Effective Revision strategies- What works and what doesn’t? Year 11 Effective Revision strategies- What works and what doesn’t? e.g. Re-reading or use of highlighters are only the beginning of the learning journey, you need to do something a bit more, something to engage more actively ... ......that’s what the evidence shows...!

Revision techniques - the good, the OK and, well…the less good. Professor John Dunlosky reviewed 1,000 scientific studies looking at 10 of the most popular revision strategies. Yes – he did this. And his research team.

1. Practice Questions Retrieval practice method Self-testing Planning out answers

How can you test yourself? Past paper questions Plan out answers in key points Write out answers Practice questions in books Make / design exam Qs and trade with a friend Make flash cards and test yourself with them Get someone to test you verbally on your notes Online quiz

2. Distributed [spaced learning]practice The ‘when’ of studying – so when you’ll revise / study aspects of subjects Split up time over subjects e.g. 4 hrs spread across 2 weeks Focus on whjat’s most important More is better

3. Explaining Something - Elaborative interrogation ! You have a fact you need to learn / memorize / revise You ask yourself ‘Why is this true’? You make up a (plausible) explanation for why the fact is true Helps your mind to make sense of the idea and relate it to existing ideas

4. Self-explanation Explaining how new information is related to known information..

4a. Self-explanation ..or explaining steps taken when looking at worked examples work done ..because is needs to match the weight in size The unit of work is the Joule ..because energy is conserved

5. Interleaved practice Following a revision timetable that mixes up different subjects / topic / types of work within the same session

6. Summarizing (note taking) Selecting / reducing info. to summarize Textbook or revision guide as a source Creating key summaries of key topics e.g. bullet point lists / spider diagrams

7. Highlighting/underlining Marking important points in a book or notes

8. Keyword mnemonic Sentences for lists: Imagery for lists: la dent (tooth) la clef (key) revenir (to return) mourir (to die)

9. Imagery for text Attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening

10. Rereading Restudying text again after an initial reading

Which actually work? Highest Medium Lower – but of some use still Effectiveness Strategies Highest Practice questions / testing Distributed practice Medium Elaborative interrogation Self-explanation Interleaved practice Lower – but of some use still Summarization Highlighting Keyword mnemonics Imagery for text Rereading

Distributed testing cycle Read or make notes but don’t spend long Test yourself: initially with the book open, later without Mark and grade your work. Evaluate your mistakes Identify which questions you lost marks on: use your notes or Bitesize quizzes to go over these areas again Score improved from last time? Y N Seek help: ask a teacher, a friend or parent. This is why revision needs to be over several weeks..

Why are we telling you this now? You need to start revising early: distributed testing Remaining class tests: opportunity to rehearse new revision techniques Work with a friend Next steps: Timetable Making a revision plan

Evaluate: how to improve Evaluating mistakes Metacognition: ‘Thinking about thinking’ aka ‘Learning to learn’; Reflect: Why did I choose that answer? What was faulty about my answer? What information was I missing? Test yourself Reflect on mistakes Evaluate: how to improve Find a similar task You are probably already doing this sort of thing in lessons for some of your teachers. Reflecting on your learning helps with motivation, independence and ultimately your progress.

Evaluate: how to improve Evaluating mistakes Evaluate: What should I have been thinking about for this Q? What would I do differently next time? What do I need to go over again before trying a similar Q? Test yourself Reflect on mistakes Evaluate: how to improve Find a similar task What can you test yourself with? Can you mix it up?

MAP Exam De-stress sessions Fridays 3.30-4.45pm in M22 Practical strategies

The Spirit of the Exams – a vibe? Exam timetable Helping Each Other – as you would Subject by subject – break it down Try the methods Breaks