Learning Support

If you're struggling to get started with revision, here are a few tips to help you out.

1. Work out how you like to revise.
The only way you can concentrate on your revision is if you're enjoying it. Is that even possible? Well, yes, maybe... Everyone's brain is different - some people like colours or pictures, some like order, some like it noisy! There are a lot of different techniques you can use to help you assimilate all that information you'll need to impress the examiners. But just reading through your notes and hoping some of it might sink in is not going to be enough for A levels - you need knowledge and skill, which only comes from repetition and practice. Take a look at this Revision & Examination Techniques PowerPoint (created by Langley School)  for the section on Learning Styles to see if you can work out what method of learning you might prefer. If you're still not sure what sort of learner you are and which method might be best for you, visit the Study Centre for some advice.

 2. Create and prioritise an exam timetable
The good thing about creating an exam timetable is that feeling of organising your time efficiently and letting everyone know (or your family/teachers, at least) that you're serious about this revision lark. The bad thing is that it can sometimes become the main thing you focus on, rather than doing the revision itself! How do you get round this? Use the two step process of prioritising what you need to do when, and then setting up exactly what you will do in your allotted slot.

To work out your priorities, you can use this sheet - Revision Guidelines. This forces you to first think about how much time you should give to each subject. You might want to prioritise based on when the exams will take place, or which subject you know you struggle more with. It's up to you. The second page of the Revision Guidelines sheet gives you the chance to break your subjects down into topics so that you know exactly what you need to revise and you can keep a record of what you've done as you go. It's broken down into revision chunks, which we'll discuss more below*.

Creating a revision timetable is a very personal thing. You could use your college timetable as a basis (paste it into PowerPoint and adapt it with shapes....?), or you could adapt the sample timetable here, altering the dates and adding your own subjects into the time slots of your choice. Don't forget to grey out the areas you know you can't use because of work, sleep, fun, etc. Alternatively, you could check if there's an app you fancy using... Again, if you need some help creating your timetable, pop up and see us in the Study Centre.

3. Get your revision materials sorted
You have page 2 your Revision Guidelines sheet filled in for each of your subject units and topics. You have your revision timetable pasted on your wall, your bedroom door (with the Keep Out sign), your phone and/or the fridge. You have your books and your class notes at the ready. You think you know how you like to learn and you've picked the first subject, unit and topic to focus on today...

Now what?

Remember I mentioned above that we'd explain the page 2 Revision Guidelines chunks? Well, here we go*:

- 1st Revision - get creative! Make your lovely mind-maps, diagrams, 1-page notes, flash cards, recordings, etc. This is a form of revision, as it's making you go through your notes and books and pull out the most important things you know you need to learn. If you're not sure how to create revision notes, or just fancy cheating, you could check the free revision site Get Revising; you need to log in, but once you do you'll have access to lots of ready-made revision notes you can borrow and adapt for your own needs. Just search on your subject, level and exam board.

- Summary Notes - you can now organise these however you want and spend some time reviewing them. If they're visual, pin them about your room or your whole house. If they're auditory, set up your playlist and start listening. Get someone to test you on the notes you've made.

- Self Test - I know what you're thinking - isn't this the test bit? Well, yes and no. Obviously you can test yourself on the knowledge again here. BUT for this bit, you should really test yourself by trying out some actual exam questions using that knowledge you've been filling your head with. Compare your answers to the mark schemes - what did you get right and what could you have done better? It's at this point you should also be checking on your exam technique; if you're not confident about how to answer exam questions, talk to your teachers asap.

- 2nd Revision - now's the time to pull all that knowledge and practice you've done above together and work on the bits you're missing. Maybe you need to go back to the books and improve your knowledge; maybe you need to check that you're answering the questions the way the examiners want...

After all that, it's a case of repetition and practice until your exams start. That couple of big revision sessions can now become lots of little revision sessions: picking a practice question, checking your knowledge, answering the question, checking your answer.