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Secondary education

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Original poster

dd needs advice on how to revise effectively?

22 replies

brimfull · 19/01/2007 13:11

Read MB's great tip on mind maps.Anymore tips?
She's really really pissed off with herself that she got b's in her science module 1.She puts a lot of pressure on herself and then panics in the exam I think.
How can she stpo the nerves and panicking?

OP posts:
mumblechum · 19/01/2007 13:15

At our son's school there are learning mentors whose job it is to help students learn to organise their revision time effectively. Do you have anything like that?

Original poster
brimfull · 19/01/2007 15:06

Ooh don't know mumblechum.I'll ask dd when she gets home.

OP posts:
Original poster
brimfull · 19/01/2007 16:11

bump

OP posts:
Blandmum · 19/01/2007 16:15

OK, does she have a text book and/or a revision guide? They really help.

She needs to read a page of text, then ask can she define all the key terms (they will usualy be in bold)

Key revision times are a day, a week, a month. So read and activly revise stuff on the day you get it. Go over it a week later as see what you remember. Then a month later. These are the key times to 'embed' learning.

Make a time table and make sure you put in all the stuff you are not good at! Human nature makes it that you want to revise the stuff you know already!

If she panics in the exams, lots of practice of past papers if that is possble.....but I realise that this years year 10 kids are haing a new curriculum

Lucycat · 19/01/2007 16:15

Mind maps are fantastic - they got me through my degree Ihad them pinned up around my squalid flat.

Be organised - do a contents page at the front of exercise books/folders - page number if necessary.

Be absolutely sure what comes on what exam paper and when they are.

Drip feed, little and often with revision.

Good luck to your dd, it sounds as though she really wants to do well.

yorkshirelass79 · 19/01/2007 16:17

Message withdrawn

Whizzz · 19/01/2007 16:17

tips here

I was going to try & write some tips for the year 7 pupils I support.

Controlling nerves is hard but I would say that if you are confident that you have revised what you need & are happy that you know it - the nerves should get less. Deep breathing before you start often helps & if you get to a question you can't do - don't panic, just move on & come back to it. Focus on what you know you can do, rather than the things you aren't sure of

yorkshirelass79 · 19/01/2007 16:18

Message withdrawn

Original poster
brimfull · 19/01/2007 16:37

thanks so much for all the replies.

yes she does have a textbook and revision guides MB,so I'll pass on the info.

She's just gone swimming after a hard day ,maths assessment today.Her confidence has really been knocked by this.Dh seems to think it's a good thing that she's keen to get (a) grades.I just want her to do her best.It's so hard to know when to encourage or if you're adding too much pressure.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 19/01/2007 16:43

TBH there is so little difference between and A and a B grade, she shouldn't beat herself up!

I have taught a lot of girls like this, set themselves v high expectations (good thing) and then are far too tough on themselves (v bad thing!)

The difference between and A and a B grade is often due to students not being able to take information they know from one area and apply it to another. They often want you to draw conculsions and make connections between different topics. And all of that come with more practice and revision.

But for your dd I prescribe a nice swim, a nice tea and no work tonight and lots of pampering! I know her 'type' so well, she needs to be kinder to herself. tell her I said so

Original poster
brimfull · 19/01/2007 16:48

MB,what a lovely post thanks for the encouraging words.Really useful to know about connecting information .
I'll show her this thread and hopefully it will buck her up a bit.
thanks

OP posts:
rarrie · 25/01/2007 10:54

Hi... I have just written my MA dissertatiuon on this subject - so I apologise if I waffle on endlessly!

Sudents often do really bad revision, as there is a complete lack of research into good revision, so no one definitely knows what works well and what does not, so lots of people have different ideas (sometimes these are contradictory!) but some of the main ideas are..

  • Break after every 20 mins or so. Your brain holds info at the start and ends of a session, the stuff in the middle is most quickly forgotten. Trying to reduce the 'middle' time of a revision session may help the student to retain the memory.

