REVISION TIPS

Faith in the CityValue in PeopleExcellence in Education

www.TrinityHigh.com

Faith in the CityValue in PeopleExcellence in Education

www.TrinityHigh.com

Gettingyou prepared to succeed in yourexams.

1

Exam Techniques

Get a good night’s sleep

Have a nourishing breakfast and drink water – dehydration and lack of food to start the day damages concentration

Get to school early. You’ll be in a state if you arrive late. Remember panic is pointless.

Make sure you have a watch so that you can time your writing, and all the equipment you will need for each exam, such as colouring pencils, calculator, anthology, texts etc

While you are waiting for everyone to settle, read the front of the exam booklet and check how many questions you have to answer. How many from each section?

How long does this allow for each question?

Underline important information

Read the question paper carefully all the way through at least twice

Choose carefully which questions to answer. If you haven’t studied it, don’t attempt to write about it!

Underline keywords in the questions, this tells you which points the examiner wants you to write about

Don’t panic if your mind goes blank. Once you start jotting down ideas, it will all come back to you

Decide which question you can do best and do it first; this will boost your confidence

Start first with the questions that carry the most marks

Jot relevant ideas in the answer book – you can cross these notes out later. Examiners like planning! Sort these ideas into a logical order. Put a number by each point to indicate the order

State the obvious! The examiner won’t assume you know something that is not written down

If there are four lines in the answer book, try to fill the space with your answer

Try to write legibly – if the examiners can’t read it they can’t give you marks!

Make sure you leave at least five minutes at the end of the exam to go over what you have written. You can save marks by correcting mistakes

Don’t bother with post mortems outside the exam hall. You’ve done your best. Physically and mentally, pack up your revision notes for that subject and move on to the next subject.

2

Key Verbs (including Command Words)

Using the glossary will help you to understand what is expected in class work, homework, examinations and assessment tasks.

Account: Account for: state reasons. Give an account of narrate a series of events.

Analyse: Identify parts and how they relate to each other.

Apply: Use in a particular situation.

Appreciate: Judge the value of something.

Appropriated Text: A text which has been taken from one context and translated into another to gain new insights into the original text and to highlight the contextual differences.

Assess: Judge the value, quality, outcomes results or size of something.

Calculate: To work out from facts, figures or information.

Clarify: Make clear or plain.

Classify: Put into classes or categories.

Compare: Show how things are similar or different.

Composer: Whoever creates a text.

Construct: Make, build, and put together items or arguments.

Context: The circumstance or environment in which a text is composed, set or responded to

eg, historical, social, cultural, economic. In Visual Arts, context is referred to as “frame”.

Contrast: Show how things are different or opposite.

Critically: A logical and reflective approach which increases accuracy, depth, knowledge, understanding and quality.

Deduce: Draw conclusions.

Define: State meaning and identify basic qualities.

Demonstrate: Show through examples.

Describe: Provide characteristics and features.

Discuss: Identify issues and provide arguments for and against.

Distinguish: Indicate or show differences between.

Evaluate: Judge using criteria; determine the value of.

Examine: Look at closely to identify information.

Explain: Show cause and effect, identify relationships between things, state how and/or why.

Extract: Choose relevant and/or appropriate details.

Extrapolate: Identify, recognise and name new information based on what is already known.

Font: Size and style of print e.g., bold, italics.

Genre: The classification of a text by subject matter, e.g. romance, thriller, mystery, fable or science fiction.

Globalisation: The blurring of national identities into a worldwide grouping, e.g. economic, cultural, social or ethnic.

Graphics: A visual form of communication eg drawings, diagrams, photographs, cartoons, angles of boxed items, shading which can be used to communicate with the responder.

3

Interpret: Make clear the intended meaning.

Investigate: Form plan of action to look closely and identify information and draw conclusions about it.

Justify: Support an argument or conclusion with evidence.

Language Features &

Structures The details of language:

· Prose Texts – paragraph structure, sentence structures, punctuation, language level (register), word choice eg, subjective, objective, emotive, persuasive and biased.

· Poetry texts – stanzas, imagery, rhyme and rhythm.

· Visual Texts – framing, use of colour, positioning of people and objects, shape, size and the relationship between parts.

· Spoken Texts – idioms, pauses, use of silence, questions and speaker interaction.

Layout: The arrangement or plan of the page, eg headings, subheadings, graphics and fonts.

Medium of Production Text form, written, spoken or visual.

Outline: Briefly and generally state the main ideas or features or give a general description.

Post-modern: Approach, particularly in Visual Arts and literature, in which traditional ideas are challenged or blended. All texts are open to individual interpretation and no idea is regarded as fact.

Predict: Suggest what may happen based on available information.

Propose: Put forward a point, idea, argument or suggestion for consideration or action.

