How do you teach someone to revise?

[lechatnoir]

DS is in year 10 at grammar school so pretty bright and generally hard working when not distracted by the xbox but did badly in recent mocks. There's a few gaps in learning & he could definitely put more effort into homework & mid term tests but we've realised he doesn't actually know how to revise.

School's advice is 'do past papers, make flash cards/mind maps & take notes' but that's about the extent of it. The reality is more like flitting from subject to subject with no real plan, writing out but not actually using the flash cards, doing past papers then going through with a tick or cross. He has very little in the way of revision notes and the only plan is a basic timetable eg 'Monday - physics & maths' . He's mainly just sitting reading his own notes or GCSE textbooks and not much is going in!

What would a decent but realistic GCSE revision plan would look like and more to the point, how is it actually implemented? So when he sits down for 2 hours revision, what does he actually do? Should he have a revision folder for each subject and be writing literally every topic detail down (a whole 2 years worth?) and then reading back or rewriting again then next day? Things like quotes, equations etc presumably this is where flash cards are used - but how? Appreciate this might sound dense but if you've never revised or been told, it's hard to know what effective revision actually looks like.

I did wonder about asking lovely neighbour's son who is at uni and apparently extraordinarily hard working & diligent if he could help but feel I should have a crack first and not sure what to ask him!

Yes, we got to end of year exams with DS and he was supposed to revise from worksheets that he'd half-completed, were unmarked and we couldn't read his handwriting. Definitely having, for each subject, something that he can revise from that is complete and correct is a must!

Some great ideas here for sure. Speaking as an MFL specialist, @ClimbingtheLadder2024, I am LOVING your MFL revision technique, that is absolutely spot on. I am hoping you gained an 8 or 9!

@Chickoletta you are a teacher but I wonder if the fact that you teach in a private school makes things different – for usual (such as AQA) GCSE Eng lang there are no set texts to revise, as far as I am aware. Do your students maybe take IGCSE? Also I disagree wrt not revising in year 10 – I think revision or at least consolidation of learning is a really good idea, as @TeenDivided and @noblegiraffe say, it's so useful to have work to look back at.

Example of climbingtheladder's MFL revision above – there is no way that could be done effectively at this stage of year 11, it is deffo a brilliant way to work from year 10 on. Ditto things like case studies for geography done in year 10, or Eng lit texts already covered – well worth writing these up, or making notes, or making flashcards. They won’t be covered again in depth so consolidation now is a great idea.

I can recommend physics and maths tutor for sciences, maths and I think geography. They do past paper questions by topic which is really helpful for those in year 10 who haven't covered the whole course.

For MFL my dd (also year 10) finds Blookit (sp?) good and it gamifies vocab learning which is also helpful.

She uses quizlet for online flashcards and also Seneca.

@clary I love ‘you’re a teacher but…’ ! Thanks for the clarification! Yes, my pupils take IGCSEs but there are other GCSE specs which use an anthology of texts for prior preparation. I’ve also examined for 3 different boards. But 🤷‍♀️

Ah sorry, I am sure you know that you are a teacher. Your pupils' experience taking IGCSEs at an academically selective private school is probably very different from that of the majority of students in England at non-selective state schools. IME many (most) of those students sit AQA, OCR or Edexcel GCSE Eng lang, none of which has any set text component.

I don't have experience of English outside those boards, so I bow to your superior knowledge of set texts in Eng lang for other boards. Unless they are at a private school, which admittedly the OP does not specify, it's pretty unlikely the OP's DC is sitting anything but AQA, OCR or Edexcel tho. Most likely AQA.

Find out the exam board for each subject. Print off the specification. Just Google e.g. ocr psychology specification. Tbh his teachers should have given him this. Then go through and identify the areas he doesnt know as well. Revise those.

The best way to revise is to choose a topic and write everything you know about it on one half of a big piece of paper. Then, look at the topic (textbook or class notes) and write down the bits you missed in another colour on the other side. Then he will revise the bits in the 2nd colour. The biggest mistake people make is revising the bits they already know.

Past papers are also a good way of revising. Practice answering the questions. Again, the ones you didn't get are the ones to revise.

@lechatnoir remember that past papers are not the best idea at this stage of year 10 as there will be so many elements that will not have been covered. In MFL it might be possible to pick out questions on topics he has done in reading and listening, but you would miss out so many I'm not sure it's worth it at this stage.

I guess there is value in looking at exam questions on completed texts in Eng lit or finished topics in history or RS, but even there, skills will improve over the next 12 months. I would definitely focus on recap and consolidation of what is learned so far.

@Mumma90210 I think a cgp book is better than a spec for revising against for most subjects.

It's getting it from short term memory into long term memory. That's kind of what flash cards actually do yes they are a reminder but it's that act of writing them out that fixes them in the mind.

I assume he's got all the revision guides?

At this stage I would ask him to work with you, maybe bribe him with whatever and read the revision guides together or ask him to read it then you test him?

If say he was stuck on themes in macbeth, you will identify that then put it on u tube. Loads of English teachers on there talking about themes in macbeth!

At this stage I would do that and the revision guides will fill in his knowledge gaps.

Many many children don't know or have the skills of how to learn and revise etc.

cardibach

menopausalmare · Today 10:26

Reading notes and copying notes is passive and ineffective.
Working through past paper questions, self-marking and then checking back notes is best.
Do in stints if 30-45 minutes.
Ineffective? Writing condensed notes is how I got through every set of exams ever! It isn’t passive - you have to read, understand, summarise, manipulate. It works for many, many people.

I said copying, you're condensing. That's different.

This isn't getting at the OP, but I find it so frustrating reading of kids in y10/y11 who don't know how to revise. I wonder what they/the school were doing in y7-9. Those earlier years are when the student should be encouraged to try different techniques so by the time they get to GCSE years they know what works for them.

(And don't get me started on the occasional parent on threads who say they don't care about y9/y10/mocks as they don't count for anything so not trying to revise doesn't matter.)

I always tell my students to start by watching Thomas Frank videos on YouTube. The "how to make effective flashcards" and "the most effective ways to remember what you study" are really good starting points

I'm checking all this for ds2, so thanks.

There's a load of evidence-based advice on how to study here: https://www.learningscientists.org/faq

Yeah I suppose they are good for some subjects but there isn't a cgp book for the subject I teach. I wouldn't recommend any revision books for the subject I teach as they arent based on the spec and aren't great. The specification is everything you need to know but the textbooks/revision guides don't have it all in so its not a good idea to rely on them if you want a good grade. It's definitely subject specific so maybe asking each subject teacher what they recommend for their subject is the best plan.

That is true @Mumma90210 When DD2 was doing Geography (before she dropped it, before the pandemic meant she then dropped even more), the case studies weren't standard so weren't in books.

But for standard subjects such as Science the CGP guides will be far more use than the specs.

I would perhaps start with even shorter bursts of revision, so 20-25 minutes then a five minute break, then another 20-25 minutes then a longer break. You want to leave him keen to come back for more not flagging.

Unfortunately in an academic setting like a grammar school there will be children who can get away with virtually no revision at GCSE but at some point everyone has to work at revising and better to learn now while you are around to support him.

English Lit. Try to come up with as many different questions as possible (use past papers) and write detailed essay plans as mindmaps or lists. Write some essays under timed condition using the planning. Reading the texts from start to finish and making summary notes on each chapter is largely ineffective. It needs to be ‘Okay, if a question on ‘power’ comes up in relation to this text, what will be my two or three points of focus? What will my argument be for each? Which parts of the text will give me the best evidence? What can I say about author’s method?’ Needs to be thematic and / or devices led. Also, depth not breadth. Two points in detail rather than five too brief.

The little revision cards are good. Use just 1 card for each topic. Start with an A 4 page of notes. Then use bullet points to condense notes down to main ideas and key words. Do maybe 3-4 cards in one session. Read over before bed. Read again upon waking. The mind maps are good for visual learner's. You can use words or drawings to capture a concept and they are also good for an overview of a larger subject. Another technique if you are an auditory learner is to write out an essay on a topic and then read it aloud whilst recording yourself speaking. Play back often. You learn more from listening to your own voice than others voices. Colour coding is also good. When writing essays make your point highlight in one colour. Explain the point in a different colour, give an Example in a different colour again then Evaluate positive and negative the points in 2 more different colours, then make a value judgement on the point in a final colour. PEEEV. Some people find Mnemonics helpful. Colours of 🌈. Richard (red) Of (orange) York (yellow) Gained (green) Battles (blue) In (indigo) Vain (violet).

This is an odd year because of covid.
that’s not a “they’ve had it harder than any other year” comment. Each year has suffered their own way.
they missed SATs, and didn’t get to settle into secondary until end of year 8 / beginning of year 9. It’s possible these are the first formal exams they’ve come across vs just end of term tests.

@VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji
It could be, but this is the 2nd academic year of reasonable normality at least. I would have expected y10s to have had end y9 exams at a bare minimum and probably something end y8 as well. Plus even end of term / topic tests can be used to try different styles of revision.

Thank you. You have just described how I revised for my exams 35 years ago (obvs without the internet) and it worked for me...I used to learn a flashcard and make up mnemonics for things and draw pictures linking key facts, without knowing that these would later be given their own terminology. I would recite my flashcard before going to sleep and then first thing on waking and if I could recall it in the morning, I knew I was good. No one taught us these skills back then, but I have always been good at revising and passing exams. I've been trying to start my just secondary DC to get them to find what revision style works for them, they are not very good with the mindmaps or mnemonics and their flashcards are a bit verbal for me, but I've told them it's an iterative process and they can refine and abbreviate as they get more confident about doing them and find their own style.