How to revise

How to revise!

Remember!

•Different strategies work for different people

•Learning styles: – visual, – auditory, – kinaesthetic (practical)

You need to use a range of strategies!

What strategies can you use?

• Flash cards• Practice questions• Internet• Revising with / testing

friends• Labelled diagrams

• Writing notes• Writing lists• Underlining in notes• Star diagrams• Mind maps• Mnemonics

Writing notes

• It is better to rewrite notes than to simply read through work

• Don’t rewrite everything, you need to cut down on the amount of information

• Do make sure you have enough detail!

Summarise!

Writing lists

• Lists are a good way of remembering information or advantages / disadvantages for a topic

• Write lists as bullet points

• Use small pictures to help you e.g. SCHOOL UNIFORMS

Advantages Disadvantages

No pressure to wear the latest fashions

Lack of individuality

When writing lists…….

• If you use a colour (e.g. green for good and red for bad) use the same colours every time

• 5 points is a good number to remember

• Little drawings are a good way of helping you remember points, even a silly drawing will help!

Using numbers!

You may be able to remember numbers more easily than names. If this is the case try to put figures with points where you can.

E.g. ‘Higher salaries’ would become ‘Higher salaries, factory workers can earn 3 times the wages of farm workers’

Using labelled diagrams

• An excellent way to learn especially for visual learners!

Underlining in notes

• Its difficult to remember a page of notes if they are all the same font and colour

• Use colour / different sizes for heading / key points

• Underline key points or draw borders round them

like this!

• Use diagrams, lists and pictures to break up pages of notes

Mind maps

• Like a star / spider diagram but contains much more detail and demonstrates links between material more clearly

• Can have whole topic on A3 page

• World cup example

Revising with friends

ADVANTAGES:

can talk about the work

can test each other

easier to remember facts if spoken out loud

DISADVANTAGES

Too easy to talk about something more interesting instead!

Exam questions

1. Use past questions as you revise to make sure you have the notes / case studies necessary to get full marks

2. Test yourself under exam conditions

Mnemonics

• Use the first letter of a series of words to create another word

• The sillier the better! E.g. Chap rut (glacial erosional features)

C orrie R ibbon lake

H anging valley U shaped valley

A rete T runcated spurs

P yramidal peak

Revision cards

• Put separate topic / case study on each card

• Keep topics together

• Don’t try to put too much information on each card

Revision card example

Population pyramids

Transitional stage:

•Decreasing death rate

•Gradually decreasing birth rate

•Longer life expectancy

•E.g. Brazil

Practical learners

• Post-it notes

• Walk around

• Use the rooms space e.g. one side of the room for good points, the other side for bad points

• Make shapes with your hands

• Make something (a mobile, a tower)

Auditory learners

• Record your notes (and listen to them!)

• Speak aloud

• Tell someone else what you have learned

Visual learners

• Use pictures, video

• Use coloured pens / highlighters

• Remember white space

• Form a ‘mental picture’ to try to ‘see’ the whole topic e.g. First World War causes…. How do they all link together? How do they link with what happened next?

• Use mind maps

Other points!

• DON’T leave it all until the last minute

• Organise yourself

• Plan a revision timetable

• Take breaks when revision e.g. 5-10 minutes every hour

• If you are worried speak to someone!

Task!

Take the newspaper article and summarise the information using one of the methods outlined in this presentation.