Purpose: Why a text is created, eg its desired result i.e. to inform, to persuade, to educate.

Recall: State remembered ideas, facts or experiences.

Recommend: Give reasons in favour of.

Recount: Retell a series of events.

Register: Use of language that is appropriate to the purpose, audience and context. Different levels of language include:

· Formal – Correct use of language.

· Informal – A more relaxed use of language, eg conversational, colloquial (everyday) or slang.

· Jargon – Language used by and among a particular group of people, eg doctors, lawyers and computer users.

Responder: Whoever receives and reacts to a text, eg reads, sees and hears.

Structure of text: How the different parts of a text are organised to achieve a purpose, eg narrative structure – orientation, complication, resolution; visual structure – angles, leftright/top-bottom positioning, vectors.

Style: Manner of communicating through choice of language, spoken, written or visual.

Subject Matter: What a text is about.

Summarise: State briefly the relevant details.

Synthesise: Connect the parts to make a whole.

Target Audience: A group of responders for whom a text is composed/created.

Tone: The composer’s attitude towards the subject and audience of the text revealed through style eg, emotional, sympathetic and ironic.

Transformation: The use of an existing text to create a new text.

4

VISUAL

WHEN I NEED TO TRY HARDER When the lesson involves the teacher talking a lot

Not interrupting people Studying with the TV or radio on

Sitting near a window

WAYS I CAN INCREASE MY LEARNING POWER

Use coloured pens and pencils Use Mind Maps

Imagine words in your head when trying to spell them Stick post it notes all around your room to remind you

AUDITORY

WHEN I NEED TO TRY HARDER Being scared of asking questions

Playing the wrong sort of music in the background Waiting too long without contacting others

WAYS I CAN INCREASE MY LEARNING POWER

Take part in class discussions Talk to friends about homework

Ask, ask and ask again until you understand

KINESTHETIC

WHEN I NEED TO TRY HARDER When a teacher talks to quickly Being asked to sit for too long

Not being allowed to get physically involved

WAYS I CAN INCREASE MY LEARNING POWER

Take short breaks when studying Be comfortable when you are working

Eat healthy food and drink lots of water

5

Learning Style Revision Strategies

Revision Strategies for Auditory Learners

o Reading aloud

o Underlining interesting points and quotations

o Make up word games and mnemonics to help you. Persuading someone to test and re-test you on what you have learned

o Work with others to revise, but you have to be very disciplined about this (Don’t just chat! Do

revision!). This works best with other auditory learners. Talk your way through a learned topic or ask each other to explain difficult areas

o Read texts aloud, paying close attention to the way it sounds. Now try reading it under your

breath

o Make up questions to ask about the text and then question someone about it

o Talk aloud to recall what you have just learned o Go somewhere where you won’t bother anyone and read your notes and text book out loud

o Impersonate someone while learning different subjects, for example Peter Kay does Science or

Victor Meldrew does History. Decide on keywords/concepts you will need to learn

o Experiment with different ways of saying the keywords out loud (emphasise different parts of the word, use different voices)

o Tape-record your revision, pause the tape recorder and re-tape when you have made a mistake

o Listen to your notes on a tape player when exercising, doing the washing up, on the way to school

o When learning technical or mathematical information, talk your way through it. State what you

have learned to yourself or a study partner

o Reason through solutions/thoughts by talking out loud or to a study partner

o When learning sequences, write out in sentence form and then read them aloud

o Make up a funny rhyme to remember important facts/concepts

6

Revision Strategies for Visual Learners

o Make use of colour coding when studying new information in your notes o Use highlighter pens and highlight different kinds of information in contrasting colours o Trace each word in the air o Write out key information obtained from your notes o Draw a mind map (see example) o Make flash cards (3 by 5 inches) of words and ideas that need to be learned o Use highlighter pens to emphasise the key points o Limit the information per card so that your mind can take a mental ‘picture’ of the information o Write out explanations for diagrams or draw illustrations (in diagram form) from facts o When learning technical or mathematical information, write out in sentences and key phrases

on your understanding of the material. When learning sequences, write out in detail how to do each step

o Experiment with diagrams o A funny mental picture will certainly help you to remember facts and patterns o Use chronological lists of events o Flow charts use the consequences of each action to jog your memory about the next stage o Use split lists to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between things o Make use of computer word processing o Copy key information from your notes and textbooks on to a computer o Use the print outs to re-read your notes o Make visual reminders of information that must be learned. Use post-it notes in highly visible

places – on your mirror, notebook, bedroom door

7

Revision Strategies for Kinaesthetic Learners

o Walk backwards and forwards with your textbook, notes or flash cards and read the information out loud

o Learn different subjects by walking and reading in different places

o Jot down keywords, draw pictures or make charts to help you remember your notes

o Make flash cards (3 by 5 inches) for every step of a sequence you have to learn

o Put words, symbols or pictures on your flash cards – anything that helps you remember

o Use highlighter pens in contrasting colours to emphasise the important points but limit the amount of detail so you do not have too much to remember

o Practise putting out the cards in the right order until it becomes automatic

o Copy key points on to a chalkboard, whiteboard or large piece of paper. Make up actions to go with the keywords

o Write down the main points on post-it notes. Assemble the post-its on the wall to see how the different areas relate to one another

o Use the computer to reinforce learning by touch. Copy out information that must be learned into a word processing package on the computer

o Use graphics, clip art, tables and databases to organise material that must be learned

o Listen to your notes of topics when exercising, doing the washing up, walking to school, and so on

