1. Using Effective Revision Techniques

2. Why Revise? Can you remember… The alphabet? Your 2 times table?
Baa baa black sheep?
How about how many chromosomes the body has? How many plays did Shakespeare write?
It’s trickier isn’t it?
What’s the difference between the information at the top and the information in this box?
How about how many chromosomes the body has? How many plays did Shakespeare write?
It’s trickier isn’t it?
How about how many chromosomes the body has? How many plays did Shakespeare write?

3. Why Revise?
The difference is you, over your life, have repeated the information at the top so many times it’s almost impossible to forget it. You learnt it, you repeated it…..then reviewed it…..then reviewed it again…..and again…..and again
That’s revision.
The reason you can remember them (or any other firm memory from childhood) is that you kept going back to that memory in the days, months and years afterwards. REPETITION

4. Why Revise? Statistics Show –
66% of material is forgotten after 7 days
88% of material is forgotten after 6 weeks
Reading notes and textbooks leads to a mere 10% retention
Therefore your son needs to use a variety of strategies to support his revision.

5. The following will not work -
Revising everything the night before an exam
Having a negative attitude towards achievement
Reading through notes and textbooks
Underestimating the importance of homework

6. How to support at home - Having a suitable place to revise
Minimise distractions
How long he should revise for
When is the best time of day for him to revise
Encourage the completion of homework
When to start revising / timetables
Researchers have found that students sending and receiving messages while studying scored lower test results and were less effective at tasks such as note taking.
The study found that when students did not use mobiles, they were better at being able to recall information.

7. Revision Timetable Be specific
Clear focus/aim for each revision session
Devoting time to difficult subjects/topics
Plan in 20-30min sessions (5min breaks)

8. How to support at school -
Revision starts at school
Attendance
Punctuality
Attitude to learning

9. During the Examination Period -
Sacrifices will need to be made
Revise in chunks
Eat well
Early nights
Build in time for exercise
If it is not working – take a break

10. Identifying Useful Resources and Websites

11. Useful Resources Make a Mind Map. Use lots of images and clear links
E.g. Write out key facts. Then try and cut out words and write them shorter. Then even shorter. Then even shorter.
Use colours. Make everything as vivid and memorable as possible.
Start with a central theme and organise the information from it, grouped into subtopics.
Only put in the key words, everything else should come to mind when it is read.

12. Key word cards
For key information and facts. Your son can carry these around with him and test himself anywhere.
Include definitions on the back. He can test himself on the definitions, sort them into relevant categories or put them into a sequence.
Short and snappy again.
Make a card sort
Make a set of cards that can be cut out, mixed up and matched.
Use them; For pieces of information that go together such as parts of a formula. A sequence of historical dates.

13. Read-Cover-Recall-Check
Read the information you want to remember. Cover it up, write out what you remember. Check to see how much you had correct.
Use it to test yourself on; stories, key paragraphs of information
Short and snappy is key again.
Become the teacher
Use classmates, parents and siblings to test your knowledge by teaching a topic.
Either ask your son questions to test him or ask him to explain a topic/story to you.
This will reinforce your son’s knowledge.
Use it when; Explaining a series of events or a process that has some detail

14. Mnemonics
Are memory devices that help learners recall larger pieces of information, especially in the form of lists like characteristics, steps, stages, parts, phases, etc.
Use to recall characters in stories – e.g Who are SAJJ and the PJ’s in Mark’s Gospel?
How can you remember the order of the planets in our solar system
Short and snappy is key again

15. Online quizzes or revision guide exam questions
Answer the questions, note down your score, revise the topic some more, have another go at the questions later. Did you improve?
Use it to test; Simple scientific facts and processes, Maths and Language Quizzes
Bitesize has a lot
Get Revising

16. Amber-Need to go over a few bits again,
Past exam questions and analysis
Complete past exam questions. Mark answers using the mark scheme and then check with the teacher.
Fill in the answers you missed with green pen. Go through the paper and colour code each topic
Red-need to revise,
Amber-Need to go over a few bits again,
Green-I’ve got it
Use it to recall the information and test ability. It will support exam technique and prepares the student for what to expect in the examination.
This will support exam technique and prepares you for what to expect with the GCSE exam
This familiarises you with the command words in the exam papers. If any are misunderstood then this can be addressed with the class teacher.

17. Don’t forget the internet
Don’t forget the internet! If you have a computer at home, there are many excellent revision websites.
Ask your teachers to upload revision PowerPoints onto SMH for you to use.
Your teachers have provided a list of websites and resources that you could use to supplement revision. Below are a few and all will be shared via SMH –
Music – You Tube ‘OCR Music GCSE’
ICT –
Art –
RE -
English -
DT -
PE -
Science –