My predicted straight A son had done really in his Mocks. Revision tips needed please?

[ziopin]

My son is predicted 8 A-A* at GCSE. He has just finished his mock exams and received his results. Has done really bad, d & e's!!

He did lots of revision, but said he had a complete blank when faced with the paper. (is very upset Is he having me on here? Or would there be a better way for him to revise for his actual GCSE's.

Any help greatly appreciated

Sorry title should have read, really bad in his mocks!!

First thing, revision does not = reading.

revising is an active process. he should read a page, and them check his understanding od key concepts and words....rather like the old Look, say , cover , write check, that they do when they learn the spellings of new words.

Mind maps are wonderful.....have all the key words for a topic, and do a spider diagram from the subject heading. Use link words to say how each key word relates to the subject heading. Add connects between key words. the more connections you make, the better you know a topic. If key words are unconnected, they are not fully understood.

Use mnemonics, make them rude, it helps retention!

Make a revision time table and stick to it! The tendency is to revise stuff you already know, it makes you feel better about yourself, cover all the topics not just the ones you like.

Revise for 30 minutes then have a short break for 5-10 mintes.

revise on the day you learn something, a week later, to check understanding and then a month later.

Get a revision book and use it.

test your understanding of the topics by doing past papers.

Use on line resources like BBC bite size.

If you must work with music, make sure it is instrumental....otherwise you get drawn to listen to the lyrics.

Styart revision early. Little and often is better than a mad panic at the end.

If you get stuck, ask the teachers for help.

I think kids are really bad at revising for mocks. They just don't get the seriousness of exams yet. It's possible that they haven't quite studied all the material yet.

MB's tips are, as always, excellent.

I would also suggest not taking study leave - go to school and use the facilities for studying that are there.

Or a complete blank can be exam fugue if he did revise well. Stress can just cause you literally to forget everything.
Worth talking to head of year - there are techniques for overcoming it.
Or even to your GP if you get nowhere with school.

My kids have always said they find revising with a friend quite helpful (as long as they don't just muck about ) because they can talk each other through things and ask questions.

I would say that he needs to do lots of practice papers too as it sounds like being confronted with the paper freaked him.

Suggestions above are good. Also worth bearing in mind - for your own peace of mind though you might not want to pass it on! - that some teachers will mark mocks quite 'hard' to boost motivation - and perhaps especially if they feel a good group has been coasting a bit, perhaps the case in your son's case? What do the teachers say? Ds and Es are a long way from As, so might be good to hear their opinion of what happened. Lots of practice papers are a particularly good idea, but probably a bit dispiriting to start doing them until he's actually managed to retain something!

If you have spare cash you could hire a tutor - my husband did this for one of my friends last year (he's a teacher) cos he got d's and e's. He boosted his confidence - cos he 'froze' and couldn't answer - for 6 sessions - cost £120

He got all A*s - he was pretty pleased

Last year I wrote 20,000 words on good revision - so I'll try to keep this brief!

1. Start with over viewing the topic (mind maps and the like). Research suggests that students retain more of the key facts if they understand the purpose. So get him to make sure he understands the whole topic before he moves on to memorising the facts.

1. Make sure he spends some time looking at exam papers and the like. This serves two purposes - practising past papers etc helps recall if you learn something in the same format in which it will be remembered - this should help the blank mind syndrome so many students face. It also helps him to develop his technique, so he knows what to expect, how to time himself etc (This is more important at 'A' level etc, but worthwhile starting now)

1. Memorising the key facts can be done either via rehearsal or elaboration. Rehearsal is when the student goes over and over the same info time and time again until the info is learnt (like you learn a phone number). Research suggests this to be a less effective way to learn and more likely to forget. Elaboration is where you add to what you already know. So start with a blank piece of paper and make links between the different facts, look at reasons / causes etc and build up a bigger picture of what the topic is about. Elaboration is a more effective way of revising - so encourage that!

1. At this stage, don't worry about mnemonics etc. Research suggests them not to be very effective in actually learning info (despite their current fashionable status). If you want to use them, leave them until the day before the exam and use them as a recall technique only. Research shows mnemonics are easily forgotten after 24hrs, unless considerable effort is put into remembering them! (This is one of the few areas that a lot of research has been done!)

1. Finally, and this is often forgotten - make sure he knows how he will remember or recall the info in the exam. This can be done with a mnemonic or by drawing posters that he can visualise in the exam. If he orders the info in his mind, then it is more easily accessed in the exam, avoiding the blank mind problem.

1. Keep revision to 20 min slots. Research shows this to be the most effective. After 20 mins, he should get up and move about, quick break before continuing.

1. Go over the same info the next day. Again, research shows that you are far more likely to retain info if you go back over it within 24 hours of first taking it in. Don't leave it until the following week - it will have been lost by then!

1. Avoid simply rewriting out the info he has got. He has got to engage his mind with the info. The optimum methods are to teach someone else or to take the info from one source (say written prose) and to put it into a completely different format (say the 5 most important facts). Anything which gets him to think about what he is doing.

1. Remember that no-one actually knows what makes good revision! All the revision books that exist are based on people's own experiences of what works for them, and what they heave heard on the grapevine. When I did my research I could not find any solid research into student revision below degree level. (This will hopefully be the subject of my Ph.D. next year!) Whilst we have some research into memory techniques and what works for undergraduates, there is nothing on student revision at 16 and 18. So your son has got to find out what works for him. Teachers and books can give advice, and he should listen and explore... but as I found in my research, the advice from teachers and books can and do contradict each other. I have seen some teachers swear by mnemonics and mind maps, other teachers hate them - the same goes with books! At the end of the day, there isn't a clear defintion of 'good revision' yet, and so your son will have to discover what works for him!

HTH