8

REVISION SKILLS AND TIPS

GETTING STARTED

Before you start revising, it is worth making sure you have everything you need readily available. This reduces time wasted trying to find things!

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO REVISE?

Revision timetable An up-to-date set of class notes Any revision materials given out by departments Revision lists and Specifications Any study guides which have been bought (but check the guide is covering the content of your course).

There are many guides already available on Autology accessible via the school website.

Highlighters Coloured pens Post-it notes or cards for formula/key words

Different coloured paper for different subjects (you will need lots of this)

Apps / Programs for revision materials

Not in front of the T.V. At a table, preferably in a quiet place In a clear space in a well-organised

bedroom Keep all the materials for each subject

in one place to save time

EQUIPMENT: WHERE TO REVISE?

9

Revision Timetables

Topics need to be revised more than once based on what we know about the brain.

THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING

Be realistic – remember sessions should only be for 30 – 40 minutes with 10 minute breaks Start NOW 1 session on a week night 3-4 sessions a day at the weekend During holidays/study leave, revision should be far more intensive Build in treats – time with friends, evenings out etc. Social time is vital in the overall scheme, as

long as there is a balance between work and play Try and get a variety of subjects across each day (see below about topics) Build in slots to review the learning of the day When you write next week’s timetable, remember to include review slots for the work covered

last week Discuss with someone at home how you are going about your revision

BREAKING IT DOWN:

If you’re thinking, “I’m doing Maths for 40 minutes and then half an hour of French”, think again! It means you haven’t broken the subject down into key areas to tackle your work in an organised manner; e.g., “I’m doing algebra and poetry.”

You need to use those key headings to:

Identify those topics you feel weak in – the danger is you push these to the back of your mind Use each heading to break the topic down further. On the next page is one way of doing this.

TIP

At first, the big picture may look and feel totally overwhelming. You need to prioritise your

workload. You need to be aware of the fact that revision takes time and for a few months, the

social life has to give a bit. Why don’t you arrange with friends to have “time off” session together?

10

General Revision Strategies

The following 21 ideas can be used for turning

class notes into revision notes across all subject areas.

Brainstorm a topic using a spider diagram

Make a chart to fit the information

Put key words onto Post-It Notes, stick them around the house to learn them

Make up tests to try later

Put notes onto revision cards

Make your own flash cards – questions one side/answers on the back

Create a Mind Map (see later section)

Use different colours to represent different things

Use Mnemonics for difficult spellings/sequences (e.g. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain – colours

of rainbow)

Make a flow chart

Make a timeline

Use pictures to represent key ideas

List two sides of an argument

Identify similarities/differences

Plan an exam answer and write the first paragraph

Create an exam answer and write the first paragraph

Create a dictionary for each subject

Turn headings into questions

Fill the bedroom walls with posters for key ideas

Make up cartoons

Label pictures

Record key quotations/foreign language vocab

11

General Revision Principles Focus on areas including:

1. Time management & Stress management

2. Organisation

3. Memory, reading and note taking etc.

4. Positive Thinking

5. Parent Support

Key Skills: Time Management Every human on this earth has the same

60 seconds

in a minute

60 minutes

in an hour

24 hours in

a day

7 days in a

week

52 weeks a

year

SOME EVENTS/ACTIVITIES ARE EXTERNALLY CONTROLLED

meetings family obligations work duties

OTHER ACTIVITIES ARE INTERNALLY CONTROLLED

chatting on the phone, commitment to a club or project,

or just ‘having fun’

12

Study Skills: Revision Time Table

Top 10 Time Management Tips

1. Establish routines and stick to them as much as possible

2 Get in the habit of setting time limits for tasks

3. Do not waste time waiting

4. Find out where you are wasting time

5. Implement a time management plan

6. Make a “To Do” list every day

7. Get a good night’s sleep

8. Do not waste time agonising

9. Keep things in perspective

10. Find the right time

13

1. Key Skills: Organisation

Key techniques: Revision Timetable & Time Management

Organisation: Space, light, resources etc.

Exam preparation: Food, sleep, resources (pencil case etc.)

