Revision tips

Revision techniques

This is a brief video on some revisions techniques that may help you.

Revision, like studying, is a very personal thing. Everyone has their own tips and techniques. Here are some things to consider when you study.

Don't leave it to the end

Some students think that revision is something that is done in preparation for an exam. That is true but that is not the only revision you should be doing. You should be revising your work as you go along. Kognity can help with this as the strength you build up deteriorates with time as a reminder that is it time to go back and revise. It is also a good idea to revisit or read over the work you have done after each lesson, check your understanding and clarify any uncertainties or confusion you may have.

Decide what time of day suits you best

People function best at different times of the day. Some people are described as "larks", which means they start early and function best in the morning. If you are a lark try and do your revision in the mornings. This will probably only be possible at weekends, during holidays and study leave. It does not mean that it is okay to get up a 4 am and cram for the exam of the day, you will be too tired to function well in the exam.

Other people are "night owls" and they work better in the late afternoon or evening. If you are an owl you can study after school, in the afternoon/ evening or weekends, holidays and study leave. It is not a good idea to try and pull an "all-nighter" to cram for an exam. You will be too tired the next day during exam.

Decide what sort of learner you are

There are basically four types of learners; visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic.

Visual learners prefer to see the information and visualise the relationships between ideas. If you are a visual learner you should use charts, mindmaps, colour coding, study posters in your room and anything else that feeds your visual learning style.

Visual learners can use mindmaps to revise.

Figure 1. Visual learners can use mindmaps to revise.

Auditory learners prefer to hear information rather than seeing or reading it. If you are an auditory learner you should get the information you need in an auditory fashion. Record the information onto your computer, laptop or tablet and play it back to yourself. You can either read it out yourself or get friends/family to read it - have a bit of variety. Get your friends or family to ask you questions on a section you have revised.

Read-write learners like to interact with written text in some way. If you are a read-write learner you can use the classic revision technique of "read your notes and summarise them", use flash cards, do quizzes, write lists and key words or read a topic and write down everything you can remember about it.

Kinesthetic learners are experiential learners and they have to "do stuff" to be able to remember it. This is difficult when revising as revision is a case of getting the information into your memory and that involves the three other learning styles. It seldom happens that learners are only one type so pick your second style of learning and make sure you take breaks and do something physical during the breaks.

If you want some tips on how to work out what sort of learner you are and how to approach your studying, you could check out Hongkiat or watch this brief video.

Study time

Studying for long periods of time is not advised as you cannot concentrate for much longer than 30 minutes. Break your study time up into smaller sessions - how long will depend on the person. If you are studying for more than 30 minutes at a time, change activity. Read some information, do a quiz, write flash cards and watch a video. Then reward yourself with a walk around the block, spend 10 minutes on your favorite game or listen to music.

Alone or not

There are times when you will want to study on your own, but it can get boring so try to study with a friend or start a study group. Being in a supportive learning community is very good, you can quiz each other, discuss ideas and share learning strategies. Teaching a friend a topic you know well will help them and you.

Past papers

The best way to test your knowledge and understanding is to practice past paper questions and then move on to whole past papers. A possible strategy is:

  • Start by reading over the topic material and then trying out some questions from past papers, no need to time yourself initially. Have the book or your notes close by so you can check on things you are not sure of.
  • The next stage would be to remove your notes and try to do the questions without looking up anything.
  • Once you are confident do a number of questions to time - see section 9.2.7 to give you an idea of how much time you should allocate per mark.

This type of practice would not work for paper 1 because it is the case study paper. That means you need to know several topics to be able to do the paper. Therefore you should practice paper 1 when you have done most of the topics.

You teacher will have access to past papers and maybe the mark schemes.

Be Aware

From 2017 onwards the paper format for ESS has changed.

  • Paper 1 is now made up of a Resource Booklet and short answer questions. In any papers before 2017 this element of the external assessment was Paper 2 Section A.
  • Paper 2 has two sections
    • Section A - short answer questions. In papers before 2017 these type of questions were in paper 1.
    • Section B - this has remained unchanged and is extended responses.

For more tips on revisions you could check out some of the following: