Recommended Reading
Mind maps can be a useful revision method in any subject, but work particularly well when studying English as they enable you to build connections between various ideas and literary techniques. A mind map is a great way to get your ideas about the key areas of study of a text clear in your mind when you are studying and enables you to easily consolidate your work by helping you to link your thoughts together when you reach the revision stage.
You should start with the name of the text in the centre of a large sheet of paper and around this place all the central themes that you have studied alongside the narrative techniques that the author uses. Around these points you can then make notes on the issues you discussed in class and the ideas you formed on each topic as you read the text, gradually moving outwards from the centre in each direction and finishing with quotations from the text to support your points around the edge of the paper. When you have got all your ideas set out in the mind map you can then link various sections together to record how the points are connected.
You end up with a visual, easily digestible record of how certain areas you have studied link to and affect others. For example, the language and imagery an author uses will often paint a vivid picture of a setting, which impacts on the characterisation of a particular character that is often encountered in that setting.
If you use different colours and pictures to illustrate certain points on your mind map you will remember them more easily. You could even put your mind map on the wall in the room where you study so that every time it catches your eye you become more familiar with the points you need to understand for your exam.
Give it a go and see if it works for you!
