarity is not the same as being able to recall and apply knowledge in an exam. Effective revision makes the brain retrieve, connect and use information.
1. Active recall
Close the book and write everything you know about a small topic. Then compare your answer with the source and fill the gaps in a different colour.
2. Spaced practice
Return to a topic after a day, a week and several weeks. Increasing the gap makes retrieval harder—and that useful difficulty strengthens memory.
3. Mixed questions
Mix topics and question styles so you must decide which method applies. Exams do not normally tell you which chapter a question belongs to.
4. An error log
Record why an answer went wrong: missing knowledge, misreading, weak method, arithmetic or timing. The cause tells you what to change.
5. Explain it aloud
Teach the idea without notes to another person—or an imaginary class. Hesitation reveals exactly where understanding is incomplete.
A strong revision session should include some struggle. If every answer feels obvious, the task may be too passive.