Student Learning Development Revision and exam techniques Student

Student Learning Development Revision and exam techniques

Student Learning Development Presentation Outline • How do I deal with exam anxiety? • How do I start revising? • How can I improve my memory? • Which revision techniques can I use? • How do I organise my time in the exam?

Student Learning Development How do I deal with exam anxiety

Student Learning Development Concerns • There is too much to learn • I don’t know what to revise • I don’t know how to revise • I don’t know where to start • I don’t have enough time • My notes are too messy/disorganised • I don’t know how to memorise things • I feel too worried to remember

Student Learning Development Common problems • • • Not starting to revise early enough Forgetting to revise key topics Reading notes again and again Not gearing revision to specific exams Learning essays off by heart Putting off revision – Lack of motivation Losing interest Unable to fit revision into schedule Feeling overwhelmed

Student Learning Development Reflect on Previous experiences • What revision or memory techniques have worked for you in the past? • Do you have any experience of using any particular memory techniques? • Are there any revision techniques or strategies which you feel have been less successful for you previously? • How are you planning to approach your revision this time?

Student Learning Development Make sure you try to… • Reduce worry • Have good foundations – plan you revision strategies as soon as possible • look after yourself: This will help o good nutrition and water you deal with o rest, exercise and relaxation anxiety and improve your • learn to remember (techniques) memory • revise – sleep – review

Student Learning Development How do I start revising?

Student Learning Development Stage 1 Begin as early as possible. Familiarise yourself with what is required and plan: • • Time: when will you revise? Location: where will you revise? Work: what do you have to revise? How – what works best for you? To be a successful reviser you should: • Prepare • Organise • Memorise • Recall (Price and Maier, 2007)

Student Learning Development Stage 2 Plan your revision strategy

Student Learning Development Stage 3 Make a realistic timetable and stick to it: • When do you work best? • Plan your day: include targets, treats, meals and time to relax and sleep • Take regular breaks • Maximise your time – use short blocks of time

Student Learning Development Stage 4 Select key issues to revise (use your notes from lectures/ seminars as a starting point)

Student Learning Development Stage 5 Organise and reduce notes Group and organise your material Highlight and subordinate Use numbered points Highlight key words/phrases Have plenty of white space so that you can see the information easily • Use different colours, pictures or symbols if these help you • • • This helps you to understand to remember the information.

Student Learning Development Stage 6 Make master cards, question and answer cards, mind maps, graphs, tables and charts, etc.

Student Learning Development Stage 7 Utilise memory techniques: • Record and listen to your notes • Place reminder notes around your study area • Draw diagrams • Use different coloured pens Don’t forget to: • Take regular breaks • Exercise • Adopt an active revision strategy Remember that there may be material which you use/learn differently

Student Learning Development Stage 8 • Use past papers • Key themes • Blackboard • Short questions/essay questions • Practise timing and technique • Build up writing speed

Student Learning Development How can I improve my memory?

Student Learning Development Why do we remember? We remember when • we make connections/links • it’s of personal interest to us • we write it down • we say it aloud or record it We don’t remember when • we are stressed • we aren’t interested in it • we haven’t looked at it, thought about it or listened to it long enough

Student Learning Development Memory capacity We can only commit a certain amount of information to memory at any one time. But we can do things to increase the amount we can retain.

Student Learning Development Exercise 1 You will have 1 minute to memorise these words: label Panda hat onion puppy peach currant jeans cab car tie coke tea hare bean

Student Learning Development Exercise 1 Write down all the words you can remember How many words did you remember?

Student Learning Development Exercise 2 Try the same thing with the next list of words: window wall door ring necklace bracelet blue purple green desk chair butterfly wasp guitar drum

Student Learning Development Exercise 2 Write down all the words you can remember How many words did you remember this time?

Student Learning Development Compare your results Perhaps you did better with the second list? If so, this is probably because… • the words in the first list were in random order • in the second list the words were grouped into categories We can remember information more effectively if we organise it into meaningful ‘chunks’

Student Learning Development Learn and recall • Remembering more: o Organise material into meaningful, connected sections o Use techniques that suit you personally – people remember best in different ways • Longer, more effective recall: o Repetition – review material often o Adopt active strategies and practise using the material o Use memory aids

Student Learning Development Repetition • Whatever our personal memory style, repetition is key to learning and remembering long-term • We can’t hold much in our short-term memory so we have to move things from our short-term memory to our long term-memory • And then we have to be able to retrieve them promptly when we need them in the exam • Reviewing the material regularly makes the ‘memory pathways’ to the information stronger

Student Learning Development Which revision techniques can I use?

