Also includes notes from the book by Ian Geddes How to pass SQA exams Also includes notes from the book by Ian Geddes

WITH EMPHASISS ON: Spaced learning Better revision techniques? (After Dunlosky 2013)

Learning Objective To explore the techniques best suited for revision at National 5 and Higher level with particular emphasis on ‘Spaced Learning’ so that students are confident and ready to kick that exam’s bum… “As we start to approach the exam session again, many students (and teachers) will be entering their favourite purveyor of stationary goods to arm themselves with all the tools that one could need to prepare for an exam: cue cards, revision books and, of course, highlighters. I have seen many students think that revisiting their notes armed with a handful of multi-coloured highlighters is an effective way to get ready for the big day — well at least there is something visible to show for their efforts. “ CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS: to understand that, whilst highlighters might be good on exam papers to highlight keywords and enable you to FOCUS, they are LOW on the effectiveness table for revision techniques’

Why do we have exams? To measure your progress To encourage you to revise Necessary to satisfy the conditions of the course Provide an ‘entry level’ for employment/ college/ university

“The discipline of most of the students I am paid to teach is deplorable. They claim to forget their assignments, when in truth, they simply refused to do them. They do not want to learn, and I cannot instil that desire in them. Our nation is doomed” Aristotle (384-322 BC).

No two people study in the same way Everyone is different It’s not a matter of how hard or how long you study; it’s how SMART you study

Finding a structure that helps YOU to process and prioritise all the information you need to know and understand will make study less confusing

Take some coloured paper

Self Assessment Questions Jot down your successes in life so far. Take time to work out WHY you had some success What are your four main fears when it comes to studying for exams? Make a list called ‘How to FAIL an exam’

Make a list of all the SQA courses you’re taking Make a list of all the SQA courses you’re taking. For each, assess your chances of success, strengths and weaknesses. For each weakness try and identify a creative solution Subject Level Weakness and solution Strength Target Grade

Focus

Professor David Perkins (Harvard University) states research that says “90% of bad decisions are errors of perception, not logic.” Focus is critical – even NASA found out the hard way when spending $m’s developing a pen to write in zero gravity.

The Russians used a pencil.   The difference is Focus NASA was looking for ‘A pen to write in zero gravity’. The Russians, ‘A writing implement to write in zero gravity’. Small difference, very different outcome.

Improving Revision with Effective Techniques.

REVISION Comes from the Latin revidere (to see again) which is what you are doing – seeing again the material or topic you are studying

Not the best way!

TRYING TO COMBINE THE BEST REVISION STRATEGIES SPACED LEARNING TRYING TO COMBINE THE BEST REVISION STRATEGIES

‘Spaced Revision’ an evidence based revision strategy that empowers students to use the techniques that work best for them within a set of scaffolding to support them. It has four stages that repeat over the course of a set period of time. This could be a revision period, over the course of a module, or ongoing over the course of the year.

Review of topic (about ~20 minutes) – this can take any form and is not prescriptive – it is about allowing the student to revisit their notes and build their knowledge base before completing the next tasks. Make sure that the topic is small – anything too large and it will be too much – this is about distributing topics over shorter, more effective revision periods. Transformation exercise (about ~20 minutes) – here students put their notes away and transform the knowledge into something else – this could be a mind map, a drawing, a song, a poem, flash cards etc. The idea is that by transforming their knowledge they have to keep asking ‘why’ – why does that item link with another item on a mind map, why should that part be in the drawing … Practice testing (about 10 minutes) – with a friend, family member, study buddy – or just using the cover, write check method – quickly test yourself on the topic. Exam question (about 10 minutes) – complete an exam question on the topic / sub-topic you have completed and check this with a mark scheme.

THE DETAIL

Stage 1: Review a topic – for the first 20 minutes utilise any technique you are comfortable with to review the topic. This could be highlighting, making notes, creating flashcards or using post-its. Often, you might stop after this and think ‘my revision is done!’. But no, this is just the start of an effective learning technique. Stage 2: Transformation task – this is building on the elaborative learning tasks discussed above. Here you need to transform the notes or highlighting that you have from Stage 1 into something different. This could be a mindmap, a drawing, a song, a poem. By doing this you will have to be thinking ‘how’ am I going to show this content in a different form and ‘why’ does each piece belong. It can be fun too. 20 minutes That is the end of the first session. When you return to your revision in the next day or two (distributed practice) you complete Stages 3 and 4 on the first topic and then start again with Stages 1 and 2 of a new topic.

Stage 3: Practice testing – with a friend, family member or one of the many websites online that have relevant quizzes – test yourself on the area that you have reviewed. 10 minutes Stage 4: Exam questions – finally, complete an exam question or questions on the area you have reviewed and mark this yourself using a mark scheme or ask your teacher to mark it (practice testing). Importantly, when you are composing your answer use elaborative interrogation and think ‘why am I writing this?’ 10 minutes

During Stage 2, the transformation tasks that are used can make or break your whole revision strategy. Don’t just do the same task over-and-over again – do a mind map one day, create a poster another – mix it up! You need to plan your revision well and make sure that you stick to the plan. If you ever miss a session, you need to double up. It is all too easy to fall behind and then just give up with the process. With that in mind make an achievable plan and stick to it (Handout)

plenary REVIEW TRANSFORM PRACTICE EXAM 20 MINUTES 10 MINUTES

horse’s (former students) mouth! From the horse’s (former students) mouth!

Make a goal board

How I Revised   I first downloaded the free app MySQA from the App Store onto my phone. The app automatically creates a study timetable for you and keeps track of the hours spent studying. All you need to do is enter the subject, type of exam and the importance of it. This really helped me have a balance of the subjects I needed to revise for leading up to the prelims. Link: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sqa-my-study-plan/id419308081?mt=8

When it actually came to studying I had to shut myself off in a room and read all the books, notes and revision sites for each subject. Every so often I would take a break and complete a timed past paper. It is very important to stay focused by removing all distractions from the room such as phones, TVs or laptops.   Encouragement from my parents and other family members was a major factor for success too. I would tell them what I completed each day and they would support me and help me get ready for each prelim. Fergus McLean

I rewrite my notes through writing and making up questions, and answering them as fully as possible. I also find past papers useful as they get me used to the type of questions I’ll have in the exam. Another helpful method is keeping myself calm, this helps me to learn more when I am not stressed out. To keep myself calm I have a study space upstairs, with a large desk and all my books at hand and then no books at all in my room. This separates sleeping and revising, making it appear more of a job than a chore. Rachel McFarlane I found my parents and brother helpful when I was revising because they could ask me questions using school notes or rewritten notes to test my knowledge. Questions can be asked from summary files given by class teachers. It is also important to go over past papers with the answers. -Josh Cruickshanks