The document provides guidance on effective revision techniques for exam preparation. It recommends organizing revision materials in a lever arch folder with dividers and stationery. Key points include interleaving different subjects, prioritizing weaker topics, and self-testing with flashcards, quizzes and creating timelines from memory as proven methods of effective revision over passive re-reading. The document warns against common mistakes like leaving revision to the last minute or not knowing exam paper content and format.

1. Revision Launch
2019

3. On your table…
• Yellow lever arch file
• Dividers
• Plastic wallet for:
Highlighters
Flashcards
Post-its
• Personal examination
timetable
• Revision planner
• Examination
information booklet
• Core revision
materials
• How to revise
effectively guide

4. 1. NAME your folder and put the dividers in

5. 2. Put your plastic wallets into the file and fill one with stationery and
the other with your Revision Planner and Exam Timetable

6. Your Exam
Timetable!
3. Make sure these four documents are in your
folder IN FRONT OF your dividers

7. 4. Label your dividers ‘English’, ‘Maths’, and ‘Science’ then correctly
file the revision material coming to you

8. 5. Using your examination timetable, highlight the exams
you will be sitting in your revision planner

9. The Revision Planner

10. History Chemistry English History
In what order should I revise?
English ICT French ICT
Monday
Tuesday
Your memory works
best when it is forced to
mix up different subject.
This is called
interleaving.
You need to get
organised to do it, and it
can feel a bit annoying,
but it works far better
than simply working on
one subject all day or
night.

11. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

12. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

13. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

14. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

15. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

16. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March

17. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March
English History English DT PE DT English
DT History Maths DT Maths English Maths
FPN Maths FPN History History FPN PE

18. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March
English History English DT PE DT English
DT History Maths DT Maths English Maths
FPN Maths FPN History History FPN PE
• Just naming the subject is too vague
• Not all subjects included (science?!)
• Doubling up subjects without a clear plan
• Random allocation of subjects
• Unrealistic time allocation (When will your
ride your bike? Go camping? Go to the
cinema?)

19. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March
English Lit Paper 1
Create flashcards for
7 key quotations for
the Macbeths: Test
History
Paper 2
From memory, make
a timeline of
epidemics 1250-
2019. Use revision
guide to complete.
Then self-test.
English Language
Paper 1, Q.3
Read model
answer, answer
practice question,
assess with mark
scheme – bring to
teacher

20. Common Revision Mistakes

21. Mistake 1: Leaving only a weekend, or a half-term,
to revise a subject.
Know when your exams are so you can make sure
you get your sessions in before the exam.
Your English Language exams are after half term,
but if you leave your revision for them until the
holiday you won’t be able to get any help if you
get stuck.

22. Mistake 2: Not knowing what is on each paper!
Your first physics exam is 23rd May. The next one is
15th of June… three weeks later. Make sure you are
revising the right material.

23. Mistake 3: Not prioritising properly
Now you know you need to revise p.1 physics, and
you have to get your revision sessions in before
the exam, what should you do first?
Test yourself and identify where you aren’t strong.
It might take your teacher 5 minutes to help you
understand now – you might not have that time if
you leave it too late.

24. Mistake 4: Not planning
your tasks
30 minutes is a waste of
time if it isn’t planned.
What do you want to
achieve in this vital revision
slot?
MONDAY
19 March
English Literature P1
• Macbeth > themes
• Mind map for each theme
• Revision guide/book to complete
• Write 3 key quotes for each theme
• Self-test
History P1
• Elizabethans > daily life > houses of the rich and
poor
• Revision grid from memory
• Use knowledge organiser to check, correct and add
detail in a different colour
• Self test
PE P1

25. Mistake 5: Not starting
The effort of revision is worth it.
When you aren’t working you probably don’t feel great
anyway.
You can do it.

27. Actually Effective Revision Activities

28. Research has proven that
testing helps you learn and
remember!
In this study, we can see that
those who used testing
interleaved with studying
remembered more and could
recall it quicker.

29. Furthermore, this study also
shows that just studying with
no testing is the LEAST
EFFECTIVE form of revision.

30. Testing helps because:
- Having to work hard to recall
information from memory
helps make it stick in your
memory.
- It gives you a clear idea of
what you don’t know. This
means you know exactly what
you should focus on in your
revision.
A curious peculiarity of our memory is
that things are impressed better by active
than by passive repetition. I mean that in
learning (by heart, for example), when we
almost know the piece, it pays better to
wait and recollect by an effort from
within, than to look at the book again. If
we recover the words in the former way,
we shall probably know them the next
time; if in the latter way, we shall very
likely need the book once more.
- William James, Principles of Psychology

31. Knowledge Organisers (or Revision Guides…)
That’s a lot of
information. Where do
I start?!

32. 1. Quiz yourself (or get someone else to quiz you)

33. 2. Highlight what you don’t know

34. 3. Quickly create flashcards
What is a tissue?
A group of cells
with a similar
structure and
function

35. 4. Quiz yourself
What is a tissue?
A group of cells
with a similar
structure and
function

36. 5. (Optional) Put into piles
What is a tissue?
A group of cells
with a similar
structure and
function

37. Ways of self-testing
• Any activity where you are first relying on memory rather than books
or notes.
- Produce a mind-map from memory. Then use your book/notes to
make corrections and fill in any gaps. Then turn it over, and start again
from scratch and from memory.
- Complete quizzes. These could be written by you, your peers, your
teachers or on Quizlet and Socrative. Make sure you keep a record of
what you don’t know so that you can relearn it!
- When you interleave, start your next session with a re-cap of what
you learned in the first session.

40. 6. Plan your half term’s revision
•How many revision sessions?
•Which days?
•What are you studying?
•How will you study it?