Revision Ideas.

You are often told that you must do 1½ hours of revision per subject per week as a minimum leading up to the prelims, but do you know what to do and how best to do it?

A few facts may first help.

Regular small pieces of revision (e.g. the same work covered 3 times in one week) builds up knowledge which is more likely to be remembered for longer and reduce the stress later.

You do your best work before lunch.

After a meal your brain can work more slowly, and so learn less effectively. Therefore holiday revision is best done in the morning!

Most people find they work best for 30 min to 1 hour at a time; so 2 or 3 sessions per night with a break in between may be best. By now you should know your own best time.

Using these ideas the following may be a good start.

Split time up into “must do” homework and “revision” homework sessions in blocks of 30-60 min. With a small break in between.

Set a time to do your formal homework and between these exercises do your short revision.

If revising at weekend or in Holiday time the best thing is to work in the morning by following the timetable you would normally follow in school. Very few people do their best quality of work late at night!

Agree how much time you will aim to do and stick to it. Remember to include any regular commitments you may have, such as sport etc.

Unless you can justify not revising you should be carrying out revision work. Just watching a TV programme that you are not following closely is not a good enough reason!

To help you plan there is a revision planner on the other side.

Start by setting time aside for your responsibilities. e.g. helping with meals, jobs, clubs, etc.

Version A is for term time.

Version B is for holidays and exam leave time.

Set out your plan now so you don’t have to think about it later too much.

Do make up your own plan to suit your own needs. Some people do their revision before school!!

A - For term time ( assume 1-2p.m. is lunch time)

B - For other times ( assume 1-2p.m. is lunch time)

Now - What to do in the time you have set aside?

Check that notes are complete by using the green progress sheets for each section. If you have missed any work remember it is your responsibility to catch up after absence and to keep your notes safe, but your teacher may be sympathetic if asked for help in good time and not a few days before a major test!

Look at the Learning Outcome sheets. These tell you all the areas where KU can be assessed. Tick off those which you are confident of. Add page references for parts you were not sure about, or make a note to see the teacher for further help.

Read your notes, and see if all the learning outcomes are covered. If not see your teacher ASAP.

Make a note of any new terms and ideas you get in a word bank. Get someone to test you on this.

Go over worked examples in you notes and in the books.

Take special note of past paper questions. You will notice patterns of questions. Many are reworded and used every few years.

Attend homework help on a regular basis. You teacher gives up this time on a voluntary basis and would rather this time is used by people who attend by personal choice. You could even use this time just to do revision in a place with all the text-books and computer resources available. See your teacher for available times.