How do you support kids to revise?

Every year group in the school for the next few weeks will be completing end of year exams in all subjects here at the International School. I have been exploring with a group of students how do you revise? We discussed how do teachers and our parents support us to revise?

We then produced a document below which we have made available to all students across the school:

There are so many different ways of revising. The default technique, that most students adopt, is one of just reading their notes. This is a good starting point but is not necessarily effective as it isn’t active. It does work for the small minority of people who have a photographic memory but most of us are not that lucky!

• Re-reading the notes you have made in lessons. Don’t spend all of your revision time reading though. There are some far more effective methods like the suggestions below.

• Revision guides. You don’t need any more than one per subject.

• Copying out key points from your notes on to small revision cards.

• Creating index revision cards using lots of colour and key points.

• Create your own mind maps using colour and images that stick in the mind. You can then stick them up all around the house and revise them all the time such as when you are waiting to boil the kettle or sitting on the toilet!

• Make use of diagrams and flowcharts, etc. Draw your own diagrams so that you can remember them better than just the ones from a text book.

• Use mnemonics to help you remember certain patterns or sequences. A mnemonic is a way of helping you remember information using abbreviations, words or phrases.

• Make audio revision notes by recording your own using a laptop or computer. It is so easy to do and then you can download them to your iPod or MP3 player and revise on the way to school or anywhere and you will still look cool like you are listening to music but in fact you will be revising.

• Create your own interactive revision games, quizzes and on line flashcards.

• Write important words and phrases on sticky notes that can be stuck where they will see them every day, for example, on the walls or doors. They can also be used to make the revision more interactive as you can move them to a new section of the wall once you know them, etc.

• Get friends and family to test you on various parts and make it competitive with prizes, etc.

• Teach your friends and family what you have learnt – teaching others a topic each can be really effective, it reinforces what you have learnt and also helps your friends. Just make sure you are disciplined to do revision and then gossip in your breaks.

• As the exams get ever nearer, do practice using past papers.

• Visit websites such as http://www.s-cool.co.uk/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ and consult with other specific websites through the subject teachers.

If you have any other examples of how you revise please leave a comment and I will share it with the students or tweet it to #chickenrevision