Put your hand up when you see a revision tip you have used.

Eating bananas before an exam Making cue cardsMaking mind mapsGetting an early nightPractice questionsTeaching someone elseMaking a revision timetableQuizzing a friendGCSE bitesize or websitesMarking your own workHighlighting notesReading textbooksMaking key term tests

Are you ready to learn?

How do I make the most of my revision time?

This morning we are going to talk about:

• How you should prepare for revision

• How and why you should look after your self during revision

• How to revise – techniques and tips

Jenny goes home after school and revises from 4 until 11 every night, she has been doing this since half term. Her mum has bought her lots of revision guides and highlighters to read through and she spends lots of

time highlighting through and reading everything for every subject, sometimes she copies things up into notes or writes down key terms.

Jenny might only remember around 10% of what she

is revising!

If your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

But, your brain doesn’t work like that! It doesn’t just record and

understand everything – you have to make it work.

Basically – the more you work your brain the more you will remember about what you are doing.

When you are reading it is like the brain is half asleep and won’t process and store a lot of the information for a long

time. You have to do something with the information to make sure it is stored and ready to recall in an exam.

Step 1: What do you need to know? Step 2: Filling the gapsStep 3: Going over everythingStep 4: Practice questionsStep 5: Checking and marking

Step 1: What do you need to know? What do you need to do?

Preparation

How do your teachers know what to teach and how they are going to do it? They have prepared. Without this you can find yourself panic revising and sometimes focusing on the wrong thing and missing the important stuff.

Use information from teachers and text books to find out what topics and skills you will need for your exam - rank these 1 to 4 (see the next slide)6th form be aware of optional topics - check with your teachers - you should have topic overviews

For each topic rank them using the following statements

4. I don’t remember this at all - have I even learnt about it? Did I miss a lesson?

3. I remember learning this but don’t remember it very well and would be stuffed if it came up on the exam.

2. I remember and understand it but wouldn’t feel comfortable answering questions in an exam.

1. Yes! I know it and understand it. I just need a bit of practice at questions.

Step 1: What do you need to know? Step 2: Filling the gapsStep 3: Going over everythingStep 4: Practice questionsStep 5: Checking and marking

Step 2: Filling the gaps making sure you understand all of the topics. Use textbooks, extra resources and revision booklets

This is the stage you should be doing extra reading and research to make sure you have all of the information you need.

If you still don’t understand something then you can ask at revision sessions!

Step 1: What do you need to know? Step 2: Filling the gapsStep 3: Going over everythingStep 4: Practice questionsStep 5: Checking and marking

Step 3: Going over everything!

Make sure you can remember all you can, use learning techniques such as mind maps, key term or concept record cards, poster making, peer teaching, write a song, quizzes, etc.Mr Moss has got loads of stuff to sell you on the cheap from the front office to help here!There are lots of great websites and apps such as GCSE bitesize, s-cool and loads more.

You will learn more about this over the week

It is not ‘one size fits all’!Different students will find different techniques will help them to revise. ‘One man’s poison…’Different subjects are easier to revise using different techniques.

You should mix it up - don’t just rely on one technique.

Don’t be stubborn - try something new!

You will be getting advice from the VARK site this week

Step 1: What do you need to know? Step 2: Filling the gapsStep 3: Going over everythingStep 4: Practice questionsStep 5: Checking and marking

Step 4: Practice questions

You can find these in your textbooks and revision guides.

You can download old exam papers from the exam board websites, make sure you know which ones your subjects are.

Edexcel has an excellent free app.

If the questions follow a formula then make sure you know what this is so you can make your own up.

Step 1: What do you need to know? Step 2: Filling the gapsStep 3: Going over everythingStep 4: Practice questionsStep 5: Checking and marking

Step 5: Checking and marking

Ask your teachers if they have time to mark your papers

OR EVEN BETTER …

1. Do it yourself using the mark schemes which you can get from the same websites as the exam papers.

2. Peer mark with a friend. It can be quite hard at first but you will get a lot out of it; if you learn to mark you improve your own writing skills.

We forget less when we try to recall a memory in a

situation which is as similar as possible to the one you

created the memory in.

The science

So you should revise in a situation which is as similar as possible to where you

will be taking the exam. Sit at a desk with no music,

phones or other distractions.

The advice

We concentrate best on one thing for around 20 minutes – a bit lower for

younger people.

The science

Take regular breaks.

But mixing up tasks also helps.

Just break for a couple of minutes – leave your phone

in another room and pop out to use it, get a drink, go to the loo, get up and have a stretch – these all count!

But remember – get straight back on it!

The advice

Our brains need fuel and work best when they have

higher levels of energy such as glucose,

potassium, and omega oils. The brain uses 20% of your

body’s energy at rest.Healthy food reduces

stress. A balanced diet is healthy.

The science

Eat healthy foods regularly.

Bananas are good for energy the morning before the exam.

You need to balance healthy foods which means eating

fresh fruit and veg and carbohydrates.

Fresh fish is the best source of brain boosting omega oils.

But don’t have a mackerel and banana sandwich.

The advice

Research shows that getting the right amount of sleep will boost your test

scores more than spending 4 or 5 hours looking at your notes the night before an

exam.Mice deprived of sleep

were slower at finishing a maze they had learnt the day before than mice who

were allowed to sleep.

The science

Get to bed at a decent time!

Make your bed a revision free zone if possible so you can

relax and get to sleep.

No late night cramming!

The advice

This week in form time…Tuesday and Wednesday

VARK – in ICT roomsFind out your learning styles and get some advice

Planning your time on a revision timetable

Thursday

Sharing ideas and techniques for step 3 - creating a form guide

Friday

Trying it out!

This afternoon…A little experiment …

Adam lived in a small village in the South of Poland near to the big city of Krakow. Adam’s favourite part of the day was dinnertime. Not because his mother made the best food in

the whole world, but because, at dinner time, the whole family would sit around the television and watch the news.

No school lesson could compare to the stories Adam watched on the news: exotic looking people from different

cultures, natural disasters in countries he had never visited, and insights into the coolest celebrities and their

extraordinary lives. It was one such story that changed Adam’s life forever…