How to Effectively Revise for a Foreign Language Exam

Exam season is looming and if you’re a languages student, you’d be wise to start revising now if you haven’t already. Here are some methods that I use to learn French, German and Spanish that work for me.

1- Stick post-it notes everywhere. Buy different coloured blocks for different genders/types of word and stick them all over your house. That way, you can learn by association. This might irritate your parents a little bit but needs must.

2- Use language learning apps to refresh your basic skills. If you don’t already, use Duolingo. It’s a great tool for learning vocab and it’s not horribly boring like other methods of learning are. Sure, you might find the first few lessons too easy but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on basics until you get to the harder lessons.

3- Make some foreign Internet friends. Twitter is good place to make some friends online and you can help another user with English while they help you with your target language.

4- Watch foreign shows. There are so many sites online where you can watch shows in the target language. Netflix has some brilliant foreign language shows. If you like crime dramas and want to watch those in a particular language, here are some recommendations: Spanish – Narcos. French – Marseille. German –Die Welle.  

5- Try some language learning podcasts – there are loads.

6- Use vocab lists in textbooks. Most language textbooks have all of the topic specific vocab listed in the back.

7- Pace yourself – unfortunately for languages students, it is incredibly difficult to cram a year’s worth of work into the night before the exam. Start revising well in advance and use the ‘little but often’ approach. Sitting working at your languages for hours on end won’t work as well as thirty minute chunks a few times a day.

8- Put subtitles on English TV shows. Most shows and films have subtitles available in a few languages so if you can, put the target language subtitles on while you watch. Honestly, you don’t even feel like you’re learning.