Effective Revision Strategies

Know yourself and find the strategies that work for you. Do what works for you, that you know has proved successful, not what works for others. Pick a suitable environment, get all stationery and books in the same place. Eat well, rest and relax: balance is better than bonkers. This guide gives details of some revision strategies that have proved effective, pick ones that will work for you and vary them during a day, over a topic etc.

Self-test, a lot Research shows that testing in order to recall content is the best way of getting us to think hard. Thinking about and getting the answer is much better than re-reading notes. The more we recall information the better it sticks in our long term memory. This should be in the form of quizzing ourselves where possible. Quizzing is one of the ultimate memory strategies. It has to be regular but not too close together, it has to be repeated and it needs to be cumulative. Periodic quizzing and testing as recalling facts from memory is more effective than just rereading them. This blog article has some good strategies for close questioned quizzing:

Subject specific is best. The nature of revision varies from subject to subject. The subject content is the most important thing to learn. Create a checklist of all the knowledge and skills that you need for each subject and use it to track your proficiency and areas where you need more help or focus. Your job is to remember what was taught in class. The whole purpose of revision should be to help with that.

Memory Palace This idea has gained prominence as both Sherlock Holmes and Derren Brown advocate the use of it. It is a mnemonic device, or memory aid, it improves one’s ability to remember and recall information quickly. One of the most elaborate devices ever created, a memory palace is an intricate way to store information in the “rooms” of one’s mind: e=en e=en

Past exam questions and exam papers Doing past paper questions is a great preparation for testing knowledge and applying it to the kind of questions you will have in the real thing. Being guided through a sample question/paper in class is effective for learning the techniques required (a walking talking mock) Be sure of what the correct answers are, so get the mark scheme and understand what the mistakes and misconceptions are. Doing this with a partner is also very effective. Past papers can be found on any exam boards’ websites.

Study buddies/group revision Use friends/family to quiz you at random times. At breakfast, at the dinner table or even in the car. Be asked questions that relate to your studies and be made to think hard about the answer. Your books/notes should be a good source of quizzing information for you. Explain the answer. Adding reason to an answer helps to remember. This approach brings lots of benefits. Be specific about your approach to collaborative revision. In pairs/groups look at questions and how you might go about answering them, using each person’s ideas and memory to answer the question, rather than just rehashing the same content. This ‘collaborative retrieval’ is a proven memory strategy.

Revision flash cards These should not be just facts that you can remember but should rather have questions on one side and answers on the back. You can use them to test themselves and also use them for parents and /or friends to test you. They are another proven example of effective, active learning. The ‘Leitner system’ is a good method for using them for learning:

Students teaching students Create opportunities to take over the teaching. Ask a group of friends to create a presentation on part of the topic. They then deliver this to the whole group. You will have to be really familiar with the concepts in order that you can teach it. Materials produced need to be vetted (by a teacher) and prepared in advance; roles need to be explicit, alongside timing etc. Planning time is essential, but with clear guidance this strategy really can enhance deeper learning.

Active Learning Use actions to remember key words. You can also use drama to enhance understanding of a concept in order to remember it better. Most of the research done on effective revision and memory emphasises the physical and emotional associations we make whilst learning. One way we remember is by ‘embodied cognition’ – that is to say gestures, movement and facial expressions. There is great research to show that students learn better when a teacher uses gesture to make explanations clear. Using physical actions can be just as effective. We think and remember physically. Have you ever wondered why drinking a warm cup of coffee may make you think a person is a ‘warmer’ character? – then read this:

Read around the subject Even if the content is not in the exam, understanding the subject area better helps to build links which may be valuable for those higher grade questions. Recommended documentaries, websites, exam board resources and places of interest to visit can also be beneficial

Deconstruct-rebuild Explore concepts by deconstructing them and then rebuilding them, preferably in your own words and with your own pathways being forged. Creating ‘concept maps’ or ‘mind maps’, for example, is a well proven strategy:

Using song or rhythm We know that we remember the words of songs and can sing them verbatim. Using rhythm or songs and chanting them can help you remember concepts. There are many already written and prepared on YouTube, but would be more valuable if the you come up with them on your own. I am sure there aren’t any Year 11 students who do not know the order of the waves in the electromagnetic spectrum due the YouTube song:

Distribute practice of different subjects or different areas of a subject - interleaving By spacing out practice this aids memory. Cramming will help for a short period and may be useful the night before an exam but this is not the most effective for long-term memory. A time table can help with this.

Learn keywords and definitions by heart. Learning the correct definitions in some subjects will help gain a few extra marks, so long as they are used correctly. Produce memory cards with the key word and the definition on to test them regularly.

Mnemonics and rhymes These, often rude, tricks can prove to be larger than life ways to remember a sequence of events. Be careful that you remember the sequence of events as well as the rude rhyme. This is a great website the not only explains the use of mnemonics really effectively, but it also presents some good explanation of how and why of ‘chunking’, combining, using graphics and stories: These can be a good way to helping to store larger chunks of information. write these on posters and stick them up around your room or the house.

Image Association Form associations between words and images, in order that you might remember them better. This website has both good memory tests to do but also it shows you about how you might remember them better:

Prepare for success