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Revision & Note Taking Methods

I am about to start A levels this September and I'm not sure how to make sure I learn and remember as much as possible in class. I am going to do Art, French, Maths, English Language and Japanese as an Additional Study. I have notebooks for each subject including Art and a document wallet and ring binder for everything except art. I have one general folder and a refill pad.
I have colourful ballpoint pens, highlighters in 4 colours, fineliners, sticky notes in lots of colours and a big pack of sharpies. I'm just not sure what is the best way to take notes in class so that they can be used for revision. I have read around and people seem to have a sort of colour-coding system but I'm not sure what to do for my subjects. Please share your study methods.

For GCSE I made notes, then highlighted them and used them to make mindmaps and flashcards. This method helped me revise for my GCSEs but because I had to re-write my class notes and combine them with the revision guide, it took a long time and this won't be very efficient at A-level.
For class notes, I wouldn't worry if your notes aren't as presentable as you would like them to be as they are for initial notes. However if you want your notes to be organised, use headings for different information. Listen to the teacher and read whats on the board before you write so you don't have to repeat yourself in your content and your notes are easier to understand.
Number your pages as I find making a contents page is highly beneficial to organisation. And although colour co-ordination sounds great in principle, it can be time wasting to continously be swapping pens. So if you do want to use colour, use highlighters as they can be done after the notes are written.

I hope this helps,
Coral :smile:
Original post by Tasha1905
I am about to start A levels this September and I'm not sure how to make sure I learn and remember as much as possible in class. I am going to do Art, French, Maths, English Language and Japanese as an Additional Study. I have notebooks for each subject including Art and a document wallet and ring binder for everything except art. I have one general folder and a refill pad.
I have colourful ballpoint pens, highlighters in 4 colours, fineliners, sticky notes in lots of colours and a big pack of sharpies. I'm just not sure what is the best way to take notes in class so that they can be used for revision. I have read around and people seem to have a sort of colour-coding system but I'm not sure what to do for my subjects. Please share your study methods.

For GCSE I made notes, then highlighted them and used them to make mindmaps and flashcards. This method helped me revise for my GCSEs but because I had to re-write my class notes and combine them with the revision guide, it took a long time and this won't be very efficient at A-level.


Wow that's a lot of subjects. Are you sure you want to keep all 5 because doing over 4 is not really necessary to go to a top uni.I'd tell you to not be afraid of hard work. Working hard is the key to doing well. Try to make your class work really neat so your not put off from using them to revise.Use the Internet to look up the specification for each of your subjects to make sure that you know everything you need to for the exam. I'd advise that you make flash cards (not as useful for maths) according to the spec. I use the app called Brainscape it's a flash card app and is extremely helpful👌🏾.I did maths and just about missed out on an A because I wasnt consistent enough -I should of made sure that I was doing well in mock exams.

The most important thing is to stay motivated ,remember why you're doing this. It's not going to be easy but hard work pays off- it payed off for me with my AS results this year
Reply 3
Original post by Leah3852
Wow that's a lot of subjects. Are you sure you want to keep all 5 because doing over 4 is not really necessary to go to a top uni.I'd tell you to not be afraid of hard work. Working hard is the key to doing well. Try to make your class work really neat so your not put off from using them to revise.Use the Internet to look up the specification for each of your subjects to make sure that you know everything you need to for the exam. I'd advise that you make flash cards (not as useful for maths) according to the spec. I use the app called Brainscape it's a flash card app and is extremely helpful👌🏾.I did maths and just about missed out on an A because I wasnt consistent enough -I should of made sure that I was doing well in mock exams.

The most important thing is to stay motivated ,remember why you're doing this. It's not going to be easy but hard work pays off- it payed off for me with my AS results this year


Additional studies aren't very time consuming in my sixth form but everyone has to take one additional study or extra curricular because they're timetabled in. Yeah I have brainscape so I'll probably use it for key words and French vocabulary. I'm not sure what subject I would drop after AS, maybe English language, I don't know.

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