• Question: what was your revision strategies for your gcse's

    Asked by anon-208742 to Tori, Titus, Stuart, Hannah, Gill, Alessandro on 4 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-208867.
    • Photo: Gill Harrison

      Gill Harrison answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      My revision strategy was not really very effective back in the days when I did my exams.

      Now I would have a timetable, to keep focused. I’d review what I’d learnt & keep checking how much I could remember of topics I’ve already been working on, then move onto a new topic. Repetition, checking, practising questions / exam papers / quizzing myself helps identify what you don’t really understand, so that you can ask your teacher or look it up & hopefully remember it better.

      I’d use mindmaps to draw / note key points (definitely would not re-write my notes out over and over again in the same way), then see how much i could remember, by re-drawing a mindmap and explaining the concepts / ideas / issues out loud. Again testing myself using past exam questions and anything else I can find.

    • Photo: Tori Blakeman

      Tori Blakeman answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      1. Make a revision timetable that starts at least 3 months before your first exam. (Start with just 1 hour in the evenings Mon-Fri, then up the time you spend revising as the exam gets closer. Plan time to go to the local library with your friends, as this makes it more fun. You might be eligible to access your local university library through SCONUL too – https://www.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access)

      2. Review work learned in lessons and make comprehensive revision notes (This takes a long time. This is your chance to completely review everything you’ve learned in class).

      3. Make flashcards on each topic. Questions on one side of the card, answers on the other. Then get friends/family to help test.

      3. Go through past papers. At first, just tackle one question at a time. Try the question, then look at the mark scheme straight away. The next time you do the paper, try the whole paper without the mark scheme, then mark at the end.

      4. Review your revision notes and make more notes/diagrams on bits you need more focus on. (My parents’ dining room used to be FULL of fun diagrams and definitions for months. This is a good way to always see your revision every day…even when you’re eating your breakfast!)

      5. Repeat flashcards, repeat past papers, review notes, get friends/family to test you!

    • Photo: Hannah Dalgleish

      Hannah Dalgleish answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Flash cards! Lots and lots of flash cards. And repetition. Try going through all the flash cards at least once a day and get family/friends to quiz you.

    • Photo: Titus Mutwiri

      Titus Mutwiri answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      I did not do GSCE in my country Kenya but for its equivalent I made sure that I do not wait for the last days of assessment to start revising. Each day was revision day for me and this reduced the pressure during the eve of examination/ assessment. This also helps one to understand and ask critical questions over time as opposed to quick memorizing.

    • Photo: Stuart Higgins

      Stuart Higgins answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      Lots of flash cards, writing up summaries of what I’d learnt, big calendar on the wall with all the times diarised with when I was going to revise what and when the exams were. CGP guides, plus downloaded all the papers from previous years and did those, worked with friends and tested each other, started early (well, tried to start early, it always felt like I’d left it too late).

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