The Student Room Group

How do you revise?

In year 9, I realised that i actually had to start revising.. I tried to revise but I wasn’t really sure how to do so as I’d never really revised before, so all my efforts were in vain as I wasn’t doing effective revision. Now I’m at the end of year 10 and I still don’t know how to revise properly. Help!

My subjects:
AQA Biology
AQA Chemistry
AQA Physics
AQA English (language and literature)
Edexcel Maths
AQA Religious Studies
AQA Spanish
Eduqas Computer Science
For GCSE, past papers are the way to go! what better way to practice then to attempt previous years' exams. make sure you go over question you get wrong and learn what you could have done to improve. the mark schemes are really useful to go over as well as the examiner notes.
Before you go through the past papers it's important to fully understand the course. I would suggest going over all your class notes to see what you know and dont. Ask teachers to explain things, im sure they will be more than willing to help. Going over the specifications is a good way to see exactly what you need to know for each module of each subject.
Hope this helps!
How are you revising for each of them?
Reply 3
Original post by CartoonSoldier
For GCSE, past papers are the way to go! what better way to practice then to attempt previous years' exams. make sure you go over question you get wrong and learn what you could have done to improve. the mark schemes are really useful to go over as well as the examiner notes.
Before you go through the past papers it's important to fully understand the course. I would suggest going over all your class notes to see what you know and dont. Ask teachers to explain things, im sure they will be more than willing to help. Going over the specifications is a good way to see exactly what you need to know for each module of each subject.
Hope this helps!

Thank you so much. What do I do when I don’t understand the mark scheme, especially considering the summer holiday is coming up so I can’t contact my teachers?
Reply 4
Original post by PetitePanda
How are you revising for each of them?

For the sciences and RS I usually just make notes from the textbook and answer the questions from there. I don’t revise English because I have no clue where to even start, I just try to cram a few quotes. For maths I do a few past papers, and revision papers on specific parts that I struggle with. For Spanish, we use a website called Memrise which really helps with learning vocabulary but not really with forming sentences and speaking (even though I probably won’t end up doing a speaking exam anymore). For Computer Science I use flash cards.
Original post by Miixx
For the sciences and RS I usually just make notes from the textbook and answer the questions from there. I don’t revise English because I have no clue where to even start, I just try to cram a few quotes. For maths I do a few past papers, and revision papers on specific parts that I struggle with. For Spanish, we use a website called Memrise which really helps with learning vocabulary but not really with forming sentences and speaking (even though I probably won’t end up doing a speaking exam anymore). For Computer Science I use flash cards.

Is that useful method in sciences and religious studies or do you forget the content next time and can you answer it without notes? Is this for English Lit? Is the maths method effective or could it be better? So for Spanish, writing and speaking is your worst areas? It's good to revise for speaking since you dont know how they'll do it so it's safe just in case. Idk about computer science so I cant help you with that - hopefully someone can help you with that.
Reply 6
Original post by PetitePanda
Is that useful method in sciences and religious studies or do you forget the content next time and can you answer it without notes? Is this for English Lit? Is the maths method effective or could it be better? So for Spanish, writing and speaking is your worst areas? It's good to revise for speaking since you dont know how they'll do it so it's safe just in case. Idk about computer science so I cant help you with that - hopefully someone can help you with that.

For sciences and RS, it helps me gain the surface level information but not a deeper understanding in order to fully answer contextual questions.
Yes, English Lit, but for both lit and lang I don’t know how to revise at all.
The maths method is okay but it could definitely be better.
With Spanish speaking, we hadn’t started practising it and now it might be removed from the exam so I have no idea of my level of skill in it. With Spanish writing, it’s not completely bad but it’s not quite as good as my reading and listening.
Original post by Miixx
For sciences and RS, it helps me gain the surface level information but not a deeper understanding in order to fully answer contextual questions.
Yes, English Lit, but for both lit and lang I don’t know how to revise at all.
The maths method is okay but it could definitely be better.
With Spanish speaking, we hadn’t started practising it and now it might be removed from the exam so I have no idea of my level of skill in it. With Spanish writing, it’s not completely bad but it’s not quite as good as my reading and listening.

