Does this image

scare you?

Everyone feels

nervous about

taking exams

Here’s a few tips to

try and help you….

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Work hard in class – no

distractions!

Study at home! Come to

afterschool sessions!

Ask your teachers for help/extra

work!

Get to school and lessons on

time!

Get your CA and

coursework sorted!

Re do work

Priorities…… Socialising with

friends

Looking after your appearance

Playing X-BOX

Spending time with family

Earning extra cash working

Studying / revising

Keeping fit/playing sports

Time with girlfriend

Watching TV

Planning my summer holiday

Prepare your body• 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.

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 sustain cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is vital for memory and learning.

Prepare your bodyFeed 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 properties and one good source is Marmite.

Prepare your bodyTake a Break•Pace your revision. According to a Cardiff University report, studying for more than 40 minutes at a time is counterproductive. The authors of the report say that “the number of facts that can be retained drops dramatically after 40 minutes. A 20 minute break will allow you to work effectively for another 40 minutes”.

Prepare your bodySleep 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.

Prepare your bodyDrink 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 marijuana. They said that the temporary loss in IQ is due to the brain juggling lots of tasks and losing its overall effectiveness.

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WHEREWHERE TO STUDY?

• Creating good conditions to study in can help you make the most of the time you spend revising– Find a quiet place and somewhere you feel comfortable

with a comfortable chair– Keep background noise to a minimum– Avoid distractions like your mobile and the television– Gather everything you need to have before you start

your revision– Using a table which gives enough room for books, etc.

HOWHOW TO STUDY• There is no right way to revise• Go to all of your lessons and make them work for YOU.• Make the most of your subject teacher’s knowledge about the

subject as well as revision and exam techniques. • Find out about good and bad learning techniques and try them out

to find out what works for you. • Spend time learning new material covered in class; This makes

revision easier later on. • Have clear and specific goals for each study session, for example:

“at the end of this session I will be able to answer one set of speaking questions in German and include tenses.”

• Have a start and finish time and stick to it.

HOWHOW TO STUDY

• Simply reading through work is a VERY POOR way of remembering it. You can spend hours thinking that you’re revising by doing this – but actually, very little information stays in your head!

• Active revision methods are much better. The active revision methods are:– Download past papers– Use websites and podcasts– Mix techniques

Mnemonic• To create a Mnemonic all you have to do is write down your list of

facts or information.• As an example I am going to try to remember the order of the

planets that circle our sun. So the first thing I do is write them down in order:Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

• Then I need to take the first letter from each of the planet names:M V E M J S U N P

• Now, I need to create a memorable sentence or phrase that uses each of the letters above in turn as the first letter of each word in my new sentence…sounds complicated but it isn’t:

My Very Early Morning Jam Sandwich Usually Nauseates People

Revision Cards

• A very good way to turn the notes you have made in lessons into a form that is more manageable

• A good REVISION CARD should contain all the KEY POINTS on a topic in a clear and concise way.

• By transferring information from your notes to the REVISION CARD you are re-learning what you have covered in class. This is because you have to put information in your own words

Using Annotations

• Whatever text you are studying, it is very helpful to have the freedom to write annotations (eg: key words or symbols) in the margins.

Key Words • You do not need to use sentences when writing revision notes. You do not, for

example, need to write ‘David Beckham married Posh Spice in Ireland’ in order to remember this section of his life. Underlining the key words ‘married’ and ‘Ireland’ would be enough to trigger your memory. Similarly, you do not need to write ‘Beckham’s first child was called Brooklyn and was born in 1999’. Underlining the key word ‘Brooklyn’ and the date ‘1999’ would be enough.

Symbols • Symbols represent or remind us of something else. A symbol of Big Ben with the

number ‘75’ next to it will, for example, remind us that Beckham was born in London in 1975. Similarly, drawing a cap and a trophy with the number ‘02’ above it will remind us that Beckham captained the England team during the 2002 World Cup.

Colour • When studying and revising, use a selection of fine-point coloured pens to highlight

information. Look at the text on the life of Beckham. You will see that all of the key words or symbols referring to his personal life or family are underlined, written or drawn in blue. All of the key words and symbols referring to Beckham’s career are underlined, written or drawn in red.

Test Yourself •Talk through Beckham’s life aloud. •Close your eyes and try to visualise the key contents of the text in your mind’s eye. •Ask a friend or a member of your family to test you on Beckham’s life. •You may well be surprised just how much you can remember!

TEST 1

Mind Maps

• Use just key words, or wherever possible images.• Start from the centre of the page and work out.• Create sub-centres for sub-themes.• Put key words on lines. This reinforces structure of notes.• Print rather than write in script. It makes them more

readable and memorable.• Use colour to depict themes, associations and to make

things stand out.• Anything that stands out on the page will stand out in your

mind.• Use arrows, icons or other visual aids to show links between

different elements.

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Some initial questions…

How many days until your first exam?

What is the maximum amount of time you am willing to study on a typical week day/ weekend?

Are there any dates between now and your first exam when it will be difficult/impossible for you to study?

How many subjects are you studying for?

23 days

TIMETABLE• Just like being asked to recruit and

train a football team, or write and direct a play, organise an art exhibition, or market a new pop-band, preparing for GCSEs is best viewed as a project that needs to be managed.

• An important project management skill is the ability to create good plans. When revising, this means creating good revision timetables.

TIMETABLE

• Planning your revision is essential if you are to take control of your learning and not get too stressed.

• That’s not as easy as it sounds because to do it really well you have got to plan in loads of detail.

Stage 1: The Audit

• Before you can plan your revision you need to know what you’ve got to cover, what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you need to help you revise.

• To do this well you’ve got to be systematic and go through each subject in turn working out what you need to cover, your present level of understanding and what you are going to need to revise that area.

• Once you have all that information listed you can start to plan your revision timetable.

• Here is an example of how you might implement Stage 1... Create a revision timetable

Stage 2: The Planning

• www.Revisionworld.com• http://getrevising.co.uk/

• Now it’s time to actually plan your revision. Your aim is to prioritise the difficult topics first, get them sorted and move on the easier areas in good time for each of your exams.

• That means you need to know when your exams are and how much time you have left for each of you subjects.

• Then, based on your audit you need to start to plan your revision time.– Remember that 30 minute sessions are best, then have a short break.– It’s better to do 2 hours a night over a long period of time than cram it all in at the last minute– You should aim for 3-4 hours on a non-school day (SUNDAY for example)

TEST 2

My Very Early Morning Jam Sandwich Usually Nauseates

People

MercuryVenus Earth Mars Jupiter

Saturn Uranus Neptune

Pluto

•Belief•Effort•Study•Timetable

WEBSITES

• http://www.revisionworld.com/• http://getrevising.co.uk/• http://www.revisiontips.com• BBC GCSE Bitesize• S-Cool• MyMaths.co.uk (username/password

available from teachers)