How to Revise Like an A* Student
So, you want to revise like an A* student? Why not become an A* student (yes, it’s totally possible). Revision can be a bore but it doesn’t have to be difficult. If you’ve ever heard of the ‘compound effect’ you’ll know that small, consistent actions add up to BIG results. It works the same way with revision. Cramming is not the most effective method but following these steps will guarantee progress in all your subjects.
Colour Code Topics
Use RAG sheets to work out your areas of weakness. This will help you to focus on areas that really need work rather than redoing topics you find easy or exciting. Of course, it’s good to practise everything, but the focus needs to be on the subjects you need to improve on. Colour coding provides a visual aid to those topics that need a little bit of work and others you need to really focus on. Find some RAG sheets here (more on the way!).
Work on Areas of Weakness
After you’ve completed your RAG sheets, you need to put in the work! It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes (they are the best way of learning, after all), but try your best until you start seeing results. If you’d like some guidance with your studies or an action plan, book an appointment here.
Condense your Notes
Paraphrasing chapters of textbooks can be a useful exercise, as long as you’re processing the information and only noting down key words, phrases, and concepts. There is no use copying down chapters upon chapters, because you won’t be doing any real thinking. Paraphrase your notes and try to condense them to one A4 page per textbook chapter. This is also a useful exercise for summarising plots of novels and plays.
Teach Someone Else
Teaching a topic to your friend or family member is a great way to see if you understand it. This works even better if you’re teaching it to somebody who doesn’t already know much about the subject, since they are likely to ask questions to clarify concepts. You don’t need to plan a whole lecture for this, but try explaining topics in 5-10 minutes. If you find yourself struggling to explain something, revise it some more.
Compound your Revision
Small but consistent steps are the key to success in anything. Adding an extra half an hour study session after every school day once you’ve finished your homework just to look over one topic will add up to approximately 97.5 hours! Pick topics in your amber or red list from your RAG sheets and focus on learning them. Some useful revision exercises are:
Paraphrasing notes from the textbook (remember to keep to one A4 page per chapter)
Flashcards of key subject terminology or formulae
Diagrams of methods or key notes
Mind-maps for themes or key topics
Re-reading and annotating of notes
Watching educational videos about topics you don’t understand
Teaching someone else what you’ve learned
Practice questions and papers
Know the Assessment Objectives
I talk about this one a lot on this site, but Assessment Objectives are really the secret key to exam success. They are essentially a checklist of aims that the examiner wants to see you fulfil, so use them to your advantage. Have a look at the Assessment Objectives and the weightings for each exam / question to help you figure out which areas require focus on which objective. The RAG sheets have been derived from topics and Assessment Objectives, so ensuring you reach a confidence level of green (and the results during practice papers to prove it) for as many as possible means you’ll be in good standing when it comes to sitting your exams.
Test Yourself
As I’ve mentioned before, none of the above skills will really matter unless you can put them into action. Writing practice essays, papers, and questions will help you to gauge what to expect from each exam and which areas you need to focus on to improve. If you’re unsure where you need to focus your learning, book our Action Plan service today or if you’d like detailed marking and feedback for an exam or extended essay question, you can book here.
