I don’t know how to revise!

I’m now going into year 13, and I’ve realised I have no idea how to revise. I’m taking chemistry, biology and psychology, and I’m hoping for an A*AB (not in that order), but it’s not gonna happen unless I get my act together and revise. I didn’t realise revise at all for my GCSES, and although I did alright, it wasn’t great. Now year 13 is looming dangerously close I’ve realised - I don’t know what to do! I can make notes, and past paper questions don’t really seem to go in. Does anyone know any revision techniques that might help me or I could try, literally anything is appreciated. Thank you!!!

Reply 1

Squiggles1238

20

Hi!

I can offer advice for psychology as I did this A level, and received an A* in it. In terms of your other two subjects, hopefully this reply on your thread will allow more people to see it, and they'll be able to help :smile:

It's good that you've noticed you need to make a change at this point in your A levels! If you'd have left it until next April, it would be a whole other matter, so what I'm really trying to say is there's still time to improve.

First:

I'd look at your behaviour/performance in the classroom itself. For example, are you actively participating or are you just passively hearing what's going on? I know this sounds basic, but it can make the world of difference! Make sure you are paying full attention in your lesson; turn off your phone, try not to chat about off topic matters with your peers etc. Making sure you're fully engaged with the lesson will ensure you don't miss any key details, such as key studies, that will be very important!
Teachers will often set past paper questions as consolidation, and it is really important that you attempt these to the best of your abilities. This is because it is literally testing how well you've understood what's been taught. I know it's tempting to just think 'I'll do these later' or 'I don't need to do these questions, I get the topic', but if you do them whilst you're in class, you can ask your teacher to mark them for you and give you feedback. (I know you mentioned PPQ's "don't seem to go in"- more on this later).

Utilise your teachers and your peers, but especially your teachers, that's what they are there for! Write questions in your notes about anything you don't fully understand, and ask your teacher about it. Write down what they said so that when it comes back to revising, you have that bit of extra help.
Ask, ask, ask! You might feel like you're a burden, but I promise you're not! Speak to your peers, they'll be happy to help! You and your peers can often bounce off of each other and you can help each other to better understand.

Look at your method of note taking- ask yourself, what are you currently doing. Are you just copying down the PowerPoint slides word for word? I know I was definitely guilty of this during my A levels. Truth is, it really doesn't help, and when it comes to revision, your notes in that format don't really add anything. Remember, those PowerPoints will always be accessible online, so you'll always have a copy to hand to refer back to.
Focus on writing down the key parts of the slides, and write down anything that your teacher is saying that also provides good information- e.g. how this topic may come up in an exam, what a key word means, what part of the specification this information covers. As I previously mentioned, annotate your notes with questions that you may have. Think about what best works for you- massive chunks of text will be overwhelming and are not easy to refer back to. Instead, draw diagrams where possible, write key information in a different colour or highlight it, if that works for you.

I'm sure there's more I can add, but this is all I can briefly think of from the top of my head that might help you.

Second:

You need to look at your behaviour outside of the classroom. Revision is obviously essential to retaining and fully understanding the information being taught to you, so you can smash those exams!

A revision timetable on the run up to exams is really helpful in order to best prioritise your time and still have time for yourself. But a general daily plan for any other time of the year is really helpful so you can keep on top of your schoolwork.

Everyone revises differently, and you may well find that some revision techniques may work better in some subjects rather than others. I'll share with you the way I revised for psychology that helped me the most.
For each topic, I'd do it in 4 stages: 1) watch a revision clip or something similar about the topic on YouTube- I found this was a quick and easy way to kickstart my brain to help me remember what the topic was about, and what sort of things I needed to know, and I felt it was more engaging that reading from the textbook. 2) I would test myself on the topic by using flashcards (if you need help on how to make effective flashcards, feel free to ask :smile:

). I would do this in short intervals of 15-20 minutes until I felt confident that I both understood the content, and remembered it. 3) I would then use a method called blurting, in which you simply 'blurt out' everything you can recall about a topic. I found that using a whiteboard and pen was best as I wasted so much paper whilst doing this! I also found that writing subheadings on my whiteboard before I started blurting would help me. Once I wrote down everything I recalled, I would go back with another colour pen and use my notes to fill in any gaps in my knowledge. I would do this technique until I felt confident I could recall the information. 4) I would do past paper questions, and mark them myself. On longer answers, I'd ask my teacher to mark them and give me feedback so I knew what I was doing right/wrong.

Advice on how to do past paper questions:

the way I found these to be most effective was to start by doing short mark questions, and then move onto the essay-style questions. I would give myself the recommended time for the question and answer it as best as I could, and then I would mark it using the mark scheme. 1 or 2 mark questions are straightforward to answer and are black and white, right or wrong. 4 or 6 mark questions, and the essay questions however, require more to be marked. I would highlight where I think I picked up on A01, A02 and A03 marks in my answer using different coloured highlighters, and then give myself a mark. I also found it particularly useful to refer to the examiner's report for that paper, as they often highlight common mistakes that people made in their answers, or they give tips on how to answer the question.

I hope this has somewhat helped you with your revision in psychology. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I apologise that you have to read all of that!
:smile:

Reply 2

PonchoKid

20

Original post by bleepbloop161616

I’m now going into year 13, and I’ve realised I have no idea how to revise. I’m taking chemistry, biology and psychology, and I’m hoping for an A*AB (not in that order), but it’s not gonna happen unless I get my act together and revise. I didn’t realise revise at all for my GCSES, and although I did alright, it wasn’t great. Now year 13 is looming dangerously close I’ve realised - I don’t know what to do! I can make notes, and past paper questions don’t really seem to go in. Does anyone know any revision techniques that might help me or I could try, literally anything is appreciated. Thank you!!!

Different people revise differently and theres no right or wrong way.
I never revised in school or my first degree because i didnt know how. But iv since learnt how my brain works and i now make colour coded spider diagrams so they are very visual and colourful. I also come up with sily dance moves or songs to help me remember things.

Id suggest finding out what sort of learner you are (im kinesthetic so learn by seeing and doing) and take it from there

Reply 3

Pandasarecute65

15

Original post by bleepbloop161616

I’m now going into year 13, and I’ve realised I have no idea how to revise. I’m taking chemistry, biology and psychology, and I’m hoping for an A*AB (not in that order), but it’s not gonna happen unless I get my act together and revise. I didn’t realise revise at all for my GCSES, and although I did alright, it wasn’t great. Now year 13 is looming dangerously close I’ve realised - I don’t know what to do! I can make notes, and past paper questions don’t really seem to go in. Does anyone know any revision techniques that might help me or I could try, literally anything is appreciated. Thank you!!!

Im doing Bio and I use Blurting. if you havent heard of it, you look at a small section of text and then try to write out as much as you can from memory. Then I get a different colour and write everything I didnt know. After doing this a few times (spaced out over a few weeks) if there is anything you still dont remember, write them down as questions with the answers on the other side and answer them every few days until you remember the answers.

this is just what i do and everyone is different so it might not be for you. The thing with this technique is that you have to keep up with it and do a bit every day otherwise it wont work.
I compelty understand what you mean about needing to revise. I feel the same but you just have to take each day as it comes. Good luck :smile:

I don’t know how to revise!

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