Revision
When preparing for your GCSE exams, the best thing to do is to remain calm and get organised. The worst thing to do is nothing! The longer you put off revision the harder it will become.
There are lots of people who can give you support and help. Ask your teachers to help you make a revision plan. Get friends and relatives to test you on the things you've revised. There are lots of different techniques and online resources to make revision easier.
Be Prepared!
- Make a revision plan: breaking your subjects down into small manageable sections
- Find a quiet place to study
- Have everything you need (such as pens, paper, school books etc.) ready in front of you?
- Turn off or avoid people and things you know will distract you, eg, TV, console
- Plan in occasional short breaks
Revision techniques
Here are a few popular revision techniques; try to find the best ones that work for you. Using a variety of these techniques will probably make revision more varied and interesting.
Highlight key points
Use highlighter pens to emphasise information, this will help when you go back over information. Use different colours for different types of information.
Record it
Although you may find this embarrassing, recording yourself saying key information and playing it back when you are doing something else is a good way of getting additional revision time in! You can use an old cassette recorder, a Dictaphone or possibly your mobile phone to record key bits of info.
Mnemonics: song, rhymes and acronyms
Mnemonics are memory aids and can be very useful when trying to recall chunks of information that you find hard to retain. They work by associating one thing (like a phrase or the letters of a word) with the pieces of information you are trying to remember. There are lots of different methods of doing this. Ask you teacher or search online for examples.
Mind Maps
Make mind maps/flow diagrams and put them on your bedroom wall so you can refer to them regularly.
Cards
Making a series of cards with bullet points on them is another good revision technique. Take them around with you and look over them when you have a spare five minutes.
Lists, Charts and Notes
Some people find it easier to make lists, to write and rewrite paragraphs of information, to makes notes and charts and to copy them over and over.
Study Buddy
Teaching somebody else what you have learnt is a good way of working out how much you have remembered from a subject, as well as highlight gaps you may need to recover.
Practising Previous Exam questions
This is an excellent way of preparing for your exams, even better if you pretend that you’re in one! Try completing the paper under exam conditions; time yourself, don’t look at your notes and no talking! This may not seem pleasant, but it will help give you an idea of what to expect. Ask your teacher if they would be able to look at what you’ve done and give you feedback.
Cramming
Cramming your revision in the night before is not a good way to revise! A good night’s sleep will help you perform much better with the information you’ve already learnt.
On Exam day
Being nervous on the day of your exam is natural. Here are a few things that will help…
- Set your alarm clock
- Make sure you have the right equipment for each exam ready the night before.
- Nerves can affect your appetite, but it is important to eat a good breakfast to fuel all that brain power you’re going to use!
- Last minute revision: If you want to read over key information before your exam, this is where info-cards can come in useful
- Get to the exam in plenty of time
- Keep a positive frame of mind
- Remain calm, read each question slowly and make sure you understand it. Many errors made in exams are caused simply by not reading the question properly