Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Revision Tips from the Plymouth English Tutor

Exam season is upon us, so here’s a quick guide to revision (can be read in a quick 10 minute break!)


What exactly is revision?

The action of revising.  The doing.  The verb.
To revise is to reread your work to improve your knowledge of the subject.


How much time should I spend revising?

You should be able to comfortably revise for a burst of 30 minutes (GCSE) or 45 minutes (A Level/Undergraduate) before finding that your concentration wanes, and you start dreaming of tidying your room.  

Or find yourself near the vacuum.

Switch off your WiFi, to ensure you have a clear path to revision - you can use your phone to check your timings and, after your 30 or 45 minute revision burst, to check social media/play music/games.  

You should rest for around 15 minutes max., so that you don’t forget what you have just learned, and can build on the content in your next revision session. 

A great study pattern for a morning or afternoon revision session might look like this –

5 minutes: look over class notes, or your revision plan, to see what you have to revise
35 minute burst: revise 2 topics

10 minutes: break:
social media/listen to music/play a game/make a snack

35 minute burst: revise 2 topics

10 minutes: break

 35 minute burst: revise 2 topics
 5 minutes: plan your the topics to cover in your next session
  
Lunch/dinner/snack break: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Repeat once more.


Don’t forget to factor in time for relaxing, too, whether playing sport, watching a film (save the boxset binging for post-exam rewards) or catching up with friends.


How much should I revise? 

Whether you started your revision months or only hours ago, you should be comfortable with the key topics of your course (perhaps 3-6) depending on your course and level.

This information will have been given to you in a handout, usually near the start of your course, or at the start of your revision period.  It may also be available on your school website/your online learning area. It will most definitely be on the website of your exam board – you’ll just need to know what exam board you are entered for (the whole class/school will study the same, possibly AQA, OCR, EDEXCEL, WJEC) and hopefully the 3 or 4 digit specification number.  Your teacher will be able to provide this for you, if you can’t see it on a handout.


How do I write a revision plan?

Depending on how much time you have to revise (several months is ideal, however you can still learn a lot in a few hours), a plan is a great way to understand a topic.

I use clouds with lines, colour, circles and bullet points, to sort my information.  



Some learners prefer a bullet point list: 



Whichever way works best for you is your best method.

Okay, okay, break time is over - back to your revision burst!  Good luck :-) 

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