A and A* students... Share your revision tips

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Reply 1020

sewers the wise

everything*

Reply 1021

sewers the wise

Original post by LifeIsGood

You can but depends on what you're doing in your study session. How much you got left?

also depends on how much you are able to remember, but depending on what subject you take and which part of the course it is posssible

Reply 1022

sewers the wise

Original post by aysha.19

i actually had 3 exams on consecutive days so its practically impossible to revise EVERYTHING in less than 24 hours... but i tried. :frown:

That seems good for history... but r these for essays too?

tht is a good way of revising!

Reply 1023

smd4std

revise 10minutes the day before the exam by flicking through the text book. do the same thing 30mins before exam also.

Reply 1024

I Gurn Hard

I genuinely did nothing, was in hospital overdosing on diazepam, bupe and alcohol when i did my english and pol A levels

best formula for success: no revision and a poly-substance abuse disorder, joking.

p.s probably helped i did **** subjects really, got over 95% UMS in the A*'s and full marks in the pol AS but 92% and 74% in the A2 modules = less than 90% in A2 = A grade overall, didn't even deserve that, bloody useless exam boards employing monkeys to mark my papers lol, i'm by no means clever... bloody laughable that this happened since i was planning to go into work in a newsagent after A levels cause i was 100% sure i'd failed.

p.p.s even more laughable since i just read that prince william got ABC after working "extremely hard" and going to eton, and prince harry got a B and a D!!!!! what?!??!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1025

Bread Basket

Passive listening doesn't work for me and it doesn't work for most people I know. So just listening to podcasts isn't going to work for most people. An interesting method is shadowing where you write or repeat what the podcast/video is saying, which certainly works for foreign language revision.

For me I used to brute-force my subjects and just go over everything, but making quizzes, flashcards and spider diagrams has kept me sane even though I really didn't have any proper revision done over the holidays.

Reply 1026

mel0n

I would create brief notes for potential essay questions that could come up. Two of my A Levels required me to remember researchers, findings, law cases and my other required me to remember some quotes from books. In the lead up to my exams I wrote these key bits of information onto post it notes of different colours / sizes and stuck them in places that I would likely see them. Namely my wardrobe mirror so I could see them when getting ready :colonhash:

. Part of my Psychology A Level tested us on research methods so for that I completed lots of past papers and printed out mark schemes for them and highlighted what I needed to.

Reply 1027

CurtisDean

I agree with DPLSK! But don't forget to take many breaks to help your mind function well - they say that the average attention span is 20 minutes - so I suggest revising during this time and taking a break after, then repeating it in two hour blocks?

Reply 1028

deano0417

Original post by aysha.19

i actually had 3 exams on consecutive days so its practically impossible to revise EVERYTHING in less than 24 hours... but i tried. :frown:

That seems good for history... but r these for essays too?

I did all my exam technique and essay practice in class, our class finished the course by mid-april so we spent 2-3 weeks just doing timed essays :smile:

Reply 1029

beansprouts

If you're doing A Levels then the best advice I would give is to sacrifice those 2 years of your life and revise your butt off. Honestly you'll feel like crap when on a Saturday night you're stuck at home revising and all your friends are at a house party. But it's completely worth it in the end when you get those A/A* and the uni you want :smile:

Reply 1030

RoyalBlue7

Be extremely attentive in class. Repeat all what the teacher says and ask questions. That's helps a lot.

Reply 1031

sufyan112

I like making little revision cars with mind map's
i have kept em with me for the last 2 weeks, on the train or bus i just keep going through em
but past papers is a big MUST
I did RS in year 11, got a B but haven't done a resit, i did Sikhism and utilitarianism

AS RE*

The way I see it, is to finish all revision, with a ton of past papers (from every exam board, most topics are similar) and just relax on the day before the exam. Too much stress ruins the exam for you.

Reply 1034

ReMos

forcing yourself to revise is far less productive than revising at will. (if i really need to revise, i will do it, but i wont overdo it. if i feel like revising i will, and 1 hour doing revision out of will is the same as 10 of forcing myself to revise)

Learning that extra bit over the syllabus allows one to ''tie all the loose ends'', or ''make everything click together'' and when everything connects, and seemingly unrelated topics become connected as one and are a continuation of one another almost, it makes it incredibly easy to remember them. By better understanding the matter, it is made easier to remember, and the time spend better understanding it is far less than the time spent memorising it without understanding.

BULLET. POINT. EVERYTHING. (within reason.) as long as i am confident that i can string all my facts into sentences and paragraphs and then essays, flow charts and one liners are far more easy to remember and process than big scary chunks of text.

the PHYSICAL ACT OF WRITING almost 'etches' the notes in my brain, i find that others think it too. i will often rewrite my notes in different formats (flash cards or different orders and classifications of bulletpoints etc) without any need to simply because needing to write something is much more taxing than just reading it in your head, it forces you to read letter by letter, and is better i believe.

if you dont enjoy something you need to revise, at (almost) all cost, make it enjoyable somehow. look at it from a different approach, make it humorous.

these are my tips. hope they help i guess?

