Revision techniques

Flash cards/revision cards

These are useful for summarising content, key word definitions and important facts. Use colours to make certain things stand out – for example, you could use different colours for advantages and disadvantages or for key words. You can test yourself using the revision cards.

Mind maps These are a really useful visual summary of information and you can put them on the wall. They allow you to show links between ideas and concepts. You can start by adding the topic to the centre of the diagram and then add the sub-topics around that and a summary of the information. Primary research Secondary research Market research Interviews Existing product analysis Anthropometric data Potential usersOpen questions ACCESS FM Functional Structural Surveys Existing products Internet Databases Publications Product analysis Observational studies Methods to research product requirements Create a mind map for a topic of your choice. Revise it! SAMPLE Preparing for the exam

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Making notes and highlighting key areas to go back to is a good way of working out what you know and don’t know. You can then use these notes as you come to your final revision. You can use different colours to highlight different factors or different types of information. For example, when revising the different research methods, you could colour-code which methods are primary and which methods are secondary.

Summaries

On the revision pages of this book, you’ll find summaries of key ideas and themes. Use these to help you summarise the key points you’ll need to remember to answer questions on those topics. For example, you need to know different processes used to model. You can make a summary of these yourself – and if you think through these points in the exam, you are more likely to remember them. Mnemonics A mnemonic is another useful way of remembering key facts by using the first letter of each of the parts to make up a memorable phrase. For example, ‘ACCESS FM’ stands for Aesthetics, Cost, Customer, Environment, Size, Safety, Function and Materials. Quizzes Everyone enjoys quizzes and creating and sharing quizzes with your friends and class is a great way to remember facts and concepts. You could suggest to your teacher that in pairs you create a quiz of ten questions and each week go through them together – swapping answers. It’s also a good way for you to check your knowledge. Make a note of the areas where you really didn’t know the answer and add these to your revision list. Practice questions Trying past papers and practice exam questions is an essential part of your revision. It prepares you for answering different types of exam questions and allows you to become familiar with the wording of the questions used by OCR. You should also use the mark scheme. This will help you understand how to get full marks for each question. It is helpful to highlight key words in exam questions so you’re clear what the question is asking before you answer it. SAMPLE

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Preparing for the exam