Revision tips for the autumn term!

Revision strategies: What should you be doing NOW to ensure exam success?

If you are in an exam year, you may be worrying about revision. It may feel too early to start going over content now, but actually, there is a lot you can be doing to help you succeed next summer.

The strategies in this post are all backed up be research and suggested by experienced teachers.

How much should I be doing?

In the autumn term, for sixth form, you should be aiming for two extra hours per subject per week. This is on top of any homework your teacher sets you, and of course on top of class time. If you plan your time effectively, this should be more than do-able. One of these sessions should be used for making/finding resources, and one for retrieval practice/exam technique.

Do the making/finding when you are more tired- it can feel like a chore, but it’s best to save active retrieval practice for when you are more alert.

If you are doing GCSEs, then aim for an hour of focused revision per subject per fortnight at this stage. This should be a mix of making and retrieval practice. This may not seem like a lot, but regular spaced practice will make a huge difference to your exam recall. It’s about working smart, rather than spending lots of time on ineffective strategies.

How should I use my time?

Don’t spend more than an hour at a stretch on a subject. The more time you spend on one thing, the less attention you give it.

The best thing to do is to split up your hour into 20-minute chunks- this gives you peaks of high attention during the hour, rather than a big dip in attention in the middle. So, you could spend 20 minutes practicing flashcards on one topic, 20 minutes on exam practice and 20 minutes doing recall practice on another topic.

If you struggle to work for a whole hour, you could initially take a 5-minute break after each 20-minute section. However, even at GCSE, your exams will all be over an hour long. Therefore, unless you get rest breaks in exams, it’s important to work up to focusing for the whole hour. If you think you will struggle to do this, speak to your teachers NOW! Access arrangements have to be in quite a long time before the exam period, so if you need rest breaks, you need to apply for them sooner rather than later.

If you’re making, your attention isn’t so important, but it’s still good to mix things up during your hour session to keep productivity high.

During this hour, be completely focused. Turn off your phone, disconnect from social media and turn off the TV. It’s ok to have music playing if this helps you concentrate, but anything else is too distracting. If you’re disciplined when doing work, you can also have time off!

Retrieval/recall practice

This stage of revision is all about training your brain to remember things. This is called retrieval practice. The most traditional way to do this is with flashcards, and the most effective way to use flashcards is the Leitner system.

Using this system, you’d have 3 boxes. Initially, all cards start in box one, which you do every session. Each card you get right, goes into box two, which you do every other session. When you do box two, every card you get right goes into box three, which you do every third session. Eventually, all cards should end up in box three, and this becomes your new box one. This isn’t the best explanation, but if you google “Leitner system”, lots of great videos come up that explain the system much better!

Ideally, you’d have all your cards mixed together, rather than focusing on one topic at a time. This is called interleaving, and it’s more effective than blocking out a subject into individual topics.

If flashcards don’t work for you, there are loads of other retrieval practice tasks you can try, including redrawing a knowledge organiser from memory, writing out notes from memory, drawing spider diagrams and concept maps, drawing a cartoon of the plot of a book with key quotes and so on.

The important thing is that you are practicing retrieving information from your brain- the more you try to retrieve it the better you get. This is especially important for things like key words, quotes and equations you have to know off by heart in the exam.

Online platforms like Quizlet and Seneca learning can also be great!

Spaced practice

It’s really important to keep returning to the topics you have covered, rather than just focusing on whatever you are learning in class that week. Initially, you’ll feel like you remember everything, but in a few weeks, you’ll have forgotten key terms, and in a few months, you’ll have forgotten lots more.

Coming back to things you’ve partially forgotten is called spaced practice, and the more you do it, the better your brain gets at retrieving the information from your memory, and the more you remember in your exams- when you are under pressure.

A schedule for spaced practice might look like this:

Week 0: Study the topic in class, clarify any bits you are not sure on with the teacher, make flashcards and revision resources.

Week 3: Test yourself on your flashcards.

Week 6: Test yourself on your flashcards again and try a past paper question.

Week 12: Try to recall everything you can on this topic and try some past paper questions.

Again, mixing and matching topics in your revision is more effective than focusing on one thing at a time.

This spaced practice is much more effective than trying to cram in the month before the exam.

Making effective notes that you’ll remember.

When making your notes, it can be easy to forget things as soon as you have written them. The better your notes, the easier revising from them will be!

Some things that can help make your notes memorable:

-Use concrete examples rather than abstract ideas.

