a) test yourself regularly until you know it by heart
b) put things in places where you always see them so that they are so familiar
c) make up a picture or a phrase to help you remember

a) How to test yourself:

read, cover, write, check

• read your notes or revision guide for 5 or 10 minutes
• close or hide the information (cover)
• write down what you remember
• check what you've written
• repeat this until you can write down exactly what you are trying to learn

Make revision cards:

• buy some blank index cards from a stationery shop
• on one side of the card write the topic
• on the other side write the facts you are trying to learn - no more than 5!
• shuffle the cards and then work through them one at a time - look at the topic and see if you can remember the facts on the back

Use SAM Learning or another internet revision site (BBC bitesize, MyMaths)

Write a list of questions you must know the answer to and get someone else to test you. If your parents trust you, they might let you do this with a chat program on your computer - you can always show them what you've been doing on the screen!

b) Put things in places where you always see them, redecorate

Post-it notes are very good for this. You can use different colours for your different subjects.

Think of places where you spend time - like where you eat your breakfast in the morning, or around your computer monitor. Even on the back of the toilet door!

If you make a mind-map putting it up in a place you will always see it is a good idea

c) Make up a picture or a phrase

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. Every one remembers the colours of the rainbow like this. How about thinking about the important facts you need to know and making up your own phrase (this is called a mnemonic) Or a little saying, like this one for the wives of Henry VIII; "Divorced, beheaded, died; Divorced beheaded survived". A student once told me that they remembered the colours of the wires in a plug like this:

• water is blue and is a neutral liquid - the neutral wire is blue
• green and yellow flowers grow out of the ground - the earth wire is green and yellow
• if you touch the live wire you scare yourself so much.- the live wire is brown You can make up your own for anything you like