Four top tips to wrestle with revision and win!
Experts tell us that the most ineffective way to revise is to read through your notes.
Not much goes in, your mind wanders and you spend ages “working” for very little learning.
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Hide AdSo, teen magazine Future Mag has shared their four top tips to help you ‘own’ revision this Easter break.
1. MAKE IT ACTIVE
Revision should be active – doing things, so:
Make fact cards
Draw mind maps
Highlight notes
Make lists
Write essay plans
Answer past questions
2. TAKE BREAKS, BE CLEVER!
Don’t work for hours without a break. Your memory and recall become less and less effective, so:
Plan your revision in sessions of up to one hour
Take a short break between sessions
Change topics each session – this is really hard to begin with as you may have just got stuck-in to a particular subject, but it is a really effective strategy. It focuses your mind to get a certain amount/task done in a set time and makes the time spent revising really count
3 MAKE SMALL SACRIFICES
For your revision sessions to be useful and worthwhile you will need to make a few sacrifices.
Find a quiet place to work. Not with the TV on
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Put phones on silent and out of sight, switch off social media on your laptop (you can do it!)
Your reward at the end of the session can be a quick communication frenzy, hopefully telling everyone how brilliantly you have just worked!
4. WORK SMART
Make sure you include lots of essay plans, past questions and past papers.
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Hide AdRemember, application of knowledge has more marks than recall in some subjects.
Look at mark schemes and examiners’ reports. That is how you will learn what examiners expect you to answer for questions - know what gains marks and, equally importantly, what does not gain marks.
50 per cent of your revision time should ideally be spent on past questions