Transcript Revision

How to pass exams…
• Put in the time
• Revise
• Practice
There is no short cut!
Why revise?
• Reduces panic – gives you control and
confidence
→
• Means exams reflect what you can do, not
what you didn’t bother to do – show what
you know!
• Helps you to identify problem areas
Where to start? When to do it?
• Work out how much time you have, being
realistic.
• Take into account your ideal time of day to
work – work out when you will revise
• Break it down to make it seem
manageable. ‘Revising for GCSEs’ sounds
like too much hard work. ‘Revising French
names for countries’ is doable.
Resource 4
A week
in my
life…
Eat…sleep…socialise…relax…work…play
Mon
Day
time (till
5)
5-8
8-11
Tues Wed Thur Fri
Sat
Sun
Revision timetable – long term
(or use the school one)
Week
Subjects
commencing and topics
e.g. English – Short Stories
Day to
Time to
revise them revise them
Monday
8-9pm
What and how?!?!
1) Find out what you need to know.
•
•
•
What will actually be tested in the exam?
E.g. Romeo and Juliet was for English
coursework, not the exam, so you can put
aside any notes about it.
Your subject teacher will tell you this!
2) Get the notes/ material that you need.
•
Get the exercise books, textbooks, folders etc.
that contain the information that you need.
(Most revision guides will have this already
summarised)
Action Points:
(what I need to do before I start to revise)
What and how?!?! (2)
3) Pick your revision method(s). We learn:
• 10% of what we read (so just reading notes is almost pointless!)
• 20% of what we hear
• 30% of what we see
Revision
• 40% of what we see and hear
• 70% of what is discussed
• 95% of what we teach to someone else
• Revision Buddy - this is a powerful way of
revising providing you both do it seriously.
Remember 95% of what you teach to
someone else you learn!!
• Short Sharp 20 minute slots are much
better than ‘1 hour pretending to revise
sessions.’
• ‘Little and Often’ is the mantra.
A selection of revision techniques for different learning
styles – mix them; try them out!
Visual:
• Use post its + stick on wall
• Summarise notes
• Highlight or circle important info
• Use a traffic light system to indicate progress in learning and action
points
• Draw diagrams, pictures, mind maps
Auditory:
• Make up mnemonics, rhymes
• Tape yourself and listen
• Test yourself or friends
• Be the teacher – teach someone else something you’re revising
Kinaesthetic:
• Make your own PowerPoint presentation
• Complete past papers/ plans
• Complete summary sheets
• Act topics out!
• Play a game on BBC Bitesize/ use SAM learning
Using a highlighter
• Your brain can’t remember a whole
textbook/ folder. You have to sift through
to find the key points.
• Just looking for the key points makes your
brain think about the topic so you
remember it better.
• With your highlighters, find the key points
in the following text:
Science text: Anatomy of the
human arm
• The human arm contains 30 bones, joints,
muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Many of
these muscles are used for everyday tasks
• The humerus is the (upper) arm bone. It joins
with the scapula above at the shoulder joint (or
glenohumeral joint) and with the ulna and radius
below at the elbow joint.
• The elbow joint is the hinge joint between the
distal end of the humerus and the proximal ends
of the radius and ulna. The upper arm bone is
not easily broken. It is built to handle pressure of
up to 300lbs.
• Now you need to make that key
information memorable…
What do YOU remember best?
– Words
or
-Pictures
or
-Sounds?
Making study cards
• Taking your summarised information from
the highlighted text, make yourself a study
card on that topic.
• Use coloured pens/ highlighters/ pictures
• MAKE IT MEMORABLE!
• Just MAKING that card is revision and is
helping your brain to revise.
Study card example
Key facts - plants
• Need food
and light.
Plants need:
nitrogen
Collects CO2
hydrogen
oxygen
carbon
They
take in
carbon
dioxide
.
.
O2
Out
They give out oxygen
↓
Never
Hide
Our
Car
Making mnemonics
• Mnemonics that you probably already know:
*Never Eat Shredded Wheat
(North, East, South, West on a compass)
*Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, Violet for the colours of the rainbow)
What are they for?
• They give your brain a ‘hook’ to hang a memory
on.
• You use the first letter of each word that you need
to remember to make up a memorable
catchphrase (rather than just trying to remember
random words)
• Try to make up a mnemonic to help you remember
all the bones of the arm in order
The sections of the arm – use a
mnemonic to learn them
C_______________
S_______________
H_______________
R_______________
U_______________
Using acronyms
• Work in a similar way to mnemonics
• E.g. in English, your writing is marked for:
Purpose, Audience, Format, Spelling,
Paragraphing, Vocabulary, Punctuation
and Sentence Structure
↓
• PAFS and PVPS – easier!
How about…?
•C
•R
•U
•S
•H
»(for the sections of the arm?)
Designing diagrams/
mindmaps
• You can use them to summarise
information
• You can use them to test yourself.
• They make your brain pick out the key bits
of information.
Useful to summarise main ideas
Main idea
Main idea
Main idea
Topic
Main idea
Main idea
Main idea
Useful to show hierarchy
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
Useful for showing processes
.
.
..
.
.
Using Post-Its
• Active/ movement
• Use your post-its for your key words
Put these in places
where you will see
them frequently e.g.
the mirror, kettle,
wardrobe.