How to actively study/revise better? Flashcard making is driving me mad! PLEASE HELP

I've pretty much only begun my A-levels last month, because I had to do my GCSE exams in November (it wasn't resits, just due to personal reasons stopping me from being able to to them earlier). I'm doing geography, psychology and biology. Also, I'm aiming quite high, wanting AAB grades.

I swore to myself that I would make flashcards for everything, but it is making me so stressed, and I don't feel it's even worth the effort, let alone time.
Basically, I think the main problem is that I never know what really needs to be on the flashcards - for example: what specific numbers in geography? what dates in psychology? Then I get really stressed, and surely that's gonna ruin whatever I'm trying to learn.

I'm definitely a believer in active, not passive, revision and learning, but I think the flashcards are ending up being kinda unhelpful for the most part.
Should I give up making them, or is there specific sorts of information I should minimise it to, or are there then pre-made ones for that?

Reply 1

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by vee.hmm

I've pretty much only begun my A-levels last month, because I had to do my GCSE exams in November (it wasn't resits, just due to personal reasons stopping me from being able to to them earlier). I'm doing geography, psychology and biology. Also, I'm aiming quite high, wanting AAB grades.
I swore to myself that I would make flashcards for everything, but it is making me so stressed, and I don't feel it's even worth the effort, let alone time.
Basically, I think the main problem is that I never know what really needs to be on the flashcards - for example: what specific numbers in geography? what dates in psychology? Then I get really stressed, and surely that's gonna ruin whatever I'm trying to learn.
I'm definitely a believer in active, not passive, revision and learning, but I think the flashcards are ending up being kinda unhelpful for the most part.
Should I give up making them, or is there specific sorts of information I should minimise it to, or are there then pre-made ones for that?

Good evening @vee.hmm,

I am a second-year student at the Univerity of Reading.

When I completed my A-levels, I found making Summary posters really helpful. For example, I would take a biology class, e.g., the respiratory system; then, I would draw diagrams, do keywords and highlight them, and create a detailed poster of everything I needed to know about that topic. This was very successful and helped me remember a lot of details.

Similarly, revision books with practice questions are great; they test the knowledge you have already attained, and then the questions you get wrong, you can target your revision.

Also, creating storyboards or timelines is good for visualising content, e.g. creating a comic strip of a case study for geography, e.g. the tectonic plate movements, or weathering ( just examples). The storyboards will help you remember the order of the topic.

I also found it really helpful to look through the specification/ outline of the a-level and highlight anything you do not know in red, anything you feel unsure of in yellow, and the things you are certain of in green highlighter. This helps to prioritise the topics you are most unsure of.

Another thing I found very helpful, on days I was tired or on topics I was really stuck , was watching videos, e.g. YouTube or documentaries. This is a visual aid, and you can create notes from the documentaries or YouTube videos.

I hope these ideas help, and I wish you the best in your A-leveles.

All the best
Ella
Bsc Ecology

Reply 2

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by vee.hmm

I've pretty much only begun my A-levels last month, because I had to do my GCSE exams in November (it wasn't resits, just due to personal reasons stopping me from being able to to them earlier). I'm doing geography, psychology and biology. Also, I'm aiming quite high, wanting AAB grades.
I swore to myself that I would make flashcards for everything, but it is making me so stressed, and I don't feel it's even worth the effort, let alone time.
Basically, I think the main problem is that I never know what really needs to be on the flashcards - for example: what specific numbers in geography? what dates in psychology? Then I get really stressed, and surely that's gonna ruin whatever I'm trying to learn.
I'm definitely a believer in active, not passive, revision and learning, but I think the flashcards are ending up being kinda unhelpful for the most part.
Should I give up making them, or is there specific sorts of information I should minimise it to, or are there then pre-made ones for that?

Hi @vee.hmm,

I totally get you, flashcards can be so frustrating at times because ideally they should be concise and give straight answers but the content can be too complex at times to create 'straightforward' cards. My favourite method of active revision when flashcards don't seem to work is: Blurting.

The blurting revision technique is a study method that involves writing down as much information as you can remember about a topic after reading it: Read, Quickly read over the content you want to study. Write, Close the book or notes and write down as much as you can remember. The order or structure of the information doesn't matter. Compare, Compare your notes to the original text to identify what you remember well and what you need to work on. Repeat, Repeat the process until you can write down everything you need to know. You can also try adding missing information with a different colour pen.

You can then try to do topical past paper questions to apply what you've just retained into practice.

Hope this helps,
Danish
BCU Student Rep

Reply 3

Physician

Original post by vee.hmm

I've pretty much only begun my A-levels last month, because I had to do my GCSE exams in November (it wasn't resits, just due to personal reasons stopping me from being able to to them earlier). I'm doing geography, psychology and biology. Also, I'm aiming quite high, wanting AAB grades.
I swore to myself that I would make flashcards for everything, but it is making me so stressed, and I don't feel it's even worth the effort, let alone time.
Basically, I think the main problem is that I never know what really needs to be on the flashcards - for example: what specific numbers in geography? what dates in psychology? Then I get really stressed, and surely that's gonna ruin whatever I'm trying to learn.
I'm definitely a believer in active, not passive, revision and learning, but I think the flashcards are ending up being kinda unhelpful for the most part.
Should I give up making them, or is there specific sorts of information I should minimise it to, or are there then pre-made ones for that?

Gather as many questions AND answers as you can for all of the topics within your syllabuses. Then go through them over and over again. We are talking about several hundreds of questions and answers, from past papers, text books, online etc. Then come exam time you will be well prepared, ready for the type of question that will appear.