GCSE revision. How to get it all done.

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DD has asked me to help her with her GCSE revision. We started sciences at Christmas working through the topics from the aqa specification. So far she’s gone through topics 1 and 2 for biology, chemistry and physics using YouTube videos and work books plus a couple of topics for geography and business studies and she’s doing some maths. I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg though and she’s not even started past papers yet. Is she going to be able to get it done in time? She’s very on board but can take in so much information in a session and can’t manage hours and hours without it becoming ineffective. She’s not the type of dc who can read something once and remember it, she has to go over things a few times for it to stick.

Make a plan.
Aim to have broadly learned everything by ?end Easter holidays? and then time after for doing practice questions / refreshing.
For every subject estimate time for each topic, add it all up.
Think how much revision is viable between now and end Easter.
Compare time available with time needed. Adjust as necessary.
Allocate a subject to each timeslot, and on a weekly basis allocate a topic for each slot in the week ahead.

Once you have a plan it will seem less daunting.

There is also thestudybuddy.com/ which might help you. I haven't used it, but its methods seem sound, and was developed y someone on here a few years back.

I was also the sort of person who could not recall anything from one reading. Even nOw I have to write everything down. I used to write out cards and carry them with me wherever I went. Any spare moment I was reading the cards - this helped for questions where you got asked definitions. I recorded 99% of my notes at a-level and gcse onto tape and played it back whenever I was walking anywhere. I also listened to them as I went to sleep. (Hoped also the subliminal thing would work while I slept— jury out on that!) The reading aloud helped cement into my mind. I sat with friends and learnt topics by wrote together. We just sat in a room with snacks and developed pneumonics together and him for hours would repeat. Revising with someone else’s helps to motivate and make you feel less alone. Focus on the areas where she is weakest and look at past papers to see what type of questions come up regularly. There is a bit of strategy to exams and revision and something that works for one doesn’t work for another. I am sure she will do great.

The studybudy website looks good @TeenDivided
It's not cheap and I am wondering if I can do the same by putting it all on a spreadsheet per subject from the exam board

I just used a spreadsheet. For most subjects I used the CGP guides for the topics as that was what DD was revising from.

She should be making notes and reducing them to bullet points on cards. Also she should have questions which we she can carry around and look at when she has an odd moment. Devise a timetable and allow 40 mins study and 20 min relaxation before next session.

Thank you for the useful tips. That study site looks really good too. I’ve printed off the syllabuses for each subject and dd is working through them. I’m just not sure she’s going to have enough time to get absolutely everything covered in detail before the exams as there is so much for each topic within each subject. I suppose she needs to just keep plodding on.

Get her to highlight the bits that she is the most and least confident about and then prioritise. Children tend to spend more time revising the things that they know and are confident about and avoid the topics they find difficult.

Get her some pens or little stickers in red, yellow and green.

Go through each specification for each gcse. If it's a topic she's confident on then it gets a green. Knows a bit but needs work - give it a yellow. Really didn't understand something or no memory of doing it at all?? Red.

Then, start by turning the reds to yellows and then the yellows to greens. Things that are green already just need a polish at the end.

Work like this til after Easter and then start past papers.

Teenagers tend to focus revision on the stuff they naturally enjoy the most. However this tends to be the stuff they already know/are good at!

This method really helped keep my ds focussed and he achieved excellent grades at gcse. Good luck!

Remember they will also start revising in school, setting revision related homework too