A level and university revision strategies.

1. Exam Skills
Before working through the sections below, reflect
on current/past revision methods.
1. Effective revision

2. Revision Techniques
• What now? You’re #$@&%+* having a
laugh!?
• According to university academic research,
starting to revise as soon as you first learn new
information will radically improve your ability
to retain and remember that information.
• Revisiting the information at regular intervals
massively improves retention.

3. Passive learning does not work!
It's not effective to read your notes over and over, copy
out notes or highlight bits of handouts.
You need to think actively about ideas if you are going
to remember them.
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

4. Learn actively by thinking, understanding and
connecting the things you are trying to learn to your
existing ideas and knowledge.
Ask yourself…
– "What have I just learnt?“
– "How could I use it to answer an exam question?"
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

5. STRATEGIES FOR UNDERSTANDING(Taken from http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Exams/sta-revision.aspx#understanding)
• Make sense of the information - Information is hard to
remember if it does not make sense. So you need to
understand what you are trying to learn and relate it to
things you already know.
• The most important thing is to understand what you have
just learnt.
• Ask Questions if you’re not completely clear.
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

6. • Team up with other students.
• Explain the idea to a friend as this helps you to organise the ideas and
ensures that you have really understood them.
• Imagine how you would explain/teach the material to someone else as
you revise - it forces you to notice when you don't understand
something rather than just aimlessly reading through pages of notes.
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

7. Organise the information -
• It is easier to remember well organised information.
• Try to find a meaningful structure for the information.
• Identify the most significant points, break down ideas into sections.
• Make a spidergram to summarise ideas and evidence. It is easier to
remember one series of connected ideas rather than a lot of separate
points.
• Use your own words in revision notes as this connects the ideas to your
understanding.
• Think about the material… and look for similarities and differences
between new information and what you already know. Why was the
research valuable? Has it been replicated? Does it support old theories or
suggest new ones?
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

8. • Make the information more memorable – One way is to generate
sounds or images to go with the information and form mental images to
go with the ideas.
• Or make things more visual using colours (colour coding can be very
effective to create links) to create a visual representation.
Visual examples -
• Mind maps
• Flashcards
• Doodles
• Annotated images
• Videos
• Vodcasts
Audio examples –
• Podcasts
• Recordings of notes being read.
• Recordings of lectures.
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY

9. Regular Revisiting
The research suggests regular revisiting (up to four
times) to improve the learning.
1. First time should be straight after the learning –
after the lesson or same day. Re-read and re-
write notes in your own words to organise.
2. Second time should be 24 hrs later – team up
with a friend.
3. Third time should be within a week of the lesson
– recap activity, such as planning a flashcard
without looking at notes.
4. Fourth time should be within a month of the
original lesson – planning answers to an exam
question.

10. • Ideas for mnemonics and flashcards (could be particularly useful for revising
case study info): file:///X:/My%20Documents/Downloads/skills-memory-aids.pdf
• Have a go at a visualisation technique demonstrated in this video (6 minutes
into video): https://youtu.be/VQKt58kuEnk
MEMORY AIDS & TECHNIQUES

11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22565912
This article suggests that testing yourself and spreading
revision out over time are the most effective ways of
preparing for an exam.
EFFECTIVE REVISION - LEARN ACTIVELY