Effective Revision
Lots of students find it difficult to revise, and struggle to find a method that works. Other students avoid revising altogether.
However, learning how to revise is a vital part of college life. If you are studying exam-based subjects at S6F you will need to retain and recall a lot of information. This is not easy, especially when you are juggling college work with a job, family commitments, hobbies and friendships. If this all sounds familiar then don’t worry. I can tell you that revision doesn’t have to be a long and boring task that takes you away from doing other things that you love. With a bit of clever organisation, you can make revision work for you.
Video 1 - Effective Revision
Where do I start?
Often just starting revision is the hardest bit, knowing what to revise and how to do it can be a daunting task. Follow the steps below to help you get organised, avoid the overwhelm and get started
- Get organised - Download your exam board syllabus (if you are not sure which syllabus, then ask your teacher) and find the specification for your subject. This will give you a list of topics that the exam board expect you to know.
- Colour code the list of topics on the syllabus (see below)
- Prioritise! The red topics are the ones that you start with
The best type of revision is little and often. A stressed brain does not operate well under pressure, and your memory will not work at its best if you try to cram last minute.
Some people are early risers, some are night owls. Maybe you like to get revision done during study periods at college so that it frees up evening and weekend time. Pick a time that suits you the best and make it a weekly routine.
Colour Coding Topics
- RED - I have no memory of ever studying or learning about this topic
- AMBER - I remember and can write some things about this topic, but there are gaps in my knowledge
- GREEN - I can write all I need to know about this topic from memory
TESTING, TESTING!
Revision is recall! You are not revising unless you are practising recall of the information that you have learnt. If you spend hours making posters, cue cards and spider diagrams, but never test yourself, then you are not revising, and the information will fade very quickly.
To get information into your long-term memory you must test yourself on it regularly. Regular recall strengthens memories and transfers them from the short-term memory store to the long-term store.
- Chose a topic and create a set of flash cards with questions on one side and answers on the back
- Draw pictures of topics and explain them to someone else.
- Create a spider diagram of the topic from memory (in your own words), go back and fill in the gaps in a different colour pen (which highlights the areas you can recall next time)
- Download an app
- Work in a pair and test each other
- Answer past paper questions from memory, check against example answers/mark schemes
- Use the Leitner method
Video 2 - How to study flashcards using the Leitner system
INEFFECTIVE REVISION TRAPS
- Re-reading information
- Highlighting or underlining documents
- Writing and re-writing information
Track your progress
Have a method in place for tracking your progress, this will make sure that you know what you have revised and what you have left to do. This also helps with boosting motivation, as your brain will give you a little dopamine hit (happy brain chemical) every time you tick something off your list ????
Remember why you are doing it!
What is your dream job? Where do you want to be in five years' time, what does life look like? Do you have a university course that you would like to go to, or a job that really appeals?
When you feel like you have got a lot to get through, just remind yourself that doing well at college is going to open lots of opportunities for you in the future. The hard work will be worth it!
Take Away Messages
- Start with your RED topics
- Work at a time that suits you and keep to the weekly routine
- Short bursts of revision are more effective
- Make sure your revision involves testing yourself
- Track your progress
- Remember your WHY
Useful APPS
- StudySmarter - Flashcard app
- Gojimo - Offers 40,000 quizzes, questions, and practice tests across all subjects. You can even download and use offline. It tracks progress and charts your strengths and weaknesses, indicating what you still need to work on
- GoStudent - This is a tutoring app, where you can search to find a tutor for particular subjects
- MindMeister - Mind maps app. Tool for creating digital mind maps, annotating them, and summoning them wherever you are
- Grammarly - Helps improve writing skills, offers suggestions for sentence structure, vocabulary, and tone.
- Forest - Helps to keep you away from your phone when you should be studying. It plants a digital tree for you and sends you off on your task, the tree dies if you go off task!
UK Exam Boards
- AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)
- CCEA (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment)
- OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations)
- Pearson, under its Edexcel brand
- WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee), under its WJEC and Eduqas brands