So when you look at the question, do you know what to write because of the mark scheme but you dont know why and how that answer is that answer? Wdym contextual questions?

How could the maths method be better? It sounds like a good method but if you think it's not helping you, is understanding the questions you want to improve on or do you get questions wrong a lot and you want to reduce it?

Tbh I only revised for speaking when it was closer to my real exam so I wouldn't worry about it when you come back to school and your teacher plans something about it so I would focus on writing as it will help for speaking. Is it the mistakes that is restricting your skill or is it because you dont have the higher level detail in your answer to reach the marks you get for reading and listening?

Btw Im so sorry for answering questions but I like to break it down and make the person think about what specifically they need help with so I can give more specialised advice in context to your problems.
i got an 8 in english lang and lit. english lang you just need to be doing exam practice in timed conditions repeatedly. if you don't understand the questions in the paper, you can use a youtube channel like mr bruff where there should be videos where he breaks down the questions and what they're looking for. make concise notes on these and read over these constantly. for english lit, exam practice is also very important as you need to be developing a good essay writing technique and confidently demonstrate your understanding of the texts you're studying. complete essays and hand them to your teacher to be marked.

but if you've never really revised for english lit before, you need to have a good set of notes to revise from. make mindmaps, posters etc whatever works for you of characters and themes. start making them now if you haven't; take advantage of what's remaining of the summer holidays. you can use a mix of premade resources and your own. flashcards are good for quotes- you not only should know a few quotes but be able to confidently analyse them so have a few short analysis points on the back of each flashcard. you can make the flashcards yourself or find pre-made ones on quizlet.

i didn't have a textbook for my re specification and just used practice papers and revised sources of authority from a little booklet. exam practice is really useful for re- pushed my mock grade 6 to a 9 in the summer exams.

but to sum it up, exam practice is really important if you want to do well in your subjects.

Original post by Miixx
Thank you so much. What do I do when I don’t understand the mark scheme, especially considering the summer holiday is coming up so I can’t contact my teachers?

can't you email them?
Original post by Miixx
Thank you so much. What do I do when I don’t understand the mark scheme, especially considering the summer holiday is coming up so I can’t contact my teachers?

As mentioned above, try emailing them because im sure they would have some free time to reply (they might take a while to get back to you though). Also look at the examiner notes as sometimes it goes into more detail than the mark scheme. Maybe message others in your class as they could help as well. You can always ask TSR if you are really really stuck :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by PetitePanda
So when you look at the question, do you know what to write because of the mark scheme but you dont know why and how that answer is that answer? Wdym contextual questions?

How could the maths method be better? It sounds like a good method but if you think it's not helping you, is understanding the questions you want to improve on or do you get questions wrong a lot and you want to reduce it?

Tbh I only revised for speaking when it was closer to my real exam so I wouldn't worry about it when you come back to school and your teacher plans something about it so I would focus on writing as it will help for speaking. Is it the mistakes that is restricting your skill or is it because you dont have the higher level detail in your answer to reach the marks you get for reading and listening?

Btw Im so sorry for answering questions but I like to break it down and make the person think about what specifically they need help with so I can give more specialised advice in context to your problems.


Left this thread for a while but I can better answer some of these questions now.

Yes sometimes I don’t understand how the mark scheme gets to that answer, even with the working out shown. Contextual questions in terms of like physics and chemistry where we learn loads of facts but are examined on questions that put those facts into context

I don’t really know how it could be better I just know that it could be better (I know that makes no sense at all)

speaking is cancelled now but I think we still have to do it in front of our teachers. My speaking is alright now and is improving so I’m not too worried about it anymore

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