Revision techniques

[manuelandviolin]

Could I ask you how you or your DCs revise(d)? DS just looks at the textbook he uses in lessons. No commonly referred methods such as organising notes, flashcards, writing down repetitively etc are going to be happening. Sometimes I wonder if I should encourage him to try and practise different revision techniques as I am not sure just staring at the textbook would be enough for GCSEs, A-levels and beyond... How about your DCs or you when you were a student? If you or your CDs were like him, you/your DCs did fine or struggled once things got trickier?

Lots of Flashcards, practicing past papers plus some mind maps/drawings/diagrams for GCSE revisions. Aiming for 8 and 9.

Textbook only doesn’t sound enough to me, maybe your DC is very bright ?

Active not passive. Writing out and organising notes is no good in itself.

Flashcards can work if used regularly i.e. the aim is to test yourself not to create the cards.
Lots of interactive revision tools now available e.g. Seneca
Practicing exam questions (and then reviewing the answers and working out how to get a perfect score) is potentially the best method.

Revision cards made from the revision guide.
Me testing on those cards.
Practice questions.
neither get on with mind maps, but that's them not the method.

Looking at the text book I think will be unsustainable for most once you get to GCSEs, there is too much information, and you need to get the high points in solidly.

Really good idea to practice lower down the school, so unless he gets 100% consistently there are ways to improve!

I think he needs to find some interactive way of revising whatever works for him.

Different ways work for different people.

The main thing is he finds a way to ensure he is recalling the information, not just recognising it and identifying gaps and the only way to do that is to test yourself with quizzes/flashcards/tests etc.

Thank you so much for all the advice. He has been doing fine by just looking at the textbook so far but as TeenMinusTests pointed, I am doubting if it is sustainable for GCSEs and beyond. I also suspect it is out of laziness rather than out of trying to do his best. However, I don't want to force him into trying other methods that are not necessarily effective for him and end up creating boredom and disinterest. So I guess I should select and suggest some methods that I think he may be happy to try. I really can't picture him organising notes or writing out stuff, but he might be fine with trying exam questions, interactive revision tools.

At DD's school some subjects used to set homeworks to create revision materials, so they had to do it.

Answering questions is the best way to revise, lots of evidence to support it. Practice questions, quizzes, discussion with peers all good. Reading isn't going to be as effective.

Same as Teen lots of year 11 homework was show us your revision notes/flashcards/mind maps/whatever works for you.

Ds1 did his GCSEs a few years ago and found it to be a 2 step process. Firstly you have to know the stuff, in simple terms dates for History, or quotes for English Lit, then you have to be able to apply that knowledge to the question. The second bit is equally as important as the first bit.

He loved flashcards, so I tested him or he tested himself on those. Quizlet has pre-made ones. Then he looked at past paper questions and did Seneca for Science to apply that knowledge.

As Ds2 is all to aware his brother sat 24 exams. Ds1 felt that although mocks were good nothing quite prepares you for the relentless writing and knowing that this is it, this moment now, decides your grade. He truly went in as prepared as he could be.

This is quite good, I got ds to watch it and take bullet point notes through it of each of the tips. I asked him if he hadn't taken his own notes would he have remembered them all? Then asked which ones he thought would work best for him or might give a try.

As usual it is better if someone else is telling them how they can do it and decide for themselves how to do it rather than mum!

My input was making encouraging noises and asking what books/folders/wallets/desk/chair/pens/revision card/post-its etc do you want me to buy.

There are other Thomas Frank videos that are good too around recognition vs recall/how to make and use flash cards effectively, organise yourself or prevent procrastination etc.

• Some kind of reading over the info, followed by summarising it (can be on flash cards, or sheets of paper etc)
• reading through previous exam style questions and looking at the feedback received
• learning the technique required for different styles of Q and the timing for each style of Q
• practising past exam Qs and looking at mark schemes.

It’s vital to do some learning and understand technique and timing before doing past papers. It’s then really important to practice getting the info down in the format/ style required.

Mark’s gained are v limited if you know info but can’t answer the Qs in the way required and jump through the hoops.

And whenever kids need to prepare for a topic test, they should make decision summary notes. These can then be kept and used as bigger end of year tests or mocks come up.

By the time of the exams, no-one should be trying to summarise the whole course at that point, U6 digging out lots of useful revision resources already made. By then they should have a big back of exam style answers they have written and these (plus any high scoring exemplars given out) are a big resource.

There are a lot of good explanations on revision on YouTube. I’ve persuaded DS to make an effort to learn revision techniques by explaining that this is how he can get good results with less effort, spending time on the methods that work efficiently. He likes quizlet best so far for learning content.

Past papers, past papers, past papers.

past papers are great but really only useful once you have done the majority of the course, or at least finished a topic/text. So when you have completed Christmas Carol, have a go at the exam questions. Remember there are mark schemes which will help you feed back (not super easy with some subjects but still helpful).

Remember tho that there are only a few past papers, especially for some subjects. My subject is MFL and thanks to COVID there have only been exams in 2018 and 2019; 2019 is not even available online yet (tho it will be by July I gather)!

Imo there are really two parts to revision. Firstly, revising the actual content- this can be done through making notes and highlighting key areas, mind maps or whatever works. Every DC will be different in this regard.

Secondly, applying the revision through past papers or example questions. This is important but a mistake I think a lot of DC make is jumping straight to papers without really knowing the material.

I think the most important thing though at lower secondary level is to get into the discipline of revising. A big reason why students underperform at GCSE is because they're not used to sitting down and actually revising. It's not something that can just happen overnight.

If your DS can get into a routine now of doing a couple of hours' revision after school and some more at weekends, this will stand him in great stead for the future as it will not be anything new when he has to put in lots of revision hours at GCSE.

For GCSE DS mainly relied on Seneca. Mind maps didn't click for him. Now in 6th form also doing past paper questions.

I also think it's really important to realise that everyone learns in a very different way. DS loved Seneca and spent lots of time on that but hated anything that involved creating materials. DD hates Seneca and spends ages creating and testing herself on flashcards and creating complicated mind maps and essay plans. So it's definitely worth trying out a few different techniques to see which one works best for an individual.

@UserTwice

I also think it's really important to realise that everyone learns in a very different way. DS loved Seneca and spent lots of time on that but hated anything that involved creating materials. DD hates Seneca and spends ages creating and testing herself on flashcards and creating complicated mind maps and essay plans. So it's definitely worth trying out a few different techniques to see which one works best for an individual.

Which is why it is so important to try out different methods in y7-y9 so that by the time you get to GCSEs you have a good idea of what works.

Everyone learns differently. However all students such be attempting past exam papers and checking the answers using the mark scheme.
Passively reading through notes is not useful at this stage and is terribly boring

Really interesting thread - great to hear that everyone else is having the same tried and tested techniques recommended to their DCs. Revision notes, flash cards, past papers... but what if those don't work for your DC? As lots of people said, everyone has their own way of revising and needs to find what works for them.
A friend of mine is a highly experienced educational consultant who has been delivering revision workshops in secondary schools for over 10 years. She is developing a new online revision programme (technique, not content) for GCSE and A-Level students. If anyone fancies filling in this survey to help her understand what her priorities should be that would be fantastic - thanks in advance!
bit.ly/revision-sos

It feels like the idea of revision is only just sinking in (y10!). Mind maps are scorned but I think that's bc dc ends up writing everything down, rather than making a map of the ideas/themes. Science content is a particular struggle. Annoyingly oral recall is dc's favourite approach which involves lots of me testing them. it'd be great if school actually showed them how to revise - ours doesn't.