1. Riveting Revision? How can you revise effectively? Intro
Not here to tell you what to do but to show you how my faculty approaches revision and the planning of it – take what you think is useful and discard what is irrelevant to you.

2. The Many Faces of Revision…

3. What is the problem with revision
DO you TEACH revision?
Think…
Pair….
Share…
What is the problem with revision
Describe it to the person next to you

4. Phase 2: possibly make revision notes
Phase 1: Read
Revision workbook
Own notes
Text book refresher
Relevant websites e.g. quizlet
What most students do?
Passive revision
exam
Phase 2: possibly make revision notes
Hope knowledge has stuck enough to answer an exam question and be successful
Flashcards
Revision book
Mind maps
Graphic organisers
This might not describe your students but it describes a lot of borderline students who don’t make sufficient progress because they don’t know how to / want to revise independently

5. What should students do?
Phase 4 RAG knowledge
Phase 1: Read
Red – no knowledge – learn again – maybe try a different technique
Amber – good factual knowledge but can’t apply to an exam question
Green – can answer exam questions on this topic confidently
Revision workbook
Own notes
Text book refresher
Relevant websites e.g. quizlet
now focus on your red topics – be effective and target revision
What should students do?
Active revision cycle
Exam Practise – short / long answer questions
Quiz yourself (flash cards / quizlet – other online quizzes)
Timed exam practise
Essay plans for longer questions
Phase 2: make revision notes – learn content
Gojimo
Graphic organisers
Quizlet
Mnemonics
Cornell notes
Post it note revision
Flashcards
Revision book
Read, cover, write, check
Mind maps
Share this with students at the start of the course and at the end of every section or when you ask them to revise for a knowledge / exam practise test.
Teachers have to set high expectations for revision and enable students to do it and hold them to account if they don’t
Phase 3: test yourself

6. Revision SHOULD happen a few months before the exams begin
Scaffolded revision…
…When should they do it?
Revision SHOULD happen a few months before the exams begin
It must be planned for

7. “ When it comes to retaining information, not all methods are created equal.”
ALEX QUIGLEY ‘TOTAL RECALL’
…Variety is the spice of life revision

8. Self-explanation (explaining how information is connected)
Outcomes
Practice testing
Distributed practice (the opposite of cramming – spread revision throughout the course)
Interleaved practice (mixing different kinds of material within a study session)
Elaborative interrogation (explaining why a fact / concept is correct)
Self-explanation (explaining how information is connected)
Summarising – but successful when students are shown how to summarise
Imagery for text – not applicable to a wide range of subjects
Mnemonics – but useful for short-term memory
Rereading – although it is the most commonly used
Highlighting – can actually harm student performance/ability to make inferences
TOP 3 PRACTICES

9. This is where modelling interleaved practice is essential
10 Revision ideas
Mindmaps
Flashcards
Foldables
Cornell notes
Revision books
Post-its / mind maps / posters
Past paper practise
Exam question planning
Graphic organisers
RAGging knowledge
Key Tip
This is where modelling interleaved practice is essential

10. Simplemind mind-mapping app – for smart phones and tablets
Paid version is better

11. Flashcards

12. Make foldables

13. For students who find it difficult to reduce down key information
Cornell notes will help. The principle was developed at Cornell University – one of the most prestigious universities in the USA.
It involves dividing up your page (or using a template) which you use to give your notes structure.
It forces you to be brief and pick out the key points.

14. The “Cornell Method”

15. Revision books – mix it up!

16. Mind map Papers Write an essay or exam questions on A3/A4 paper.
Mind map as much as possible in relation to the question.
When finished, the student can use their notes to add more detail (in another colour so they know what to go over)

17. Post-its and posters Movable revision!
Students can stick them around the house
Don’t let students put them EVERYWHERE– it may be overwhelming

18. Past Paper / exam Q practise
Longer essay Question in the centre of paper table cloth – 4 corners of the table – each student takes a different paragraph and colour pen and then move around
Each student has a different colour pen so you can see who knows what
Take a picture – of the cloth – each student can then plan the essay

19. RAGging For unit topics For subtopics
For specific key terms/ key events etc.
Auditing knowledge

20. Useful revision websites / apps:
Quizlet
Gojimo
Get Revising
Reviser
Flashcards+

21. Revision Tip
Paragraph Summaries

22. HIGHLIGHTING DOESN’T WORK!
It can be a good method for picking out key chunks of information of key words – but how many times have your students sheets looked like this?

23. Why doesn’t highlighting work?
One of the main problems is that it is already a very familiar strategy and using it involves little effort.
Most people don’t have a strategy for highlighting.
Another reason to ditch the highlighters is that when a revision technique feels too easy, it usually is.
Scientists have found that successful revision should involve ‘desirable difficulty’.
The added difficulty is harder to stick with but it proves longer lasting in the memory.

24. Try this instead…
In class/at home, set the task of reading through a text and making notes, ask students to write a post-it summary at the end of each paragraph.
This exercise forces them to extract the key meaning from the paragraph and reduce it down to something more palatable and memorable.

25. From these two pages in a text book…
e.g.
From these two pages in a text book…

26. To 5 brief Post-Its

27. If you then take the post-its away from the text, you have a series of notes that can be arranged
For self-testing
To sequence key points into a flowchart or diagram
Obviously you might need a greater degree of information, but this method is a good start

28. Download revision apps to smart phones / tablets: £1.49- £1.99 approx.
Useful revision apps:
Download revision apps to smart phones / tablets: £1.49- £1.99 approx.