Study skills for pre-16 students

Don’t panic and ace your exams! Image from Shutterstock

This session will cover the following areas: How to prepare yourself during the school year and avoid a last minute panic. How to plan your revision in the time running up to your exams. Different revision styles which may or may not be appropriate for you. Examples of revision activities you can adapt for your own subject areas.

Before we start… You have been given a questionnaire about your approach to studying. Please complete this questionnaire (honestly!) to assess your own study habits. Once completed, add up your scores in the table provided.

Now look at your score  Mostly 1 You are far too laid back! You need to get yourself more organised and develop some serious study skills before your exams come around! It’s about time you kicked yourself into shape! Mostly 2 You are probably working too hard. You need to take some time out between study to relax and do something you enjoy. Taking breaks and relaxing now and again will actually help your studies in the long run. There is only so much information you can absorb! Mostly 3 You have excellent study skills. You are organised and well prepared but you realise the need to relax and enjoy yourself in between. With this kind of attitude you should go far!

During the school year Make sure you purchase any key revision guides that are recommended by teachers, and look at them regularly! Use sticky page marker tabs to mark any key pages. As early as possible you need to be organising your work into subject and topic areas. This could be within your exercise books, with folders and plastic wallets, trays, boxes…whatever suits you best. Make sure you keep all worksheets, diagrams and handouts - GLUE THEM IN YOUR BOOKS! If you miss any lessons, check with your teacher if there are vital resources or notes to catch up on. Start to think about which areas you are struggling with and which topics you are confident with. For example, in GCSE Spanish you are strong at knowing a range of vocabulary but haven’t grasped how to form the future tense. Image from Shutterstock

During the school year Once you have identified areas where you are weak/ have missed lessons, don’t just ignore them! Ask your teacher to give you a recap / direct you to a section in the textbook / useful websites. Completing past paper questions will also highlight your areas of weakness - do this early on to ensure you have time to re-cover topics. Make a table which details how confident you are with each GCSE topic - then you can see where more revision is needed.

For example… AQA GCSE Geography Strong? Medium? Weak? Living with the physical environment Section A: The Challenge of Natural Hazards Section B: The living world Section C: Physical landscapes in the UK Challenges in the human environment Section A: Urban Issues and Challenges Section B: The changing economic world Section C: The challenge of resource management

Planning your revision Revision isn’t just something that just happens on its own…unfortunately! You will need to make a revision timetable in order to plan your time wisely and make sure that all subjects are covered equally. Make sure your revision timetable is realistic! Include weekly activities such as ‘football practice’, as well as breaks for eating, drinking, checking Facebook, seeing friends/ family, sleeping, etc.!

Examples of revision timetables No break for eating dinner? No time for socialising or relaxing…is this realistic? What is good about this revision timetable? What is bad about it? What is missing?

Examples of revision timetables To easily create your own revision timetable on a computer, you could use an Excel spreadsheet, Google Docs, or go to this website where there are lots of easy templates to use: www.getrevising.co.uk Or you can use an old fashioned pen and paper! It may look quite complicated but this is a good example of a revision timetable (it can be adapted for GCSE level) There are gaps for other ‘life activities’ and time scheduled for breaks and socialising. It would be impossible to revise all day every day for months on end- it is all about balance!

How should I revise? Different people learn in different ways, and you may have preferred methods of revising… You may have heard the terms ‘audio’ ‘visual’ and ‘kinaesthetic’ learner and you may identify with one or more of these. Auditory learners may benefit from recording revision notes and listening back to them, or creating mnemonics to remember key words or concepts.

Visual learners may benefit from making mind maps which detail key ideas and may be arranged in groups or colours. You can download templates and ready made mind maps at www.getrevising.co.uk

Kinaesthetic learners can benefit from physical things such as flash cards, acting things out and post it note reminders. It can also be really useful to work in groups and explain theories and examples to each other, as often this help you to understand something better yourself. Remember - most people won’t just fit into one of these categories - it’s worth trying a variety of revision techniques so you don’t get bored! Image from Shutterstock

How much can you take in in a couple of minutes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDKQxi0_Ogc How much can you take in in a couple of minutes? Watch the video and then see if you can answer the questions on the next slide…

Frontal cortex and temporal lobe “Being able to recognise something is very different from being able to recall it “ Complete this sentence that the presenter says at the beginning of the video: “Being able to recognise something is very different from being able to ________ it” Frontal cortex and temporal lobe Which two parts of the brain need to be in action to recall information? Name at least 1 When you are doing other things e.g. football When does ‘consolidation’ happen? Catherine Parr Which of Henry VIII’s wives was the last to be mentioned by the presenter?

Top tips for success: Plan ahead and don’t leave everything to the last minute, last minute cramming doesn’t work and will stress you out. Don’t ignore complicated topics or those which you find less interesting. Just reading through your exercise book isn’t proper revising- you need to make concise and clear notes which summarise key points. Small chunks of work rather than slogs are better. For example, do 40mins revision and then have a 10min break. Make sure the environment you are working in is appropriate- away from distractions like the TV and pets. Make sure you drinks lots of water and get plenty of sleep!

Questions?

Information gathered from: TES Online resources University of East Anglia website University of Huddersfield For further information: https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/info-for/young-people/pre- 16/study-skills/revision-tips www.getrevising.co.uk https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/interactive_tips_exam

Thank you