A level revision guides

how do you revise using textbooks?? as I try to read through full chapters and make mindmaps but it seems to take ages and I worry I wont be able to read all of the textbook chapters by the time I do my exam
also there are so many different textbooks out there. I do OCR religious studies and I find the big blue oxford textbook really unhelpful and superfluous in content however the hodder education books are really useful.
For those doing theology (or any other essay based subject) how do you find the time to read all of the primary sources as well as textbook/class notes??

Reply 1

yangoe

you could try this method https://youtu.be/nqYmmZKY4sA which talks through these steps:
Repeat for all chapters:
1. Flip Through each page in the chapter (Tells your brain what to look out for, how it's structured, and other subconscious benefits)
2. Read Questions at end of chapter (Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon)
3. Read Bold Words in the chapter (Titles, subtitles, Topic-Headings. Get a better understanding of the structure)
4. Read First and Last Sentence of each paragraph (First sentence gives an indication on what the rest of the paragraph is about, the last sentence sums up the important information)
5. Read through the chapter and take notes (Brings everything together and lets you connect the dots)

I've personally used it only for an A-Level History Russia paper (found the video last month) and found it good for going over everything. It will take long, but as the video mentions, it'll be more worth it. The comments are very positive, though its usefulness probably varied with textbook types (for example my history textbooks don't have end of chapter quizzes as a science textbook might)

Reply 2

StudyMind

Original post by michaela002

Heya,

To revise using textbooks more efficiently, focus on key concepts, summaries, and practice questions rather than reading entire chapters. Use the table of contents, index, and chapter headings to quickly find relevant information. Prioritise the textbooks that align with your learning style and are more helpful for your specific exam board. For essay-based subjects like theology, create a schedule to allocate time for reading primary sources and make concise notes or summaries to extract key information. Prioritise key themes and arguments that are likely to come up in exams to manage your reading workload effectively. :smile: