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ACTIVE REVISION

If struggling with your revision, try the following...

It’s not enough just to re-read notes, make your revision active! Here’s how:

Paper

Have plenty of paper and a pen handy. Memorise

Study a section of your notes, and memorise the essential points. Write

Put your notes out of sight, and write down from memory the essential things you learned.

Check

Check with your notes. Learn

Note any points you omitted or got wrong, and learn them. Cards

Reduce notes to essential points, either by highlighting or un-derlining.

Use these points to make memory aids on index cards or simi-lar-sized pieces of paper.

Use a separate card for each topic. Write down important points to remember about each topic. Carry these cards with you wherever you go. Review them in

your spare moments.

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Parkstone Grammar School

GCSE Guide to Revision and

Home Learning 2015/16

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CONTENTS TOPIC PAGE 5-Day Study Plan 3,4 Revision: Brain Boosting Tips 5,6 Revising: Sub-dividing and minimising 7 Revising: Instruction Cards 8 Revising: The Lesson 9 Revising: Acronyms 10 Revising: File Cards 11 Revising: Discussion Group 12 Revising: Mind Maps 13 Revising: Pass Master 14 Revising: Poster Design 15 SEGE 16 Useful Web-sites 17 Taking Exams 18, 19 Stress and Anxiety 20, 21 Essay Writing: Thinking Skills - Bloom 22, 23 Active Revision 24

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COMPREHENSION - Understanding

Overview   Student demonstrates understanding of con-cepts and principles. 

Skills demonstrated 

• understanding information 

• grasping meaning 

• translating knowledge into new context 

• interpreting facts, comparing, contrasting 

• ordering, grouping, inferring causes 

• predicting consequences.

Associated vocabulary = associate, compare, contrast, describe, differentiate, discuss, distin-guish, estimate, explain, extend, give examples, how, illustrate, interpret, paraphrase, predict, show, summarise, understand.

APPLICATION - Making use of knowledge

Overview   Student selects, transfers and uses knowledge (skills) and principles learned in one context to complete a problem or task in another. 

Skills demonstrated 

• using information 

• using methods, concepts, theories in new situations 

• solving problems using ac-quired skills or knowledge.

Associated vocabulary = apply, calculate, change, classify, complete, compute, construct, demonstrate, discover, examine, experiment, illustrate, modify, relate, show, solve, use.

SYNTHESIS - Creating new combinations

Overview   Student originates, integrates, and com-bines ideas into a prod-uct, plan or proposal that is new to him or her. 

Skills demonstrated 

• using old ideas to create new ones 

• generalizing from given facts 

• relating knowledge from several areas 

• predicting 

• drawing conclusions.

Associated vocabulary = combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop, forecast, for-mulate, generalise, hypothesise, imagine, innovate, integrate, interpret, invent, modify, plan, prepare, rearrange, rewrite, substitute, what if?

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KNOWLEDGE - Information gathering

Overview   Student remembers or recognis-es information, ideas and princi-ples in the approximate form in which they were learned. 

Skills demonstrated 

• observation and recall of information 

• knowledge of dates, events, places 

• knowledge of major ideas 

• mastery of subject matter.

Associated vocabulary = collect, define, describe, examine, identify, know, label, list, memorise, name, quote, recall, recite, remember, repeat, tabulate, tell, what, when, where, who.

ANALYSIS - Understanding structure

Overview   Student understands structure, purpose and relationships between the elements of a statement, question or hypothesis.  

Skills demonstrated 

• seeing patterns 

• organization of parts 

• recognition of hidden meanings 

• identification of components.

Associated vocabulary = analyse, arrange, categorise, classify, compare, connect, contrast, divide, explain, infer, investigate, order, select, separate, solve, why.

EVALUATION - Judging the outcome

Overview   Student appraises, assesses, or critiques against specific standards and criteria and supports that judgement. 

Skills demonstrated 

• comparing and discriminating between ideas 

• assessing value of theories, presentations 

• making choices based on reasoned argument 

• verifying value of evidence 

• recognizing subjectivity.

Associated vocabulary = argue, assess, compare, conclude, convince, criticise, critique, decide, dis-criminate, evaluate, explain, express opinion, grade, judge, justify, measure, predict, rank, recom-mend, select, summarise, support, test.

Benjamin Bloom (1956) developed a classification of levels of intellectual be-havior in learning. This taxonomy contained three overlapping domains: the cogni-tive, psychomotor, and affective. Within the cognitive domain, he identified six lev-els: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These domains and levels are still useful today as you develop the critical thinking skills. Your GCSE subjects will refer directly to Assessment Objectives based on these specific skills, requesting you to demonstrate them in both examination and coursework.

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Success is in the planning – if you don’t plan and prioritise you won’t succeed!

The Five Day Study Plan Start Early: More than any other technique, the key to performing

well on exams is starting early and using short, frequent study sessions. The human brain learns academic material faster and better on an exam if done in brief blocks of time spread out over longer periods of time, rather than in a few lengthy sessions. For

example, you will perform better on an exam if you spend one hour studying each day for 20 days than if you spend 10 hours studying

each day for two days before an exam.

On Cramming: If you have to cram, try to focus on remembering the information you do know rather than trying to teach yourself

new information. You will typically not remember what you tried to learn the night before the exam, anyway, so it is best to make sure you REALLY know some part of the information for the test. If you do have a few days, try to spread the studying out so you are not

doing it all in one night. If you plan ahead, many students have found the Five Day Study

Plan gets good results. Keys to the Five Day Plan: 1. You space out your learning over a period of 5 days.

2. During each day, you prepare a new chapter or chunk of information, then review previous material.

3. Divide material so you can work on it in chunks. 4. Use active learning strategies (writing and reciting) to study

the material 5. Use self-testing techniques to monitor your learning

Eight to ten hours of studying may be required to get an A or a B on an exam. This is just a general guideline. You may need to allot

more or less time depending on the difficulty of the class.

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How to Make a Five Day Plan 1. Break the material into chunks. If it can be divided by chapter, use that. If not, make up your own chunks based on the structure of the material. 2. Plan to spend about 40 to 80 minutes studying on each of the five days. 3. You work on the material in 2 ways: You prepare, and you review. Example of the Time Frame for the Five Day Plan for one subject area:

Tuesday Wednesday Prepare 1st chunk 1 hour Prepare 2nd chunk 1 hour Review 1st chunk 10 minutes

Thursday Friday Prepare 3rd chunk 1 hour Review 3rd chunk 10 minutes Review 2nd chunk 10 minutes Review 2nd chunk 5 minutes Review 1st chunk 5 minutes Review 1st chunk 5 minutes Prepare 4th chunk 1 hour

Sunday Self-Test 1 hour Review 4th chunk 10 minutes Review 3rd chunk 5 minutes Review 2nd chunk 5 minutes Review 1st chunk 5 minutes

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Being organised If you find out exactly what you're facing, you can work out a plan for dealing with it, and this will go a long way towards putting your mind at ease. Get hold of the right information from the start. Make sure you know how you will be examined, and what you'll be examined on. If you can, get a copy of the syllabus. Mark schemes and past papers Catch up with anything you've missed, so that you've got all your notes up to date.

Find out about the resources available to help you. Teachers are an expert re-source, although it is advisable to book time in them rather than trying to catch them between lessons.. There are also many good revision guides, TV revision programmes and a wide range of internet sites to use - the BBC has a range of revision tools for school pupils and the Open University has advice for older stu-dents.

Plan a timetable

Try to start your revision in plenty of time. Take time to plan a revision timetable that's realistic and still flexible, and linked to your exam timetable, so you revise subjects in the right order. In planning it, give yourself clear priorities and try to bal-ance your revision with other demands on your time - meals, sleep, chores or other commitments, as well as time for relaxing. Identify your best time of day for study-ing.

Use the advice in this booklet, don’t revise for too long in one session and try more active and stimulating methods of revision rather than just looking at your notes. Identify the Assessment Objectives for each question—what exactly are the Think-ing Skills that the examiner would like you to demonstrate in your answer. If you are on study leave, one way to structure your work might be to divide each day into three units (morning, afternoon and evening), giving you a total of 21 units per week. Then make a list of all the topics you need to cover. Estimate how long you think it will take you to revise each one, allowing more time for things you find most difficult. Then add on plenty of extra. Finally, divide the topics up between the units.

Everyone needs time off, and it's a bad idea to abandon your social life and sport-ing activities, but for a period near the examinations, you may need to cut down. This may involve making hard choices. Always try to leave yourself a minimum of six units of free time per week.

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Stress Thresholds, Appleby 1967

How do I minimise exam stress? Exams bring out the best in some people, and the worst in others. Whatever the case, you may be in a situation where you have to do them. Remind yourself that you can only do your best - and your best is all that you can do.

Can I avoid getting stressed before an exam? Taking exams is bound to be stressful because of what's at stake. You may be feeling a weight of expectation from your family, school, or friends to succeed. You may be afraid you're not good enough, or haven't worked hard enough. You may be scared of letting yourself down, or that you'll miss out on a job, university place or career move. Your pre-exam nerves may seem much worse if you are doing exams for the first time or after a long gap, if English is not your first language or if you have particular learning difficulties. Nor do exams exist in isolation; there may well be other events going on in your life that are putting you under pressure. If your stress levels rise too high for too long, it can be harmful both to you and to your chances. Everybody's stress 'threshold' is different. A situation that is too much for one person to tolerate may be stimulating to another. Controlled at the right level, however, stress can work to your advantage, because it can help you to produce your peak performance. Appleby’s Stress Thresholds diagram (below) highlights that it is a very small step to move from ‘Full use of skills’ to being ‘Overloaded’. The first sign of being overloaded can quickly develop into far more serious symptoms.

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Brain Boosting Tips Revision isn’t just about sitting down at a desk and working hard. Preparing your body and mind for revision is as important as any other aspect of the process. The Times Newspaper recently reported on various ways students can prepare for revision. Here are some of their better ideas. 1. Get Sweaty One of the best ways to revise effectively is to stay active. Our brains need lots of oxygen to keep working at their optimum level. Physical exercise such as walking and jogging improve circulation to the brain. Studies have also shown that exercise can help sus-tain cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is vital for memory and learning. 2. Feed Your Brain Omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish such as sardines and tuna and available as supplements are thought to improve cognitive abilities and mood. B vitamins may also have brain boosting prop-erties and one good source is Marmite. 3. Take a Break Pace your revision. According to a Cardiff University report, study-ing for more than 40 minutes at a time is counterproductive. The authors of the report say that “the number of facts that can be re-tained drops dramatically after 40 minutes. A 20 minute break will allow you to work effectively for another 40 minutes”. 4. Relax Your Body According to Cornell University the more tense you are at the start of an exam the less well you will perform. By using basic relaxation techniques before the start of an exam you mind will work better and be able to access facts and solve problems more effectively.

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Sleep on it Not only does lack of sleep kill creativity and decision making skills but in a warm exam hall in June the urge to ‘nod off’ can be quite high. 7-8 hours sleep a night is essential for most people and it has also been found that learning facts just before you go to sleep helps cement what you have learnt. There is also evidence that having a 30 minute power nap in the middle of the day increases afternoon brain performance and prevents information overload. Drink Water Our brains are 80% water so dehydration is bad news for your brain. It is recommended that you drink between 1.5l and 2.5l of fluids a day. Lay off Technology Physiologists claim that regularly tapping away on text messages and emails and constantly checking whether you have any new messages can lower IQ more than twice as much as some illegal drugs. They suggest that the temporary loss in IQ is due to the brain juggling lots of tasks and losing its overall effectiveness. Revision techniques There are countless ways of revising—many are explained for you in the following pages. The least effective ways are those that in-volve just reading through notes over and over. The most effective ways are those where you interact with the material, making it meaningful to yourself, for example: 1. Using your material to answer a question or address a prob-

lem you have not previously tackled. 2. Reworking the material into a chart or diagram. 3. Summarising material under headings onto index cards. 4. Discussing the material with other people. 5. Make links, comparisons and contrasts between different areas of your programme. 6. Evaluate different theories.