Student Learning Development Repetition technique • Carry mini revision cards on a key-ring. Look at them in ‘dead’ moments such as in queues • 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 days then randomly. This technique works on the fact that if we repeat something intensively to begin with, it becomes more secure in our memory, so we can gradually leave longer gaps between revisions

Student Learning Development The ten Envelope technique Number 10 envelopes from 1 -10 Write 10 -15 related facts on separate mini-cards Put them all in envelope 1 Test yourself once a day: o Move all the facts you can remember to envelope 2 o Leave the ones you don’t know in envelope 1 • Every time you remember a fact, move it to the next envelope; every time you forget it, leave it where it is • By the time the fact reaches no. 10, you should know it • •

Student Learning Development Different types of memory Cottrell suggests using your senses to ‘train the brain’ (2007, pp. 129 -31): • Visual memory – diagrams, charts, using different colours, pictures, cartoons • Tactile and motor memory – writing, tracking information, reading out information without sounding the words • Auditory memory – music, recording, vocalising, study groups How do YOU remembe r things best?

Student Learning Development Mnemonics: what makes them successful? They should be: • important to you • logical • dramatic • funny/bizarre • colourful For example: RHYTHM: Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move R The order of planets in average distance from the Sun: (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) My Very Easy Method: Just Set Up Nine Planets (The Mnemonics Guide, 1997).

Student Learning Development Narratives Cottrell (2007, p. 132) quotes a ‘story’ which will support the recall of the bile pigment bilirubin (an anti-oxidant which protects the cells of the body against the effects of free radicals): ‘Billy Rubin always wore a yellow T-shirt. He worked at the local prison where he protected the cells from a local terrorist group, The Free Radicals’.

Student Learning Development To sum up, Grouping and labelling • use the power of association • breakdown material into categories • find associations between items/points • develop these into revision sheets Techniques • Question and answer cards • Revision groups • Use past exam papers • Use your visual memory • use recordings • create narratives • stick reminder cards around your desk and home • Create information maps, flow charts, spider diagrams etc. • Recite aloud, make jingles • Move around • Interact with others – try revision tests with your friends • Use mnemonics

Student Learning Development How do I organise my time in the exam?

Student Learning Development Before the exam Find out: • Length of exam • Number of questions. Any compulsory questions? • Type of questions • Regulations? • Ensure that you have revised enough subjects • Find out if you need to take in any specific materials such as a ruler or a calculator into the exam.

Student Learning Development In the exam • Are you comfortable? • Can you see a clock? • Listen carefully to any instructions given • Try to remain calm • Start to read through the paper as slowly and calmly as possible

Student Learning Development The paper • Read the instructions on the paper very carefully; read the paper twice • Make sure that you are aware of any compulsory questions • Take note of any instructions regarding choice of question • Make a note of how much time you have for each question • Do not panic if you do not see the questions you were hoping for

Student Learning Development Plan your time • Note the marks for each question carefully • Estimate how much time you have for each question • Plan to spend an appropriate amount of time on each question • Keep an eye on the clock • Follow your plan

Student Learning Development Answering the questions • • • Read the question carefully Answer each part of the question Use your plan Write in answer books as directed Note how marks often relate to the question o ‘Give three reasons why…’ 3 marks o ‘Name four…and describe…’ 8 marks o Do not write a page when there are only three marks available

Student Learning Development Short answer questions • factual/descriptive? • details of a procedure, naming an item, describing its use, differences or similarities? • take note of the mark system • answer all parts of the question • if it is broken into sections, make it clear as to which section you are dealing with • make it as easy as possible for the examiner to mark your answer • stick to the point • don’t waste valuable time

Student Learning Development Essay questions • They are analytical, critical and creative • Answer the question • Look out for key words • They are usually worth and direction words large percentage of marks each • Follow usual essay format: • Follow instructions • Introduction • Main body • Do not overlap • Conclusion subjects

Student Learning Development Finally, • Do not leave too early • If you finish early, read your work through – you may have more to add • Always leave time to check your work • Check spelling, punctuation and grammar • Move on when you get stuck

Student Learning Development References Cottrell, S. (2007) The exam skills handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Price, G. and Maier, P. (2007) Effective Study Skills. Harlow: Pearson Longman.