Transforming Information: Mind maps, Revision Cards, Cartoons, Adverts, Flow diagrams, Venn diagrams

Other Techniques: Mnemonics. Using colour. Using sound.

Sharing information: Hot seat, speaking to others

O S C A R Organisation – sort through your notes before you begin Selection – Start with topics you are less sure of Creativity – Use colours, images, sound, rhymes or songs Association - Create links between topics or studies Repetition – Review your notes regularly

Revision Timetable Example for a non-school day

Time (spend up to 50

minutes on each session)

Morning Afternoon Evening

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Remember to schedule time for review

PLAN for times of:

REST

Hobbies/Sport

Time with

family and

friends

14

Planning your revision

THINK LEVELS!

LEVEL ONE IS THE SUBJECT

LEVEL TWO IS THE TOPICS WITHIN THAT SUBJECT

LEVEL THREE IS THE INDIVIDUAL TOPIC DIVIDED INTO STUDY UNITS

SUBJECT

TOPIC

TOPIC

TOPIC

TOPIC

TOPIC

STUDY UNITS

1 2 3 4 5

STUDY UNITS

1 2 3 4 5

STUDY UNITS

1 2 3 4 5

STUDY UNITS

1 2 3 4 5

STUDY UNITS

1 2 3 4 5

15

2. Key revision techniques (overview)

Revision Strategies can include: Images: You can images or photos from the internet which relate to the topics or ideas and paste them into blank PowerPoint slides. You can then annotate the images with facts from the study to help you form associations. The more bizarre or surreal the association, the more likely it is to stick in your mind!

Mnemonics : Mnemonics are systems to help you remember facts or processes. For example: Never Eat Soggy Weetabix = points of the compass. You could even add images to help you remember:

Acronyms: BBC ,BRB, ASAP, LOL

Using colour: Colour your revision notes can help you to distinguish different kinds of information. Your use of colour could be as simple as using green and red pens to underline positive and negative points for evaluation. You could experiment with using different coloured paper to group similar ideas or topics

Using sound: Create your own podcast to listen on your MP3 player

Story Telling: I was crossing the Atlantic on……….

Using transformation: Transform your notes from one format to another. It’s not necessarily the finished product that’s important, but the way you process the material to create it. The process of having to think about the material will help you remember!

Rhymes & Song: re-write the lyrics of a song to include information about a study.

Cartoon: pick out key visual images from a study or approach and draw them as cartoons. You don’t need to be artistic; simple stick figures will do. Of course you can then annotate your cartoons with facts from a study or approach.

Adverts: write a radio jingle to sell a key topic or formula, using the key strengths.

Flow diagrams: these can be easier to understand than blocks of text.

Venn diagrams: these are particularly useful for highlighting the differences and similarities between two topics or ideas.

Post it Notes / Flash Cards: Key words and definitions

Chunking: The power of 3, stop look listen, good bad ugly, friends, Romans countrymen

Mind Maps (as above)

Past Papers: Exams are like anything else – the more you do, the better you get. That’s why past papers are so important to your exam preparation. Get to know:

• Their layout, names/numbers of questions? • The format of instructions? • The range of questions: multiple choice, short answers, essays, etc? • The marking scheme? • The pace of the paper, how should you allocate time? • Which type of question turns up most often?

16

3. The Power of positive thinking Key Point: you are what you think. You feel what you want Why think positively? All of our feelings, beliefs and knowledge are based on our internal thoughts, both conscious and subconscious. We are in control, whether we know it or not. We can be positive or negative, enthusiastic or dull, active or passive. The biggest difference between people is their attitudes. For some, learning is enjoyable and exciting. For others, learning is a drudgery. For many, learning is just okay, something required on the road to a job.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Abraham Lincoln Our present attitudes are habits, built from the feedback of parents, friends, society and self, that form our self-image and our world-image. These attitudes are maintained by the inner conversations we constantly have with ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously.

The first step in changing our attitudes is to change our inner conversations. What Should We Be Saying? One approach is called the three C's: Commitment, Control and Challenge.

Commitment Make a positive commitment to yourself, to learning, work, family, friends, nature, and other worthwhile causes. Praise yourself and others. Dream of success. Be enthusiastic.

Control Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize to practice your actions. Develop a strategy for dealing with problems. Learn to relax. Enjoy successes. Be honest with yourself.

Challenge Be courageous. Change and improve each day. Do your best and don't look back. See learning and change as opportunities. Try new things. Consider several options. Meet new people. Ask lots of questions. Keep track of your mental and physical health. Be optimistic.

Studies show that people with these characteristics are winners in good times and survivors in hard times.

Research shows that, "... people who begin consciously to modify their inner conversations and assumptions report an almost immediate improvement in their performance. Their energy increases and things seem to go better ..."

Commitment, control and challenge help build self-esteem and promote positive thinking. Here are some other suggestions.

17