Are mindmaps/sketchnotes a waste of time?What's the most efficient revision method?

Good afternoon,Year 13 student of Biology, Psychology and Maths here,

This question is specifically for Biology,I do OCR and I'm getting lousy Cs for the most part,and I'd like to get As(or just a B,at the moment).
Exam practice is always good,especially as OCR's mark schemes are petty,but for consolidating my overall knowledge AND UNDERSTANDING I fear exam practice does little to help.
I've always fancied mind maps/sketch-notes as it seemed to mortalise someone's brain connections(plus I LOVE visual learning ^__^),but the effort needed for them is pretty large and A-Levels is not a cakewalk...
So,what do you guys suggest for consolidating UNDERSTANDING CONTENT for Biology OCR?😁

Reply 1

aditya nair12344

anki flashcards literally you can download pre made flash card set someone has made for OCR a good deck and go through it and learn and anki will tell you what you find hard and tell you on a weekely/ daily basics what flashcards to go through again to remember its spaced repitition

Reply 2

UoNstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by DGG78

Good afternoon,Year 13 student of Biology, Psychology and Maths here,
This question is specifically for Biology,I do OCR and I'm getting lousy Cs for the most part,and I'd like to get As(or just a B,at the moment).
Exam practice is always good,especially as OCR's mark schemes are petty,but for consolidating my overall knowledge AND UNDERSTANDING I fear exam practice does little to help.
I've always fancied mind maps/sketch-notes as it seemed to mortalise someone's brain connections(plus I LOVE visual learning ^__^),but the effort needed for them is pretty large and A-Levels is not a cakewalk...
So,what do you guys suggest for consolidating UNDERSTANDING CONTENT for Biology OCR?😁

@DGG78 hi!

I did biology AQA at a-Level, which is slightly different, but I was in the exact same position as you getting Cs and even Ds. Ended up getting a high B in my A Levels, and here is what worked for me:

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Exam questions: lots of this! Change up the questions from past papers.

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Mind maps: i loved mind maps, they worked for my psychology course especially but for some topics in biology this was super useful and good to see at my desk (they were on the wall). For understanding this works well in connecting what you know and how it links.

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Blurting: I just wrote whatever I remembered from my notes on a topic. This worked well for all my subjects and would recommend doing this too!

I didn't use flashcards or Quizlet, they weren't my style; but they have good success stories for those who use them so try them out and see if they work for you.

I hope they exams go well for you!

Aimee, Official UoN Student Rep

Reply 3

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Im also in year 13 and do OCR A bio! Im working at a B atm and tryna increase that for mocks 🤞 what im finding helpful is blurting, usually I either do this very visually on a whiteboard or using voice record. I have flashcards but I’m taking a break from them as I got a bit bored of them and think that changing up how you revise every couple of weeks is very beneficial. The main thing is to make sure that revision in any form uses active recall 🙂

Reply 4

DGG78

@DerDracologe @UoNstudents thanks for the responses!
Fortunately for me,after posting this question I've found making questions in compliance with the spec along with exam questions is currently working for me!Maybe I'll use flashcards to sort questions rather than having a list of questions on paper,I'll see.I don't know if I'd use mindmaps as it gets mess easily and its lowkey cognitively taxing to think of all the connections and facts whilst displaing it in a manner that is good for review.For consolidating understanding,maybe I'll use the SQ3R method whilst reading textbooks/watching YT videos ^___^

Reply 5

hamzakhan321

Not at all! Mind maps and sketchnotes aren’t a waste of time — they actually help a lot of people understand and remember things better. It really depends on your learning style.

For me, I find them useful when I’m trying to connect ideas or summarise big topics. But if you’re short on time, active recall and spaced repetition (like using flashcards or quick self-quizzes) are usually more efficient for revision.

So I’d say — use mind maps when you need clarity, and active recall when you need speed.

Reply 6

Kingston Vee

Official Rep

personally I think flashcards are useful but theres so much information to fit on them for biology and it does take a long time to write them out. They are helpful though and I write them all out leading up to exams and then just spend my revision reading them and doing exam questions.

Mind maps are very useful if you do them in a certain way. Using more imagery than words helps use the left side of your brain as well as your right. So if you have a mainly visual mind map, the drawings don't have to be good, it can trick your brain in to remembering information better. I think this would be really useful to use for the more process based topics like cells, DNA and reproduction. Colour is also a good way to engage your brain and memory. Red is the colour that stands out most so use this for the most important thing, and then colour code certain bits of your mind map so your brain can associate things better.

Hope this helps!

Vee (kingston rep)

Reply 7

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post

by DGG78

Good afternoon,Year 13 student of Biology, Psychology and Maths here,
This question is specifically for Biology,I do OCR and I'm getting lousy Cs for the most part,and I'd like to get As(or just a B,at the moment).
Exam practice is always good,especially as OCR's mark schemes are petty,but for consolidating my overall knowledge AND UNDERSTANDING I fear exam practice does little to help.
I've always fancied mind maps/sketch-notes as it seemed to mortalise someone's brain connections(plus I LOVE visual learning ^__^),but the effort needed for them is pretty large and A-Levels is not a cakewalk...
So,what do you guys suggest for consolidating UNDERSTANDING CONTENT for Biology OCR?😁

Hey @DGG78

Here's what helped me with A-level biology revision:

•

Mindmaps: Either on a big whiteboard or a big piece of paper, make one for each topic (Genetics, Homeostasis, etc.), try and write out as much as you can without looking at your notes. Then fill in the gaps using your notes.

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Blurt it all down: Pick a topic and write down everything you think you know, then check this against your notes, and add in the info you don't know in a different colour.

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Flashcards: Q on one side, A on the other. Try and answer the question without turning the flashcard over. I found that reading it aloud helped ! You can do these online on Anki, Quizlet or make your own.

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YouTube videos: For those topics you just can't quite understand, turn what you learnt into flashcards or mind maps.

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Try and explain a topic to someone as if they know nothing about it, whether this be a real person or just talking aloud.

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Past papers, print them out and complete them under exam conditions, then mark against the mark scheme.

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Picture association: draw little diagrams to help you remember information.

A-Level Biology is tough, so don't be too hard on yourself, but once you get an understanding of the topic, repetition and active recall are key to remembering it.

-Molly
BCU Student rep

(edited 1 week ago)