Reply 1035

dark-blue

First - find out what kind of learner you are: visual, auditory or kinasthetic (not sure if that's the right spelling). Some people are a combination of both. It sounds to me like your revision was very visual based, when you might actually learn better through other means.

Visual learners like things like mind maps and colourful notes. Another way is using visual pegs/ method of loci which I learnt during psychology - "hanging" or linking pieces of information on established images, maybe combining them. My friend used the latter for biology, using her house to "store" information. For example, say you had to learn the process of digestion, you could link each room to an organ/stage. You could try pneumonics, like the whole Richard of York thing for the colours of the rainbows. However, I find this is better suited to "simple" facts rather than really broad topic areas.

Auditory learners might prefer recording themselves talking through key points or almpst giving a speech about different topics and then playing them in their sleep etc. I have a friend who plays music whilst going through notes, that way she remembers them through thinking back to what song was playing. That's another way - you could make up little songs or rhymes to help you remember stuff. Having a group discussion is another option.

The last type of learning is hard for me to describe as it's type I prefer least. From what I remember, though, it's all about movement and "active" learning - sort of like the little games teachers sometimes get you to play, e.g. card matching exercises, races etc.

Generally visual revision is pushed more in schools. probably because it's the most straightforward method, and it makesit easier for teachers to check you're actually doing something. However, if you're not a visual learner at heart, you're unlikely to benefit - i believe this is why the so-called "trouble" children have a hard time in academic subjects, even though they have the potential.

I'll quickly run through some basic points which people have probably already mentioned: revise in regular short bursts; it's not neccessary to totally abandon your social life as it will just make you more stressed - take breaks. Well done for doing past papers, this will definitely help - ensure some are done under timed codnitions to help you get to grips with exam technique. Also practise writing quick essay plans for things like Sociology. Talk to your teachers, they can help you if you let them. Get plenty of sleep, eat well, etc. and START EARLY! It's better to make your notes as you progress through the course rather than find you have an entire subject to do two weeks before the exam - which is kind of what I did...

My personal tecniques - I've recently started using Post-It Notes to more effect - this is especially good for learning things like vocab for languages, put them in places you visit frequently, take them down once you've repeated them enough times and learnt them. They're also good for essay based subjects, if you organise chunks of information in a mock essay plan, drawing arrows to link different ideas and adding criticisms, it will help you to organise information more clearly once you're in the exam hall.

Last point - what do you class as a "bad" grade? Sometimes if you have high predictions it's easy to beat yourself up if you don't quite hit them, but remember, your other modules can bring your grade up, and sometimes, it might just be the day/ paper and resits generally tend to go better (not that I'm advocating taking every single papertwice). If you do not know where you went wrong,I'd suggest getting your paper back, or possibly remarked.

Reply 1036

Natasha A*

Hi, I'm currently studying in college and I'm predictied mostly A's for my A levels but I just know that I may not achieve this as recently I've started to become so unmotivated and end up eating/watching tv online. What could I do to help me reach my targets, I'm currently using mind maps/posters/revision cards and sticking post it notes all over doors so before I enter that room I re-revise them. I really want to study hard but I have a short attention span and end up taking way too many breaks. Any information would be much appreciated to what myslef and anyone else in a similar situation as me can do to improve our grades :smile:

Thankyou x

Reply 1037

YB101

I need some help!

For AS I got the following

B in Psychology (very high B)
C in Biology ( B/C/D)
C in Chemistry ( B/D/C)

In my Jan 2012 resits I:

Resat the F212 exam and went from a C to and A
Redid the F213 practicals and went from a D to a C (I missed one because my teacher didn't tell me when it was -.- )
Redid the Chemistry F322 exam AND GO THE SAME GRADE even though I got 20 marks higher :eek:

So that left me with AS Grades of BBC

So in the summer I'm resitting the F211 exam to bring my overall biology grade to an A
Ressiting the F322 to get an A (determination)
Sitting 6 A2 Exams.
I have an offer to study biomedical science @ Manchester with the offer being AAB
I do believe I am putting in the hours but what can I do to make sure I maintain a high level of work in each exam! 9 is so many !?

Reply 1038

m121

Original post by YB101

Hi just wondering, (I'm still doing GCSEs at year 11 atm) but considering taking psychology, chemistry, biology and maths. Are u aspiring a career in medicine by the way? Because those a levels seem to suit it. Anyway! Do you find those 3 subjects alone overwhelming that you feel a fourth MATHS one would be too difficult? And how is psychology? Is it really hard? ..I've heard there's impossible amount of case studies and coursework :s-smilie: