Review & Revision Websites

[JoshMatthews]

Hi all,

I have a few questions that I'd like parent's and/or student's opinions on:

1. When is too early to start revising/preparing revision?
2. Does anybody know of any good websites that help with revision? Note
3. Does anybody have any good revision tips? (Very general I know).

My son has come to the age now where he has important exams to prepare for and more importantly - to do well in. Like most young people, he seems reluctant to revise unless it is internet based and/or has a social aspect.

Note
I'm not looking for websites like Bitesize, Moodle or SAM Learning that give you multiple choice questions or provide you with new information. Call me old fashioned, but I think of revision as the "re-visiting" of previously studied information, not the introduction of new material. Instead I want a website that helps my son revise what he already knows. He needs a site that is user friendly and helps him remember what he's learnt, not a site with more information on. Does it exist - I don't know

Thanks in advance for any responses I get and for taking the time to answer.

Bitesize is a revision site. It quickly summarises information you should already know then gives you a test to make sure you do know it (for maths at least). Surely if you don't want to be introduced to new material, you just don't access the topics that you haven't studied yet?

What exams is your child preparing for?

Maybe if you don't want to use Bitesize, he should be learning good paper based revision techniques such as mind mapping, condensing notes and concept mapping (all do similar things in slightly different ways). Of course for Maths the best thing is just to do more and more questions.

Josh, I think you need to go on the websites you've just mentioned. I'm fairly sure Sam learning and Moodle are just sharing devices which it sounds like your son's school are using. I don't think they are really websites which can be used by all.

Bitesize is brilliant....if your child is aiming for a C. Beyond that (very subject-specific, this), in my subject, the child simply needs to actually sit down and do loads of reading and analysis.

Make sure you know your child's exam board. Bitesize is very general and, certainly, should not be introducing them to new materials. Maybe he just hasn't covered it yet?

1. It depends on the child and it depends what grade they want to get. To be honest, boys slack off enormously. The controlled assessments that your son is probably doing mean that he can't get away with this to the same extent, but I have always seen boys mess around until around December and then pull it all together in the end. Girls, on the other hand, often start revising from about now.
2. I don't know of any general revision websites that will magically help students get top grades. If they were persistent I might push them towards the AQA website (the main exam board) and tell them to check out the past exam questions and mark schemes.
3. Yep. The best thing to do is past exam papers. Repeatedly. Nothing new ever comes up in the exams. Another tip is never to 'just revise'. That usually means unfocussed staring at pages from books. Students need to complete specific, closed ended tasks within a time frame. If you want, PM me. I am in the middle of working on a pack of tasks for the new English syllabus. I won't have it finalised until February, but can give you some stuff now.

i am not sure how old your ds is but my dd has just started high school and has been given access to mathletics. although she is only yr 7 revision goes up to and including maths a level. there is also an equivalent for english but cant remember what it is called.

they have to work out answers and enter them - so no multiple choice, theyre are various games which can be played to enhance learning and to make things more interesting. you can track their progress and there are lots of tips!

You could try the Results Plus books, depending on subjects, succinct shorter versions of content, good for science and endorsed by exam boards such as Edexcel, for some general good revision tips, try this page from this site and the other sections in the Living with GCSEs sections on www.doindubai.com doindubai.com/2011/04/08/study-tips-and-target-setting/

Hi Josh,

1. To be honest it all depends on the child, there's no hard & fast rule. Some kids need along time, some are best cramming the night before. In my opinion, the longer the better, because it helps turn the information into long term memory, rather than short turn memory (which is less reliable).
2. Interestingly, my son attends UEA (University of East Anglia) and he told me about a company at his Freshers fair, called MoooLearning.com. They run a revision website that seems to fit exactly with what you're looking for. Instead of being a traditional revision website it encourages its users to input their own notes and then gives them tools to make and share tests with others. I haven't used it, so I couldn't comment on how good it is, but my son said he'll probably use it. I had a quick look and it's got a really approachable design and they're running a free to enter £200 competition (which is why my son told me about it). It might be worth giving the URL to your son and see if it's what he's looking for.
3. Flash cards are good for memorising specific pieces of information, like terminology. I used them to help my son remember his English Lang terminology. Mindmaps/spider diagrams are good if your child likes their revision visual, so they can see the connectivity of information. My son used them for history, so he could revise the political/social/economic connections. Reading & testing is always good. Get the child to read there work over and over again and then try to test them. Eventually it will go in. (In fact, this is what the website seems to do, because it has tests based on your own work that self-mark. I'll keep you posted of my son finds it helpful).

Well that's my input. I hope you find it helpful. At the very least you can enter the £200 competition, so it's not a complete waste of time. :)