brush up on your skills

Meaning

This casual phrasal verb means to practice, study, or review something you used to know but have partially forgotten. It is often used when preparing for an interview, an exam, or a trip where you need to use an old skill. It implies quick improvement rather than learning something from scratch.

Examples

• I need to brush up on my Spanish skills before my trip to Madrid next month.

  I need to brush up on my Spanish skills before my trip to Madrid next month.

• You should brush up on your coding skills before the technical interview.

  You should brush up on your coding skills before the technical interview.

• She spent the weekend brushing up on her presentation skills for the big meeting.

  She spent the weekend brushing up on her presentation skills for the big meeting.

• If you want the job, you might want to brush up on your spreadsheet skills.

  If you want the job, you might want to brush up on your spreadsheet skills.

• He decided to brush up on his driving skills after not driving for five years.

  He decided to brush up on his driving skills after not driving for five years.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I need to brush up my skills in English.

  ✓ I need to brush up on my English skills.

  While 'brush up' can sometimes be used directly, the standard phrasal verb collocation is 'brush up on' when followed by the specific area of improvement.

• ✗ I want to brush up my skills from scratch.

  ✓ I want to learn these skills from scratch.

  'Brush up' is only used for skills you already have but need to refresh. You cannot 'brush up' something you have never learned before.

Related Expressions

Practice

• I haven't played tennis in years, so I really need to ___.

  💡 Use the base form of the phrase to describe refreshing your abilities.

  Show answer

  brush up on my skills

• The workshop is a great opportunity to ___ before the project begins.

  💡 Think of cleaning off the dust from your knowledge.

  Show answer

  brush up on your skills