Getting revision ready!

Why revise? The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows us that the more often we revise the more chance we have of remembering.

How confident are you? Revision Rating Description of the revision/student. Verdict 5 Revision techniques are varied, organised, focused, purposeful, intensive, regular and practised. Bullet proof 4 Revision is varied, quite thorough – but there are some weaknesses in skill or knowledge. Some risk of forgetting 3 Only a single method is used with some structure and intensity. Significant risk of forgetting 2 There is no real method. Revision is disorganised, limited, occasional and lacks clear focus. You are not honest about the level of your own knowledge. Very high risk of forgetting 1 There is minimal effort, revision is sporadic and random. Danger zone. Score each subject – how well prepared do you feel? Be honest – it is vital you assess your current performance correctly so you can make progress with revision.

The revision cycle

Past Papers Use the subject overview booklet to ensure you are using the correct exam board and specification. As part of your revision ensure you are consistently completing questions and checking how well you have done – it will build your confidence and help you better understand what else you need to learn.

Traffic lights Use the contents pages of a revision guide. (Many subjects have them available on Squid) Tick with a green pen topics you are comfortable with. Leave revising these to last, they only require a light touch. Tick with a yellow/orange pen those topics you know “something” about, but probably need more on. Tick with red the topics that frighten you. Remember that these must be done first because they might just be on the paper!

PQRST – remember & apply You should spend around 45 minutes on a topic – this is a guide on how to spend those 45 minutes. Preview - quickly read the main headings of the topic you are revising – this could be from a guide or your own notes. Question – make up your own questions/ask a friend to make you some, or look at ones from past exams or workbooks. Read – the information you originally previewed and highlight the material that helps you answer the question. Summarise – sum up the information in the way that suits you e.g. notes, spider diagram, mnemonic, mind map. Test – answer the question stage Question.

Timetable   Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Morning Lessons Afternoon Lessons Early Evening (4pm - 6pm) Evening (7pm – 9pm) Fill in your lessons – try revise different things in the evening for variety! Build in some time for your hobbies and interests. Have a short break between subjects in the evening to give your brain chance to recover from the revision you have just done! There is a blank one on the next slide to print out.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday   Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Morning Lessons Afternoon Lessons Early Evening (4pm - 6pm) Evening (7pm – 9pm)

Organising Information

A5 Revision Cards

Spider Diagrams A useful way for remembering lists of information related to a topic.

Flash Cards Side 1 The title of the flashcard (this will help you when testing the information) Keep Flash Cards simple – they are great for helping you learn key facts and vocabulary. Use them as the basis for quick-fire quizzes to build recall. Keep your use of colour consistent in a subject e.g. one colour for all key terms. Side 2 The crucial information you need for this topic summarised effectively.. It could be words, sentences or images. Only use colour if it means something

Highlighting Text Rule 1: Always carry a highlighter. Rule 2: Do not highlight everything! It is all important but that does not mean it all needs colouring in!!! Rule 3: Read the text once without highlighting anything. Rule 4: Highlight the main themes of the text in one colour – this will allow you to summarise the main concept in the text for your revision. Rule 5: Use another colour for facts and figures to support your use of this concept in future.

Mind Maps Use plain paper landscape style Start with a central image Use curved lines – your brain prefers them Thick branches radiate from the centre Big ideas thin to details Use different colours for each branch No more than three words along the branches. Try to make the words fill the branch length Draw simple pictures to create associations Make links between the bigger branches

Mind Maps

Developing Memory and Recall

Varying revision in this way will help keep it interesting for you. Active Memory This is the idea of transferring information from one place to another. Look at a piece of information for a short amount of time. Try to remember it. Move to a different part of the room and write down what you remember. Go back and ‘fetch’ some more information. Keep going until you know it all! Varying revision in this way will help keep it interesting for you.

Study the next slide for 20 seconds, try and remember as much information as possible. Click to the following slide to add some panic and adrenaline (common exam feelings). Click again to the blank slide and write out the list. When you have finished check how many you scored.

The List Mercedes Blue Desert Yellow Seventeen January Cactus Thirty Six Primera Twelve Red Oasis November March Toyota

You will forget You will forget You will forget

Your List

Placing similar information together to help us remember. Categories Categories Placing similar information together to help us remember. Numbers Twelve Seventeen Thirty Six Colours Blue Red Yellow Environment Cactus Oasis Desert Cars Toyota Primera Mercedes (Toy Primer) Months November January March

Quizlet Quizlet allows you to create online (and printable) flash cards. It then creates memory games to help you remember all the information. It is free and available on your phone, tablet and laptop. Split a topic with friends and you could create a huge set of flash cards to share very quickly.

Transformation Read through a body of text and turn the text into 5 key images which summarise the information. You are allowed to use a maximum of 5 words. The rest of the information must be shown as pictures, symbols or diagrams. Numbers are free!

The Journey Think of a journey/place that you know well. Which points stand out? Link these to what you have to remember. Mentally create a journey to remember your list! This can also work for body parts by linking concepts you wish to remember to body parts.

More ideas! Make a recording of yourself talking about key information. Listen whenever you can. Revise with friends – take turns to give key points to answer a question about a topic so everyone is on the spot. You could do this through Skype or Facetime. Reduce information – try to keep reducing your notes into a few key words. Big challenge – cut a whole subject into one sentence!