Try all of the following techniques, some work better in specific subject areas, but all are effective. 19

e. Nerves

Remember if you have an emergency that needs to be addressed, put your hand up and wait for the Invigilator. Don’t give up. it’s always worth going back in and trying again. f. Instructions

Read through the instructions, make sure you understand them. Read through all the questions and decide which ones you can answer. Divide the time available by the number of questions you have to answer, to work out how much time you can give each question. Allow five minutes at the end of each period for reading through your answers. g. Questions

If they ask you to answer four questions, they will allocate marks to each one. So there’s no point in spending all your time on just two questions, you’ll never get more than 50% of the available marks that way. Attempt the number of questions you are asked to answer. h. Preparing

If you are giving essay-style answers, spend the first 5-10 minutes of your available time noting down the ideas you wish to include. Put them in a logical order and write your answer. It is a good idea to practise writing this kind of timed answer as part of your revision routine. Remember, as soon as you enter the exam room you should be in SILENCE. Don’t disturb others when you leave the exam.

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Taking exams Here are eight tips for helping you cope on the day of an exam:

a. Eat b. Trust

c. Organise d. Comfort e. Nerves

f. Instructions g. Questions h. Preparing

a. Eat

Have a reasonable amount to eat before the exam. Some people find it helpful to take unwrapped sweets into exams as they help maintain blood sugar levels. Make sure you have no wrappers. Take water in a transparent bottle. b. Trust

Don’t get into conversations about the exam just before the start; other people may make you more nervous or start confus-ing you. If you’ve prepared thoroughly, trust your own knowledge. c. Organise

Get to the exam room in good time.: 15 minutes before the start. Make sure you have all the equipment you need. Remember that pens run out, and pencils break. Always have spares. Make sure that you know beforehand whether dictionar-ies, calculators and other pieces of equipment are allowed. d. Comfort

Remember that you will be sitting still for some hours. Make sure that you will be warm enough.

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Sub-Dividing and Minimising

The Steps • Ensure that you have all the information, photocopies, hand-outs and books that you will need in one place. • Once all the information is together, using your own words, summarise all the information into one comprehensive information pack, which you will be working from. Ensure that the information noted is accurate and quotes are dated. Put aside all other reference information. The notes that you have made will be the notes that you will be working from. • Read through your notes carefully and then take a ten minute break. On returning from your break, write down what you can remember. Complete this step at least five times before moving to the next step. • Look at the notes that you have made. Re-summarise your notes to create another comprehensive set of notes. The objective in re-summarising the first set of notes is to evaluate which information you learned and remembered, and which information you still need to learn and remember (if you started with ten pages of notes your aim is to re-summarise all of the information so that it is contained in nine pages of notes). • Read through your notes carefully and then take a ten minute break. On returning from your break, write down what you can remember. Complete this step at least five times before moving to the next step. • Look at the notes that you have made. Re-summarise your notes, to create another comprehensive set of notes. The objective in re-summarising the first set of notes is to evaluate which information you learned and remembered and which information you still need to learn and remember (if you started with nine pages of notes your aim is to re-summarise all of the information so that it is contained in eight pages of notes).

• The above steps should be completed until you have reduced your information onto one or two pages of notes or a few revision cards. Each step of re-reading and summarising reinforces the information, aiding the memory. Note: This strategy does take time so you will need to give your-self enough time for this learning process. It uses both the visual and kinaesthetic learning styles.

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INSTRUCTION CARDS This technique allows the student to develop the opportunity to think about writing instructions. The aim of this technique is to write clear directions and instructions on the main is-sues, theories and views in a given topic. • Firstly, make a choice about the event that you will be

focusing on which led to an important outcome, theme or event.

