Revision Techniques (for your geography exams!)

This is a guide to help you decide which is your preferred learning style It is important that you revise in a way that supports your preferred learning style If you dont, then you may end up wasting lots of your time, and - worse still - you may end up remembering nothing!!

There are 3 main preferred learning styles: Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic (practical) You may be a combination of any of these, but more than likely one type will be more predominant than the others

Visual Revision Techniques: Mind map e.g. for geographical processes of erosion, transportation and deposition Form a mental picture to try to see the whole topic e.g. Population growth rates… causes…. How do they all link together? How do they link with what is happening next? Make a poster Create a picture in your imagination e.g. population pyramids colour-coded to show LEDC and MEDC

Visual learners Allow white space between points Use coloured pens / highlighters Use pictures, video Make a diagram e.g. for cave, arch, stack etc. sequence of erosion Surf a revision site on the Internet e.g. Bitesize Geography

Auditory Revision Techniques: Record key ideas on tape/disc e.g. listen to causes of rural urban migration before you fall asleep Say key ideas out loud e.g. characteristics of pressure systems Tell key ideas to someone else or the dog e.g. positive and negative effects of the One Child Policy in China Get someone to test you Play soothing background music e.g. classical, Jack Johnson, Dido, etc.

Kinaesthetic Revision Techniques: Moving information on a page e.g. create sorting cards for key words and definitions for erosion processes and match them up Associate information with actions e.g. Coastal Kung Fu for types of wave erosion Explain using gestures Flash cards Walk around Use the rooms space e.g. one side of the room for good points, the other side for bad points

What strategies can you use? Flash cards Practice questions Internet Revising with / testing friends Labelled diagrams Writing notes Writing lists Underlining in notes Star diagrams Mind maps Mnemonics

Writing notes It is better to rewrite notes than to simply read through work Dont rewrite everything, you need to cut down on the amount of information Do make sure you have enough detail! Summarise!

Writing lists Lists are a good way of remembering information or advantages / disadvantages for a topic Write lists as bullet points Use small pictures to help you e.g. Advantages Disadvantages Lower fertility rate Female infanticide

When writing lists……. If you use a colour (e.g. green for good and red for bad) use the same colours every time 5 points is a good number to remember Little drawings are a good way of helping you remember points, even a silly drawing will help!

Using numbers! You may be able to remember numbers more easily than names. If this is the case try to put figures with points where you can. E.g. Higher salaries would become Higher salaries, factory workers can earn 3 times the wages of farm workers

Using labelled diagrams An excellent way to learn especially for visual learners!

Underlining in notes Its difficult to remember a page of notes if they are all the same font and colour Use colour / different sizes for heading / key points Underline key points or draw borders round them like this! Use diagrams, lists and pictures to break up pages of notes

Mind maps Like a star / spider diagram but contains much more detail and demonstrates links between material more clearly Can have whole topic on A3 page Geographical processes of erosion, transportation and deposition

Revising with friends ADVANTAGES: can talk about the work can test each other easier to remember facts if spoken out loud DISADVANTAGES Too easy to talk about something more interesting instead!

Exam questions 1.Use past questions as you revise to make sure you have the notes / case studies necessary to get full marks 2.Test yourself under exam conditions

Mnemonics Use the first letter of a series of words to create another word The sillier the better! E.g. Bring Soccer Balls Tomorrow Depositional landforms BeachesBars SpitTombolo Mnemonic website icks/mnemonics/index.php icks/mnemonics/index.php

Revision cards Put separate topic / case study on each card Keep topics together Dont try to put too much information on each card

Revision card example Population pyramids Transitional stage: Decreasing death rate Gradually decreasing birth rate Longer life expectancy E.g. Brazil

Other points! DONT leave it all until the last minute Organise yourself Plan a revision timetable Take breaks when revising e.g minutes every hour If you are worried speak to someone!