Every year, students say the same thing before Computer Science exams:
“I revised for hours and nothing stuck.”
And every year, a small group of students quietly do something that looks unimpressive, almost lazy… and walk out with the top grades.
They don’t revise harder.
They revise boringly.
And that’s the part nobody wants to hear.
Imagine two students.
Student A (dramatic):
- Colour-coded notes
- Highlighters everywhere
- YouTube revision videos
- “Today I’m revising ALL of networks”
Feels productive. Looks impressive. Stationery influencer energy.
Student B (suspiciously calm):
- 10 minutes pseudocode
- 5 trace tables
- 3 theory questions
- Every day. Same time. Same place.
No drama. No announcements.
Just tiny reps.
Guess who gets the Grade 9?
Before we go further…
This is not an attack on highlighters.
Highlighters are innocent.
Colour is lovely.
Making revision look nice is a public service.
If pastel pens motivate you, use the pastel pens. Frame the notes. Add tabs. Add stickers. Live your best life.
Just don’t confuse decorating the gym with doing the workout.
That’s the only difference.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
The exam does not reward motivation.
It rewards familiarity.
And familiarity comes from doing the same small things so often that the paper starts to feel like a rerun.
Like watching the same episode so many times you can say the lines before the actors.
That’s what “boring consistency” does.
Think about brushing your teeth.
You don’t spend 3 hours once a week aggressively brushing to make up for the days you missed.
You do 2 minutes. Every day. Without emotion.
That’s how Computer Science revision works.
But students try to “deep clean” their knowledge the night before the exam instead.
The top students don’t “revise Computer Science”.
They rehearse the exam.
Daily.
Quietly.
Almost secretly.
While everyone else is waiting to feel like revising.
They don’t wait for the mood.
They sit down and do:
- 10 minutes pseudocode
- 5 trace tables
- 3 exam questions
Even when they don’t feel like it.
Especially when they don’t feel like it.
After two weeks, something strange happens.
They stop panicking at questions.
Because they’ve seen them before.
Not the exact question.
But the shape of it.
The rhythm of it.
The way it asks.
The way the mark scheme answers.
The paper starts to feel predictable.
And predictable is powerful.
Meanwhile, the dramatic reviser is still “going over content”.
Still highlighting.
Still watching videos.
Still feeling busy.
But never actually getting the reps that make the exam feel familiar.
This is why the boring student wins.
Because boring builds memory.
Boring builds recognition.
Boring builds confidence.
And confidence is what stops the mind going blank in the exam hall.
So yes — use the colours.
Use the highlighters.
Make it look beautiful.
Just make sure, somewhere in the middle of the aesthetic masterpiece…
You quietly do the boring reps.
Because in Computer Science exams, the winner is usually the one who did the least exciting work…
The most often.