• Once you have made a choice about the event or theme then compile a list of key words or phrases con-nected to the topic.

• Assemble all the key words and phrases together and then create a step-by-step instruction card. Imagine that the instructions are being written for someone else. Re-member, you are writing the instructions for someone who has never come across this subject before. The im-portance here is the aim to be precise and concise, as this will inform you how well you know the chosen topic.

• Write the information or instructions on index cards. It is also important to give the cards unusual but relevant names. The index cards can be filed away for use in the future.

• When reading the index cards, it is important to ask yourself if you will be able to make sense of it in the fu-ture. If you do not think this is possible, then ensure that the details are as clear as they can be.

It is important to ensure that you look at the index cards reg-ularly as this will support your learning.

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Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an online, freely accessible search engine that lets users look for both physical and digital copies of ar cles. 

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The SEGE mnemonic

Rationale: focus on the skills needed to answer a question and promotes depth of thinking. Easy for students to use when revising with another at home (parents, friends, siblings) or preparing for class ac-tivity. Focus on a revision topic then examine using the SEGE structure. A short time to prepare, then they: Say it – Explain it – Give an example – Evaluate it. 1.Provide the students with a list of topics to revise (start with one or two areas). 2.Students prepare their notes, then use the SEGE pneumonic to ‘teach’ the topic to a member of their household. SAY identify the concept/idea/term being revised EXPLAIN provide a definition to go with the Terminology GIVE an example, something real/practical— even better if linked to an exam focus EVALUATE why is the concept/idea important

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The Lesson This revision strategy is ideal for a study group or working in pairs, with parent/carer, sibling or with a friend. This technique involves you taking on the role of a teacher. Therefore you have to prepare the information to be able to teach others about the topic or the subject.

The Preparation • Firstly, you will need to decide which topic to teach to the group or the per-

son who is working with them. When preparing the lesson you will need to refer to the many and various sources of information which will help to cre-ate a comprehensive set of notes.

• Using the notes, you are to prepare a lesson for the study group or the indi-viduals you will be working with. Think about how you will present the infor-mation, which activity sheet activities you will ask the group or the individu-als to complete. Ask yourself, how will you explain the information so that everyone will understand it?

• Think about what types of questions the group or the individuals will ask you. How will you check that they have understood your explanation?

The Lesson • Ensure that you are fully prepared and you have all the information you will

need to teach your lesson.

• Ensure that the group know the lesson objectives and aims of the session.

• Ensure that the presentation of your information is clear and well-structured so that the others can make sense of the information.

• Ensure that you have various activities so that the others or the individual you are working with can explore the topic in various ways. If you have cre-ated any activity sheets to be completed, explain to the participants how they are to complete them.

• Always check that the participants understand by encouraging them to ask or answer questions.

• Once you have nearly finished the lesson, review the lesson with the par-ticipants. Ask them to consider what they have learned from the lesson and to review the lesson. Think about what you can remember from the prepa-ration and the lesson and write practice essays or answer questions based on previous exam questions.

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Acronyms

Acronyms are a useful way of remembering important information or condensing key facts about a topic. You use the first letter of the key words or names of the topic to create a word that you will then remember. In Geogra-phy, for example, the tectonic plates that float on the earth’s mantle can be recorded as follows: Africa North America Antarctica South America Pacific Indo-Australia Eurasia Look at the first letters. They spell out Ana’s Pie. You just need to remember these seven letters! Easy! Have a go!

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Design a Poster A useful way to revise and memorise facts is to create a colourful poster. This can include the key topics or pieces of information that you are studying. You can write the topic across the centre of the page and then write and illustrate the key facts around this. Alternatively, you can write the topic at the top of the page and then have a flow-chart or bullet points underneath this. The important point is to make the information as memorable as possi-ble. Try using some of the following: • Colour coding information; • Using sketches or relevant doodles to support the information; • Using collage - relevant or memorable pictures from magazines

etc.; • Changing the size of your writing to match he importance of the

information and highlight key-words; • Using different coloured paper for different subjects.

