Revision tips and techniques

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Reply 100

Zii

lol no problem, glad you find them useful.

Reply 101

Chloe Sevi

Thanks Gamaya, those are really great tips!

Reply 102

Tut.exe

definitely depends on what exam im going, with maths, i just practice in lessons, then i check the exam papers and choose which ones i cant do, then i do them. but with computing and physics... i do the whole paper... i try to answer them then check the answer sheet then before the exam i try some past paper/revision paper again.

Reply 103

Tut.exe

well my point is, hit it the first time... then hit it again

Reply 104

kikilala

thanks a lot gamaya......

Reply 105

Absinth

I find it a good idea to keep a pack of cards with questions on them and choosing one out of a box at random, then doing the question (usually useful for long essay style questions). Then keep doing this until I am confident that I can answer all the questions.

:smile:

Reply 106

Mos Def

Gamaya

How to Revise
Some Revision Techniques

Also, there are cue cards. Write the name of something you often forget on one side in one colour, and then on the other, a basic, easy definition which in an exam situation would help you remember a lot more detail. Lay all your cue cards out and learn them through basic conditioning! This was excellent for me when learning key vocab for my German written exam.

Can you expand on what you mean by 'basic conditioning' please?

Really good stuff thanks alot !

Reply 107

- skyhigh -

Thank you for sharing your techniques with us. When do you start preparing for exams?

Reply 108

steelmole

Personally for the subjects that require memorised knowledge I have mnemonics for everything. I highly recommend them. For instance today I needed to remember what a ketone is, so I thought ketone sounds a lot like keystone, and the keystone is always in the middle of a bridge, and a ketone has a double bonded oxygen in the middle. It's great because unlike computers the more you put into a brain the easier it is to remember. Mnemonics only really work if you make them up yourself though.

Reply 109

Zii

- skyhigh

Thank you for sharing your techniques with us. When do you start preparing for exams?

Two or so months before the exams start.

For maths, I usually wait until a couple of weeks before the exam, and just do loads and loads of papers, because with maths, you don't need to make a nice little revision booklet.

Reply 110

braceface

I make a revision timetable about two weeks before I start to revise.
I revise using post-its, revision cards, copying out notes from my textbooks and testing myself, doing lots of past papers and listening to audio tapes while I fall asleep.

Reply 111

laurag23

I think it also depends on what type of exam it is as well.
For the Science modulars, I wrote out the key points from the text book and kept re-reading them and I got two A's using that method.
For Statistics, however, I wrote the methods for working the questions out and kept re-reading that too. I also got an A.
But for something content heavy, like R.S, you do need to read and re-read ALL your notes otherwise it won't go in.
If it is for themes, or something like Mice and men, have an A3 page for each topic, like themes and characters. Then break that up into each theme or character, using different coloured pens and write the key details, points and quote for each topic.

Reply 112

Declan 06

Make a revision timetable before you start. Start with the topics which you find hardest then to the ones you find easier or start with the topics you did first when you learnt them.

Read through text book make notes. Answer questions on the thing you have been revising.

Once revised a full topic answer some questions on it and make sure you get them all right if you dont revise wjhat you got wrong again.

Take breaks after you have studied each thing or every 30 mins.

When done all revision do a past paper then you can see what you got wrong and revise that again.

Also nearer to the exam go through your notes again.

Apparently you are meant to:
Read notes again for 10 minutes - 1 day later
Same but for 5 mins - 1 week later
same but 2-3 minutes - 1 month later.

Hope this helps !! :smile:

Reply 113

Sports Racer

It is often the case where a combination of formal and informal revision techniques will bring about the best result.

Myself, I don't fancy the whole 'get organised in advance and plan every detail' approach. Revision should be flexible, fluid and adaptable depending on your mood. Your ability to remember information is infinitely higher if you're trying to revise a subject that at that moment you want to revise. Waking up and forcing yourself to do something that you don't feel like will only demotivate you and effect half-arsed revision notes.

Personally, my 'formal' technique is to read my notes, then make bulletpoint headings on A5 paper (the end result should be that these one-word headings will trigger long and complex responses), quiz myself at the end of the day, quiz myself at the start of the next day. If all is remembered, move on to the next topic.

The 'informal' revision I mention concerns itself with mnemonics and silly stories (it is important that they are silly as I am a huge advocate of the notion that the best way to learn is to play). FireDeuce's example of remembering greek stories with 'the stupid fools forgot to thank ariadne! this was foolish as she did most of the work...although she is a foreign woman, but it still pissed her off though...' is an excellent example. For my Physics GCSE a while back I used 'V(=)IR not very good at Physics, so we Q(=)It' - It's horrible, but it worked!

Reply 114

lana1990x

These are all very useful tips! Thanks guys! :smile:

If anyone else has any more tips just write them down! good to hear lots of useful ideas! :biggrin:

Reply 115

olivia16

hey dont know if anyone out there can help
i study as level ict and business studies and was wondering if anyone can give me some helpful information, sites, tips or documents that would help me revise as my exams are soon and i somehow managed to fail my january exams so i have retakes aswel!
would reallllly appreciate it if anyone could help as im on a complete downer at the moment with the whole a level thing! and i wanna prove to myself i can do it, jus need bit of guidance
xxx

Reply 116

.Katherine.

olivia16

When I did my AS ICT exams, I went through the mark schemes and learnt the perfect answers to most of the questions because it was usually the same questions on the exam papers. Then once I knew them pretty well I did some past papers. It seemed to work well, I got 63/90 (B) in Unit 1 and 88/90 (A) in Unit 2.

Reply 117

poshpig

It's best if revise in sessions no longer than 30 minutes. This may seem short but your brain will only concentrate for 20 mins at full function no matter how clever you are, however I found that 20 mins was too short so i went to 30 which was still good. Revising before 10am is also some magical number that means that your brain remembers things more, I don't know why but it's true. I think that it may be because it is the most alert in the morning (if you have had a decent nights sleep). As for the actual way I revise, the way I see it past papers cannot be beaten however I am doing pure sciences so I don't haev to write massive essays so I can't advise all of you literate people out there.

Reply 118

Admonitor

Don't listen to what anyone else tells you is right, as it's right for them and not necessarily for you. People tell me to write revision cards, do mnemonics, make bullet notes etc, but all of them I end up wasting my time on.

I've never made a revision timetable, I've never properly done revision cards or mnemonics or anything similar (except the ones I did that really really didn't help/annoyed me). I just read my notes and textbooks from the year until I feel like I know the facts. Once I've come to a natural conclusion on a topic I'll go and get a drink or snack, mull over what I've done (think about the facts etc) and see if it had any effect. If it did, hooray, if it didn't, just do it again another time. Do the revision at the time that you feel you need, rather than forcing doing a subject because your timetable says so.