How to revise Your best way to revise

How to revise

Your best way to revise • Everyone has their own approach to revising and there isn't a 'best way' or a secret trick. You are the one taking the exam, so do some research to find what works for you. • What ISN’T working? • What did or didn’t work for GCSEs or AS?

Sort your sleep patterns out NOW

Get in the right frame of mind • There is still time – but it is good to start planning • Create a long term plan for your revision and how you are going to divide up your time

Stop multitasking

Multitasking doesn’t work

How to stop multitasking and focus 1. Eliminate Distractions 4. Get Off your Phone (and anything else) If you are in school, hide away. Limit your use – once an hour for five minutes. Set a timer If you are at home, recruit others to help you concentrate. Use apps to block the most distracting sites Cancel your Netflix subscription 2. Music or silence? Earplugs or playlist? 3. Choose your study companions carefully 5. . Schedule how long you will work for and how long you will break for. …and stick to them.

Be aware of your brain and how it works

Teach it to others – or explain it to your cat

Read it out loud Record yourself Listen to someone else

Rewards work – work out what your rewards are

Learn in different ways • Instead of just listening to a podcast, which involves auditory learning, find a way to rehearse the information both verbally and visually. • This might involve describing what you learned to a friend, taking notes, or drawing a mind map. By learning in more than one way, you’re further cementing the knowledge in your mind. • According to Judy Willis, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized. ”

Connect • Don’t just read your notes – it’s pointless • Make mind maps or mental connections

Draw it! To help understand help remember

The only thing worth practising is the thing you are examined on Write essays, plans, paragraphs. Past papers

When you can’t remember, look it up • If you find yourself struggling to recall something, research suggests that you are better offer simply looking up the correct answer. • The longer you spend trying to remember the answer, the more likely you will be to forget the answer again in the future. Why? Because these attempts to recall previously learned information actually results in learning the "error state" instead of the correct response.

Morning Memory vs. Afternoon Memory • Dr. Jane Oakhill, a psychologist at the University of Sussex has conducted a number of experiments to determine whether time of day affects your memory. • In the morning we tend to be better at Declarative Memory tasks – which is our ability to recall exact details, like names, places, dates and facts. • However in the afternoon, our brain is better at Semantic Memory tasks – our ability to integrate new information with what we already know and make it meaningful. • study more unfamiliar material earlier in the day. And use the afternoon to integrate new knowledge into what you already know.

Test yourself Use flash cards Cover and say Choose a question This is the best way to retain information