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Pass Master It is much easier to remember information when it is organised! In order to pass those exams and be a PASS MASTER make use of the following five steps: 1. Preview – Prepare your notes by dividing them into sec-

tions and giving each one a relevant heading. 2. Question – Write each heading onto a blank side of paper

and record a series of questions on each. What is it that your notes should be telling you? What questions should your notes answer? HINT: use quality questions such as who, what, where, when and how in order to open up your thought processes.

3. Read – Read through your notes and questions again with even more care in order to confirm your ideas and under-standing.

4. Self-recitation – Carefully scan your notes for answers be-fore writing down these answers as you encounter them. Saying the answers aloud can also be helpful and should be your next step. It is also useful to consider links, that is, how does this link to what has gone on before and to what I already know?

5. Test – Once you have answered all the questions and read through your answers one more time, test your-self! How much do you know? What questions have enabled you to re-member the most information and be most accurate? Ask a friend or family member to ask you the ques-tions and see if this is also an effec-tive way of memorising the neces-sary information.

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File Cards A popular way to revise is to write notes or put facts onto file cards. These can summarise much bigger pieces of information. You can use them as visual reminders, use numbers, different writing styles, drawings, lists, highlighters and different coloured pens. You can ask a friend to test you on the cards. You can read them aloud, tape yourself reading them and then listen to the tape as you look at them again. It is up to you! Look at the example. The file cards are used to recall vocabulary and grammar in French.

File Card 1

Er Verbs

Infinitive

Jouer (to play)

Present Imperative

je joue joue

tu joues jouons

il joue, elle joue, jouez

on joue

nous jouons

vous jouez

ils jouent

elles jouent

File Card 2

Ir Verbs

Infinitive

Choisir (to choose)

Present Imperative

je choisis choisis

tu choisis choississions

il choisit, choississez

elle choisit, on choisit

nous choisisson

vous choissiez

ils choisissent

elles choisissent

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Discussion Group Some people learn best when they are able to talk about a topic and listen to others’ views. Think back to a recent discussion that you have learned something from. This is an ideal way to learn with others, but before meeting you will need to prepare your thoughts, your ideas on the topic and have sound knowledge of the area to be discussed. Select a subject area, topic or idea that you will be discussing. It will be useful and helpful if there is some kind of controversy, opposing views or differ-ence in theoretical positions. The Preparation • Write down your ideas and any questions you will ask. Think of the

questions someone who has never encountered the topic before may ask and then think of questions that may be difficult to an-swer, questions that may require specialist knowledge. Think of as many questions as you can.

• Write your questions out onto strips of paper, ensuring that others can read your handwriting.

The Group • Once you have completed the above activity, the other students

you are working with should meet. • You should decide the order of which each person will be putting

their questions onto to the table or floor. Once this decision has been taken, the selected person should place all their questions facing downwards onto a table or floor.

• Then everyone in the group takes turns in picking and answering the various questions. It is important that the speaker answers the questions in two ways, in terms of the actual answer, and then tells the group about their own views and reflections on the topic or the theoretical position.

• Once the nominated speaker gives their answer and own views, then others in the group can join the discussion by adding their own views and providing further questions if necessary.

• Once the above step has been completed then another person selects a question to become a speaker and the above process is started again. When you have completed the first set of questions from the first participant, then the second participant puts their questions onto the table or on the floor. Continue until all partici-pants finish.

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Three Steps: How to Mind Map

Step 1

•Select topic. Do not look at revision notes previ-ously to selecting the topic (topic should be ‘cold’). Student writes all relevant information that they know about the topic using a mind-map structure (set time limit here).

Step 2

•When initial mind-map is completed, use notes to add 3 to 5 extra pieces of information to the mind-map.

Step 3

•Make mind-map accessible to others so that they can help with supported revision (could be stuck on-to fridge at home).

* It is important to add only 3 to 5 new pieces of learning to the mind-map. These 3 to 5 pieces of information become the basis for realistic new learning.