-Elaboration. Ask yourself questions about your notes as you are making them. How does this topic link to others? Which different ways can you classify things e.g. short-term vs long term causes? Think about two lessons in the topic and make a list of the similarities and differences between them. The more you think about your notes and ideas, the more they will stick in your brain.

-Dual coding. This is where you express information in two different ways. Usually, with revision, this would mean adding visuals to your notes e.g. cartoons, infographics, diagrams, timelines and more. Transferring information e.g. from a revision guide from written form to visual form to written again is a great way to help you remember stuff. It doesn’t matter if your pictures are any good or not!

What you don’t need to be doing!

At this stage, ploughing through whole past exam papers isn’t that useful. All the specs are quite new, so you’ll run out. You also may not have covered every topic.

Practicing individual questions is good, especially as it will help you get used to the language examiners use and improve your exam technique, BUT this should be mixed in with lots of other different types of recall practice.

Copying out your notes/the textbook/the revision guide word for word. If you’re not processing the information, this won’t help you remember it. This is very time consuming, but not that effective. Instead, process the information e.g. by dual coding or making flashcards.

Making beautiful colour coded revision timetables- this is just another form of procrastination. Just get a calendar and write a subject and topic x 3 on each day (plus mark in your rest days of course).

Stressing. The exams are still ages away, and if you start revising now, you’re almost guaranteed to do well!

Staying up late. You need to look after yourself- so fit all your revision activities into your normal day.

Neglecting your hobbies. Try to keep these up as much as you can during exam years. They are key to your mental health, which is much more important. If you can, block off at least one day/evening a week for something fun! (Friday evening or a weekend day is usually best).

Thank you soo much This is fantastic!

This is great!

this looks awesome i'm definitely going to try out the flashcard box system with my economics key words
have you got any ideas for how i could keep track of spaced practise?

Glad you think it's useful!

For keeping track of things, a diary is ideal- I like paper but I'm sure you could use an app as well. When you've finished studying a topic in school, skip forward in your diary say 3 weeks (or to the next available space) and block in a section for that topic. With longer term spaced practice, I would try to block in things you find difficult now for maybe 2/3 months time.

It is something where you have to figure out what works for you, and what you can fit in.

I would set a pattern (either weekly or two weekly) showing when you will do each topic- and then you can just block things in on the relevant day!

At the weekend, if I have time, I'll try to add some pictures to show what I mean!

No problem it’s great!
Oh that’s a good idea, I’ll try that at some point soonish. I’m hoping it’ll work for me, I’ve not been very good at revising at all this year
Thank you

Revision strategies: What should you be doing NOW to ensure exam success?

If you are in an exam year, you may be worrying about revision. It may feel too early to start going over content now, but actually, there is a lot you can be doing to help you succeed next summer.

The strategies in this post are all backed up be research and suggested by experienced teachers.

How much should I be doing?

In the autumn term, for sixth form, you should be aiming for two extra hours per subject per week. This is on top of any homework your teacher sets you, and of course on top of class time. If you plan your time effectively, this should be more than do-able. One of these sessions should be used for making/finding resources, and one for retrieval practice/exam technique.

Do the making/finding when you are more tired- it can feel like a chore, but it’s best to save active retrieval practice for when you are more alert.

If you are doing GCSEs, then aim for an hour of focused revision per subject per fortnight at this stage. This should be a mix of making and retrieval practice. This may not seem like a lot, but regular spaced practice will make a huge difference to your exam recall. It’s about working smart, rather than spending lots of time on ineffective strategies.

How should I use my time?

Don’t spend more than an hour at a stretch on a subject. The more time you spend on one thing, the less attention you give it.

The best thing to do is to split up your hour into 20-minute chunks- this gives you peaks of high attention during the hour, rather than a big dip in attention in the middle. So, you could spend 20 minutes practicing flashcards on one topic, 20 minutes on exam practice and 20 minutes doing recall practice on another topic.

If you struggle to work for a whole hour, you could initially take a 5-minute break after each 20-minute section. However, even at GCSE, your exams will all be over an hour long. Therefore, unless you get rest breaks in exams, it’s important to work up to focusing for the whole hour. If you think you will struggle to do this, speak to your teachers NOW! Access arrangements have to be in quite a long time before the exam period, so if you need rest breaks, you need to apply for them sooner rather than later.

If you’re making, your attention isn’t so important, but it’s still good to mix things up during your hour session to keep productivity high.

During this hour, be completely focused. Turn off your phone, disconnect from social media and turn off the TV. It’s ok to have music playing if this helps you concentrate, but anything else is too distracting. If you’re disciplined when doing work, you can also have time off!

Retrieval/recall practice

This stage of revision is all about training your brain to remember things. This is called retrieval practice. The most traditional way to do this is with flashcards, and the most effective way to use flashcards is the Leitner system.

Using this system, you’d have 3 boxes. Initially, all cards start in box one, which you do every session. Each card you get right, goes into box two, which you do every other session. When you do box two, every card you get right goes into box three, which you do every third session. Eventually, all cards should end up in box three, and this becomes your new box one. This isn’t the best explanation, but if you google “Leitner system”, lots of great videos come up that explain the system much better!

Ideally, you’d have all your cards mixed together, rather than focusing on one topic at a time. This is called interleaving, and it’s more effective than blocking out a subject into individual topics.

If flashcards don’t work for you, there are loads of other retrieval practice tasks you can try, including redrawing a knowledge organiser from memory, writing out notes from memory, drawing spider diagrams and concept maps, drawing a cartoon of the plot of a book with key quotes and so on.

The important thing is that you are practicing retrieving information from your brain- the more you try to retrieve it the better you get. This is especially important for things like key words, quotes and equations you have to know off by heart in the exam.

Online platforms like Quizlet and Seneca learning can also be great!

Spaced practice

It’s really important to keep returning to the topics you have covered, rather than just focusing on whatever you are learning in class that week. Initially, you’ll feel like you remember everything, but in a few weeks, you’ll have forgotten key terms, and in a few months, you’ll have forgotten lots more.

Coming back to things you’ve partially forgotten is called spaced practice, and the more you do it, the better your brain gets at retrieving the information from your memory, and the more you remember in your exams- when you are under pressure.

A schedule for spaced practice might look like this:

Week 0: Study the topic in class, clarify any bits you are not sure on with the teacher, make flashcards and revision resources.

Week 3: Test yourself on your flashcards.

Week 6: Test yourself on your flashcards again and try a past paper question.

Week 12: Try to recall everything you can on this topic and try some past paper questions.

Again, mixing and matching topics in your revision is more effective than focusing on one thing at a time.

This spaced practice is much more effective than trying to cram in the month before the exam.

Making effective notes that you’ll remember.

When making your notes, it can be easy to forget things as soon as you have written them. The better your notes, the easier revising from them will be!

Some things that can help make your notes memorable:

-Use concrete examples rather than abstract ideas.

-Elaboration. Ask yourself questions about your notes as you are making them. How does this topic link to others? Which different ways can you classify things e.g. short-term vs long term causes? Think about two lessons in the topic and make a list of the similarities and differences between them. The more you think about your notes and ideas, the more they will stick in your brain.

-Dual coding. This is where you express information in two different ways. Usually, with revision, this would mean adding visuals to your notes e.g. cartoons, infographics, diagrams, timelines and more. Transferring information e.g. from a revision guide from written form to visual form to written again is a great way to help you remember stuff. It doesn’t matter if your pictures are any good or not!

What you don’t need to be doing!

At this stage, ploughing through whole past exam papers isn’t that useful. All the specs are quite new, so you’ll run out. You also may not have covered every topic.

Practicing individual questions is good, especially as it will help you get used to the language examiners use and improve your exam technique, BUT this should be mixed in with lots of other different types of recall practice.

Copying out your notes/the textbook/the revision guide word for word. If you’re not processing the information, this won’t help you remember it. This is very time consuming, but not that effective. Instead, process the information e.g. by dual coding or making flashcards.

Making beautiful colour coded revision timetables- this is just another form of procrastination. Just get a calendar and write a subject and topic x 3 on each day (plus mark in your rest days of course).

Stressing. The exams are still ages away, and if you start revising now, you’re almost guaranteed to do well!

Staying up late. You need to look after yourself- so fit all your revision activities into your normal day.

Neglecting your hobbies. Try to keep these up as much as you can during exam years. They are key to your mental health, which is much more important. If you can, block off at least one day/evening a week for something fun! (Friday evening or a weekend day is usually best).

This is amazing. I was stressing extremely over my exams but hopefully I'll do well as I have actually started revision. Thank-You for your advice....is much appreciated!!

I need help with long term recall as I am a fast learner pick up thing really easily will hold it for about a week or so then forget it please I need advice for my gcse any would be appreciated thanks.

The card system idea sounds like a great idea but what do you do with the cards you can’t remember?

I just cant stop worrying & also how do i learn english lit i’ve made mindmaps for some characters but i feel like its not enough. Time is flying!