Revision Guide

Wallasey School Reaching for higher standards

Year 11 Revision Guide

Guide to Better Revision Everyone dreads revision. It exists to be despised. But there comes a time (or several times) in everyone's life when you have to do it to get where you want to in life.

Motivating yourself to revise is one of the toughest things you have to do at school. To make it worse, there is no immediate benefit: You have to sit there for hours on end, going through endless, illegible notes (most of which are probably incomplete) for an exam that is still some time away, and to get results that won't matter until months after you have sat the exam.

The fact is, though, that the exams do matter. The results do matter. Revision does matter. Now, we don't want to scare you (as one of the best ways to revise is to relax). But at least if you really put your mind to the revision, and then don't do as well as you expected, at least you will know you have given it your best. Otherwise, you may regret it for the rest of your life!

Remember also that everyone is on your side. If you need help, ask a teacher, ask your friends or your parents. It is also good to go to all the revision classes at school, even if you think you know it already!

Plan Ahead Before you do any work, sit down and plan what you are going to do between now and the exams. It is often a good idea to revise the areas you find most difficult first - get them out of the way and build your confidence in the subject.

Creating a timetable is always useful, as your time is now precious, so make it work for you. Starting early will give you the stress free 'little and often' approach. In other words, planning not cramming.

Make Summary Notes Gather all your material for the topic area and reduce them into brief, clear notes.

Then summarise those, and then again and again until you only need a few keywords to remind you of the whole topic!

You can carry around a sheet with all the keywords wherever you go.

Tip: An effective way to make sure you remember certain things is to invent mnemonics. For example, Never Eat Shredded Wheat (North East South West)

Understand How Your Memory Works Some of us are better at remembering things than others.

However, here is a trick that should help...

If you learn something new, in general it will already start fading in your mind after a few hours (unless it is particularly exciting). However, if you revise it again in the next four hours, it will take about 24 hours before it starts to fade.

Revise it in the 24 hour period and it will last for four days, then one and a half weeks, then one month, and so on.

By setting out your revision schedule to make the most of this (learn something, revise it again after a few hours, revise it again in the next couple of days, and so on) you will be using the way your memory works to your advantage.

Put aside specific hours in the day for revision If you set aside the hours in the day you are going to revise, and let everyone else know what these are, you can make sure you are not disturbed. You can then get into a 'revision pattern' - where your mind expects to be revising and is therefore more receptive to the material.

Plan in time off, including time for activities which can be done out in the fresh air. Take a 5 or 10 minute break every hour and do some stretching exercises, go for a short walk or make a drink.

You may find it helpful to change from one subject to another at ‘break’ time, for example doing one or two sessions of maths and then changing to Geography, or alternating a favourite subject with a more difficult one. It helps to build in some variety.

Try not to revise more than two subjects a day Don't feel that you need to revise a whole topic in one go.

As well as keeping a fresh head, going back the next day to finish revising the topic will renew your knowledge and hopefully help you retain the information for longer.

Eat Properly While you are using up energy revising it is important to eat properly so that your body and your mind are fit and ready for the exams Fish, eggs and milk are high in protein which is used by your brain. But you will need energy as well.

Nuts and bananas are good sources for this (chocolate is another good source of energy, but the effects of eating a bar of chocolate lasts for far less than eating, for instance, a banana).

Making it stick Now you have an idea about what works for you, here are some tricks to try:Remind yourself over and over If you revise something tonight, by this time tomorrow you'll have forgotten at least some of it.

So take another quick look at it tomorrow, to "top up" your memory.

Take another quick look next week, and keep "topping up" until the night before the exam.

This doesn't take long to do, and is usually quite comforting - you feel good because you find that the stuff looks familiar each time you look at it; because it's quick you can easily fit it in with all your other revision.

"Look, Cover, Write, Check" This is probably the way that you learned spellings in Primary School.

1) Read it.

2) Hide it away.

3) Write it out.

4) Check to see if you got it right.

This technique is good for spellings, diagrams, equations, lists of facts and a whole lot more.

Remembering labelled diagrams Draw a copy of the diagram - but without the labels. Then try to fill in the labels from memory.

Highlighting Go through your books highlighting key words / key ideas.

Not only does this make it easier to revise later, but the act of scanning through your books looking for the key stuff helps you to remember it. (Might be an idea to ask your teachers first, before you do this to your books, but if you explain why they'll almost certainly be delighted that you're getting on with your revision) Make summaries of the information For example, try to get the whole topic onto one side of A4 paper. It's the act of making the sheet which fixes the information in your mind. You might like to use "web diagrams" (you might call them "spider diagrams") - they really help to show what's in a topic.

Make your own "Flash Cards" These can help you to remember facts and equations. The idea is to carry them with you, and look at them when you have a spare moment (lunch queues, break times, on the bus...). You could put headings on one side and details on the other.

Work out "what could they ask me about this?"

For example, in a question about acids and alkalis, it's a safe bet that you'll be expected to know about the numbers on the pH scale, the colours that Universal Indicator goes, and what "neutralisation" means. In questions about the planets, expect to be asked about their names, the order that they're in (counting outwards from the Sun), which ones

are hottest/coldest, which ones go round the Sun fastest.... you've got the idea.

Practice on real exam questions The more you can try, the better. You wouldn't expect to do any other performance without a realistic rehearsal, and this is no different.

Be clear about what you're expected to know Otherwise how do you know if you've revised it all? Check with your teachers if you're not sure. Go along to any revision sessions that you can. These can really boost your confidence, which is what many people need the most.

You'll probably also be able to ask a different teacher about any bits that confuse you, and have it explained in a different way.

Identify your strong and weak areas Then you'll know where to concentrate your efforts. Go through your books and put green blobs beside stuff that you're happy about, and red blobs beside the bits you find more difficult. Then you know what to ask your teachers about at those revision sessions.

Thinking of buying a CD-ROM to help you revise?

Don't get the first one that you come across - it may not suit your style of working.

Find out about the different ones on the market: some are more "dry" and academic, others are better at boosting your confidence. Ask your teachers about what's best for you.

Work with somebody else There's an old saying: "the best way to learn is to teach".

Try it! If you can explain stuff to somebody else, then you know that you've got it straight yourself.

Exam tips Be prepared; find out what is involved in each of the examinations that you are going to sit. Organise yourself the night before and get plenty of sleep. 

Check you have the correct equipment with you before you leave the house (pens pencils, ruler, scientific calculator, etc).

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Do take a watch so that you can time your answers.

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Leave for the exam in plenty of time.

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Look through the paper first and mark difficult questions/initial thoughts.

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Look at the marks available and read the questions carefully, following instructions given in the paper (e.g. to show all workings, word limits etc).

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Don't write huge chunks for one-mark questions - you won't get any extra marks for it.

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If a question is worth two marks, you probably need to say two different things. (Not say the same thing twice!).

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Read the questions! Each year thousands of people lose marks because they rushed into an answer before they'd understood what the question was actually asking.

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Use the information provided on the paper (the answer’s often nearly all there).

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Keep an eye on the time.

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If you get stuck on a question, don't waste time on it move on and come back to it later if you can.

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Write as neatly as possible to help the examiner to mark your work. Marking untidy writing is difficult.

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Allow yourself ten minutes at the end to read through your answers and correct any mistakes.

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Cross out anything you do not want the examiner to read (e.g. an earlier answer to a question).