  • Review the information regularly. The brain is designed to retain info that it will need. so if it experiences the info lots of times close together, it will retain the info. If your DD reads it once and then moves on, the info will be disregarded from the brain.

  • Use active learning styles. Avoid lots of reading and copying out. Always try to engage the brain in the thinking - so do a precis of text, turn prose into bullet points etc but she has to be thinking about what she is doing for the brain to be most effective.

  • Try to understand the big picture. Research suggests that info is retained more easily if the student understands the big picture - this is where mindmaps come in handy!

  • If your daughter struggles in the exam, then get her to think through how she is going to recall the info. She could use a mnemonic to help her or mindmaps. But these are only effective for a day or two before the exam - so don't do them too early.

  • Also, the brain is able to recall more effectively if the memories are organised. This means she needs to do her revision systematically and have her revision ordered and not use those revision cards too much (research suggests they are not good for revision!)

  • Finally, she needs to elaborate. So she picks a topic and asks questions about it. don't just copy out what she has done, but start with a subject like say "muslim marriages" and then ask herself questions like - what rituals are there? What does these rituals mean. All the who what where when and especially why questions. Research shows that you retain memories more easily if you have a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Apols if this is too waffly, but I could write on this subject forever!
HTH

rarrie · 25/01/2007 10:54

Apols for typos - have a newborn baby in my arms!

Jessajam · 25/01/2007 11:02

rarrie's advice it really good.

I was going to say do short bursts with breaks, like half an hour on, 15 minutes off.
When i was revising for A levels and at uni I used to read my notes an dthe the textbooks and make notes from them, and gradually condense a whole topic into about one side of A4 bullet points scribbled (ie not one per line)...ends up like a list of prompts that help you recall everything else around them...

Structure the timing of revision bursts so she can break and watch a favourite TV programme or something, to reward herself for revising

Original poster
brimfull · 25/01/2007 19:27

rarrie -thanks so much for those points,they sound really helpful and I'll get dd to read them.By systematically I take it you mean by topic ie.photosynthesis or global warming etc.?

jessajam ,good idea about rewarding herself,am thinking an episode of friends as it seems to be on 24 hrs a day!

thank you

OP posts:
rarrie · 25/01/2007 20:48

Yes I do. The idea is if she understands how the whole topic fits together, can make connections between the different bits etc then she will have a better understanding and so will remember it more easily.
HTH

Original poster
brimfull · 25/01/2007 22:05

thanks for that

OP posts:
wrinklytum · 25/01/2007 22:46

Haven't read thread but when undertaking P.G.C.E found brilliant book about mind maps.Basically this is taking the core idea and doing a spider type diagram taking on all the sub categories.Found it a great tool.Will try to find the relevant author.

Making a timetable.Breaking revision time into small chunks.20-30 mins.

Rewards when a certain subject learned.

Writing down on small cards and getting parents/friends to test me on keypoints.

I keep seeing beeb adverts on revision.Long time since I did any but can you access this?.BBC website.

Oh and tackling worst subject when freshest i.e. mornings,and really forcing myself to do it.

Sorry if not making sense but have had wine!!!

wrinklytum · 25/01/2007 22:58

Tony Buzan,he's the mind map guy!!!

wrinklytum · 25/01/2007 23:01

OH,and I found that getting hold of previous exam papers to see how they worded the questions could be quite useful.This was YEARS ago though so I could be talking nonsense.

Original poster
brimfull · 25/01/2007 23:09

Thank you wrinklytum(love the name!)
She is definately going to do a timetable.

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missymousie · 11/02/2007 20:46

Hello! There has been loads of good revision advice on here but something I have found work specifically for students who hate the exam hall and panic (I'm a KS4+5 teacher) is if she explains in conversation what she has been revising to someone else who needs it explained simply and clearly (eg mum/dad/brother/sister etc)

Some of my students have gone up a couple of grades using this technique and found it really helps as they remember the conversations in the exam - needs to be done carefully with no pressure on the student to perform or "show off" their knowledge

Good luck!!

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