Sunday 13 March 2016

10 Effective Revision Tips

10 Effective Revision Tips GCSE A level tips quick easy

REVISION- The word that's makes most people shudder with fear! Not going to lie, I kinda liked revising! I know, I know, who does this girl think she is! I actually kind of miss it now only doing an essay based course with no exam. kind of wish I could do some revision right now haha! 

I know I am not selling myself here and I sound pretty crazy but trust me with this one! I did alright in my GCSE's, as a result of doing so well it was pretty clear that the methods I used were pretty good! Just saying! I mean, it mainly just involved writing the textbooks out, again and again, sending my mother to Poundland every 5 minutes to buy some more refill pads but you know!

I presumed you guys have heard the famous, take breaks, eat healthy, drink lots of water, get a good nights sleep tips all before, so today I thought I would share 10 fully tested, by me revision tips are are guaranteed to get you an A* in no time! If you don't- please don't sue me! 


1. Listen to the SIMS soundtrack-
Right, I know this sounds really weird and before you start judging me ( I can feel you are judging me) it really works! If you can help it you are not supposed to listen to songs with words in as this affects your retention of the information you actually are  supposed to be taking in. Some suggest classical music but this sends me to sleep. The sims soundtrack ( and there is three on YouTube that worked well for me) has no words but is jolly and upbeat, to stop you falling to sleep amongst all that revision.  Plus they are all like three hours long, which gives you plenty of time, to cram in all those much-needed notes!

2. Pot of questions
I used to use this method a lot when I was revising GCSE RE. Because the exam was mainly made out of long answer questions,  I would copy the practice questions out of the book onto small bits of paper, fold them up and put them in the pot. Once I mixed them up I would pick one out and answer it! This is a great tool for group revision or when you have exhausted all the mock papers!

3. CGP revision guides
Now I don't know if CGP does revision guides for any other level of qualification but for GCSE they were an absolute lifesaver. The simple layout and bright and colourful pages made the information go in so much easier! Not to forget the cringy jokes! If you can get hold of them I totally would!! 

4. Wilko revision cards
Not just any revision cards...Wilko revision cards!  I love the ones that are joined together by a link at the top! They are only like a pound! Such a bargain! They are perfect for jotting down questions on one side and the answer on the other or quick short snappy facts that you need to remember! Yeah sure other shops sell them but none is as good as good old' Wilko!

5. Bright colours
Highlighters, gel pens, sharpies- it's basically an excuse to go on the biggest stationery splurge ever! But what the heck if it works, then do it! Basically, the main principle of this is if it is bright and colourful you are more likely to remember the information! This didn't always work for me bearing in mind! Sometimes no matter how hard to try some information will just need to be written out again and again.

10 Effective Revision Tips GCSE A level quick easy tricks



6. Look write cover check-
Something I am sure you are all very familiar with from school, probably even infant school! This method does work though and if I am honest 90% the reason that I got 6 A*'s at GCSE. I did this over and over again until I had a basic understanding of the facts I needed to know. Although not everyone will enjoy it- it is well worth a go!

7. Hegarty maths
I have always done foundation maths at GCSE until around March of year 11 when they decided that it would be better if I did higher maths! That meant teaching myself a whole new syllabus by myself! Without Hegarty maths, I wouldn't have passed!  Basically, this guy, who Is a maths teacher as well explains topics from the Edexcel and maybe the AQA papers for GCSE but he does it really simply!  He makes it clear through his explanations what you need to learn and he doesn't have a funny accent,  meaning that you can actually understand him! The best part of his videos is he gives you practice questions using real past paper exam questions.  You can pause the video, attempt them and then go through them! Doing- is the only effective way to learn in maths. You can check out this life saver of a guy HERE

8. Mock Exam Papers
This is kind of similar to the last point, in the sense that you are doing, however, this applies to all exams,  all subjects and all exam boards.  There are two ways you can get hold of past papers- 1. Print them off online which undoubtedly will cost you an arm and leg or 2. Try and nick them from school when you use them in lessons!  Which I never did.... Some schools may offer you chance to buy them, which is probably the best shout!

9. Get someone else to test you
I can't remember the actual stats but it has been proven that you learn so much more when you explain things to other people.  I know not everyone's families may be as willing but maybe a friend will! For all of my subjects, I made cue cards on the computer.  I simply used a 2x2 graph on PowerPoint and made it as big as the page which I then wrote all my key points of information on. Trust me, it works! My father was never as keen on this method, bless him! 

10. Make your own practice exam questions
So if you are anything like me and you have exhausted the real mock exam papers... make your own! For some subjects,  this works better than others.  For example, GCSE geography for AQA you have a set number of topics and for each topic you have lots of case studies. Say the case study about  rainforests has shown up before but one about deserts hasn't. Using the mock exams come up questions similar and you never know it might pop up in your exam. Exam boards are lazy, they don't tend to put much thought into their questions. Honestly, just do it- you will thank me later!!


What you doing? Why are you still here? You should have your head crammed into a book by now! GO! QUICKLY! Have fun guys!

I hope these little tips helped you. At the end of the day, they helped me and I did pretty well so....

How do you revise? Got any more tips you would love to share? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading, as always! 
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