Starting studying just two days before the exam was a dangerous thing.
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"Starting studying" is how to say this in American English. We don't have this meaning of the verb "revise".
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There's a difference (in BrE) between "Starting studying" and "Starting revising". Unlikely though it might be, it's possible to have an exam in two days' time but only start studying for it today. That would mean starting from scratch, having never studied the subject before. Now that would be a really bad idea. Starting revising might actually be good enough for some people. If they've been studying the subject for a couple of years, they might have been soaking up quite a lot of the information as they went along. They might need only a couple of days' revision to be confident of passing the exam.
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Americans may use the verb "review" in a similar fashion to the BrE "revise", but usually "study" suffices for both meanings.
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"Revisit" is another word for "revise". I find "starting studying"redundant. It would be better without "starting".
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It's not redundant. There wouldn't be the same meaning without starting.
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No it isn't.
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"Starting studying just two days before the exam is a bad idea" vs "Studying just two days before the exam is a bad idea". How do these sentences have any real difference in meaning besides the two "ing"s sitting pretty next to each other?
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Well, because studying two days before an exam is a good idea!
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"Why revisit the points we already went over? There's no point. The exam won't cover them anyway." I don't know if this is the most proper way to say "review" but I'm as sure as can be that no one will ask "what do you mean revisit?"
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Yes but "just two days" is not.
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" Revise", in this sense in BrE, is "study again" in American English (if I understand it correctly). I see reviewing as a less intensive form of studying.
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That's my understanding too. That's why I suggested "revisit".
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I think it is close to how you use "revise" as "re-study".
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I've never used "re-study".
The word "revise", when used in connection with exams (in the UK) has a very specific meaning. It is what you do at home (or on the bus or outside school hours), in your own time, trying to go over and over all the stuff you've learnt in the last 1/2 years in class, basically trying to memorise it all. When I was at secondary school, for about a month before our final exams, we all got at least one "revision period" (just one hour) each week, which could be used for any subject we chose. Of course, we were also expected to revise at home too. In all honesty, most of my revision got done the night before an exam and, in desperation, over breakfast on the morning of the exam.
The word "revise", when used in connection with exams (in the UK) has a very specific meaning. It is what you do at home (or on the bus or outside school hours), in your own time, trying to go over and over all the stuff you've learnt in the last 1/2 years in class, basically trying to memorise it all. When I was at secondary school, for about a month before our final exams, we all got at least one "revision period" (just one hour) each week, which could be used for any subject we chose. Of course, we were also expected to revise at home too. In all honesty, most of my revision got done the night before an exam and, in desperation, over breakfast on the morning of the exam.
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