A new groundbreaking way to revise - opinions?

That's a great explanation of a great idea for revision:

- it sees revision as something that goes on through the year, not just a few weeks before exams
- it makes you think about the work and the way you are making notes
- it involves reducing your notes down into smaller amounts which are less scary
- it makes you test yourself regularly so you know how you're getting on

You could add the 'Leitner' system to this where you move the cards into different boxes depending on how well you know them - your aim is to get them all into the final box which is for cards that you know confidently. Worth looking at.

It's all very laudable, but isnt that just working hard and making sure you have a good set of notes?
Its great if you can put the effort in and keep it up.

The problem being plenty of students dont work that far in advance and leave things till revision.

Well yeah, I guess it is that simple. I think I over complicated it. But this will be my plan for when I start A Levels and I wanted to explain it to myself so I knew what I was doing.

I have a system where I read the text, list the main points in a book and then further condense them to flashcards near to the exam.

If you can do it and srick with it, then its a good thing.

Get the questions from exam papers. They will become a key part of your revision.

I'll try.

QUESTIONS FROM EXAM PAPERS. YOU GENIUS. Thanks man, I wouldn't have thought about that.

Cant work out if you are being sarcastic or not.

Exam papers need to be the focus as that is your ultimate task.

There are very few new papers for the current syllabus, but there are plenty of old papers (old syllabus) which you can still use. Not the same so be cautious, but it does give you an idea how a question might be asked on a certain subject. There are inly so many ways.

I wasn't being sarcastic, I always sound sarcastic. It's the bane of my life.

But yeah, I think that's a really good idea. I think it would work better for science subjects, whereas I'm doing English Lit, History and Philosophy so they're very essay based subjects. However, I will still use them.

All the exam boards have the papers easy to download.
You could do a spresheet of them by year and subject/ topic.

It will take a bit of seacrhing so you get the right books/ periods.

You also need to read the marking guides.

I usually just keep them on my USB as PDFs, but I like the idea of a spreadsheet.

I was thinking about the 'Cornell Note Taking' method and realised I could perhaps apply this to my everyday revision. If you are unfamiliar with the Cornell note taking method, it consists of three different sections:

- NOTES taken in class
- SUMMARY of your notes after class at the bottom of the page
- CUES including key questions/definitions/main ideas

It is kind of hard to explain how the page is separated in words, so Google Image it if that didn't really make sense. But anyway, from these three sections, I figured I could perhaps divide my revision into these three stages. I guess I'll just explain so I make sense.

1. Firstly, you're in class and you're taking notes (hopefully). Now you're taking notes using your general method, I use the outline method because I find the Cornell note taking method very time consuming with all of the different sections and the margin drawing.

2. You've finished class and because your teacher doesn't really provide that much information, you decide to do some further reading either after school or in your free period about the topic you learned in class.

3. You then add to your notes to make them very detailed and that you won't have to read over them again later in the year coming towards exams because you've done all your research and notes now. (This is the notes part of Cornell done).

4. You then write a summary of what you've learned once you fully understand the topic in your own words and pull out the key points. (This is the summary).

5. I heard that the best way to revise is to test yourself. So you have all of your detailed notes, as well as a summary which is concise and to the point. So what next? Quiz yourself.

6. My plan is to come up with key questions to ask about that topic and perhaps use flashcards with this. I was thinking of putting the question on the front, and the question on the front. I would preferably use Quizlet for this because I can use it on the go, and after my GCSEs, I learned that I cared too much how they looked and for me writing things out didn't help me whatsoever. (This would be the cue part of Cornell).

I guess this would be better with an example. So, here it goes.

1. Say my topic was Dien Bien Phu (1954) in Vietnam for History. I had learned about that in class and got some brief notes from my teacher.

2. After class, I go to the library and do some research on the internet or from a textbook to add to my notes on anything important I could have missed.

3. Say my teacher forgot to mention that after Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam was split into North and South along the 17th parallel - I can add that to my notes to make sure I've covered everything I need to know for the exam.

4. I then write my summary:
- French are frustrated with Guerrilla tactics
- French built a fortress trying to draw out Vietminh - led by Giap and Ho Chi Minh
- Peasants helped Vietminh - dedicated followers
- French not prepared for attack, defeated at Dien Bien Phu
- Geneva Conference: North, Communist, Ho Chi Minh. South, Capitalist, Ngo Dihn Diem - helped by USA

5/6. What tactics did the Vietminh use?
Who led the Vietminh?
What did the French do to lure the Vietminh out of the jungle?
What did Vietminh's response show about their followers?
What agreement was settled at the Geneva Conference?
How does this link to the USA's 'Domino Theory'?

I would put the above questions into a flashcard app like Quizlet or StudyBlue or on physical flashcards and then I would constantly test myself throughout the year to make sure it was fresh in my memory. If I needed to go over anything to jog my memory, I could just read my summary. As well as this, of course I will also do past papers, re-read over my notes - do something with my notes like mindmaps, posters, etc. but I thought this was a really good idea.

I'm sorry that I'm not that good at explaining things, but I hope that made sense to some people. So, what do you think of the idea? I think it would work for me personally because it has elements of testing yourself which I think is the most effective way of revising, you are constantly being tested as long as you go through your flashcards and read your notes frequently, I don't think it would be as time consuming as re-writing all of your notes and cramming at the end of the year. If I had the motivation to do this every week then I think it could be really effective.

Keep both.

the other thing to prevent tedium is to have a variety fo study methods as note taking cna be dull.

I copied and pasted this into a notes file as this method seems very interesting. I will be sure to use it.

I learned that at GCSE, it made me hate revising - even in the subjects I liked. At least once a week I promised myself that I'd make pretty posters or flashcards or displays on my wall to keep it interesting. That worked for me.