1. Year 11 Revision Techniques

2. There are less than 9 weeks left until your exams.
Revision Techniques
There are less than 9 weeks left until your exams.
How should you be using your time?

3. Revision Techniques But do they really work? Suggested techniques:
Spider diagrams
Mnemonics
Revision guides
Highlighting
Revision timetables
Online revision
But do they really work?

4. Revision Techniques
Research shows that the following are ineffective :
Highlighting/underlining
Useful for starting more effective techniques but often means you focus on one concept at a time
Mnemonics
Useful for specifics, but little use for long passages or chunks of information.
Re-reading
Summarising
Surprisingly, no more effective than re-reading. Mind Maps are better as they include links between concepts.

5. Revision Techniques
Research shows that the following are of moderate use:
Self-explanation
Explaining to yourself how a problem was solved.
Elaborate questioning
Explaining a point or fact
Changing practice
Switching between different types of problems

6. Revision Techniques
Research shows that the following are really effective:
Repetition
Going over facts/points several times
Distributed learning
Spreading study out a long time
Practice testing
Self testing to check knowledge

7. Revision Techniques Repetition
Your brain remembers things by making links between neurons.
These links are strengthened every time you go over the information so the memory gets stronger and easier to access.

8. Revision Techniques Distributed learning
Spreading out revision over a long time means you can repeat the work more often.
It is better to do little and often than to cram just before the exam.
The mock exams is where this process should have started.
This is the time to write a revision timetable to make sure all subjects are equally covered.

9. Revision Techniques Practice testing
Read through your notes, then make flashcards of the critical concepts and test yourself.
Testing yourself can include completing relevant past paper questions and then checking against the correct answers.
Then test yourself again!
“Students who can test themselves or try to retrieve material from their memory are going to learn that material better in the long run” Prof Dunlovsky, Kent State Uni.

10. Revision Techniques
Flash cards

11. Revision Techniques
Flash cards

12. Revision Techniques
Flash cards

13. Revision Techniques DON’T Leave it to the last minute
Revise all of one subject and move on to another
Waste time revising the things you already know
Put off getting started by completing displacement activities
Revise late at night
Revise for hours at a time

14. Revision Techniques DO Start early – NOW! Revise little and often
Take regular breaks
Look after yourself – eat properly and get plenty of sleep
Write a revision timetable
Test yourself over again – including lots of past paper questions

15. Revision Techniques DO
Ask for help! Your teachers are here to help and give advice.
Remember, they have taken exams before and helped hundreds of other pupils to suceed.

16. GOOD LUCK!