Revision & Exam Practice

Revision & Exam Practice Tip #2 - Picking your revision methods

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QAQuick Activity

Complete this worksheet on revision strategies to help you assess how you like to learn and plan the best methods of revision for each of your subjects. You will find a list of revision methods and strategies below, but this is by no means exhaustive and you may already have some techniques that work for you. You can upload your completed worksheet if you wish.

Revision Methods Worksheet Upload your completed worksheet here


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The list of revision methods and strategies is very long! Entire books and websites are dedicated to various techniques, so there has to be one out there to suit you.

Here's a small sample:

Revision Technique Type of Learner Details
Mindmaps

eyeshands

Visual & Kinesthetic

  • Information can be seen quickly and act as a visual aid
  • Guidance in pupil organiser – title in centre, branches for separate points
  • Put around the house for regular revision
See the Mind Mapping section in the Note-taking module for more information on making and using them.
Mnemonics

Auditory & Kinesthetic

  • Encoding information in a memorable phrase
  • Using vivid, positive, humorous phrases

My Very Elderley Mother Just Speaks Utter Nonsense = Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Read through some other mnemonic techniques here.

Journey technique

Visual

  • Use an established journey, e.g. journey to college
  • Associate landmarks on the journey with the items to remember
  • Could be useful for remember items in an order
You might also like the Loci method.
Rhymes or songs

Auditory

  • Helps to remember knowledge in sequence
  • Learn by repetition
e.g.

In 1954 the Supreme Court made a clear decision
Miss Brown could go to a white school as her father was wishing
In 1955 a 12 month bus boycott led by Luther King
Ended bus segregation with the Supreme Court agreeing
In 1957 the president stepped in at Little Rock
And mobs, Governor Faubus and segregated education he did stop
The peaceful protests continued into the 1960s
And resulted in desegregated facilities

Or:

Flow diagrams

Visual & Kinesthetic

  • Use colour
  • Encourages you to summarise notes to put in diagram
similar to mind maps, but they can go up, down, or sideways across sheets, and might be good for timelines or processes.
Flash cards (a.k.a. cue cards)

Kinesthetic

  • Cards with key word or question on one side and answer/ definition/ formula/ short list on reverse
  • use them on their own, testing yourself on definitions or key terms/information, or make them into a game to play with others
Sound recordings

Auditory

  • Use revision notes or booklets to make recording
  • Listen whilst travelling
  • Make mindmaps/ diagrams while listening
or
  • Read revision notes out loud

 Adapted from Revision and Examination Techniques PowerPoint by www.langley-sec.solihull.sch.uk