Good Mock Advice to Year 11 and 13s -Ayoola O
“Revision is so last season” hmmm said by our very own Head boy! But Head Scholar (me) is here to counteract this preposterous view!
Mocks, are very much just around the corner, being exactly ten days away. This in many ways, is very scary and nerve-wracking thought to say the least because although it is not the real thing, it is the closest experience we are going to get before the real exams in May and June. This is why our English teacher has made us put our knowledge to the test by us teaching the content to the rest of the class (surely not a sign that he has run out of ideas?!). This is one revision strategy which has proved to be invaluable and is one of the best revision techniques. In this sense, you really want to put in your best effort and invest a lot of hard work and tenacity into them so you can have the most accurate and best reflection of where you truly are and where you want to be. Although I am no expert, I thought that I would give you some tips on how to best cope with the mocks and how to go about preparation.
1.) I think the first tip that I would offer is to treat the mocks as if they are the real exams. Hear me out, I know that they AREN’T the real thing but imagining and preparing for them as if they were has so many benefits in the long run. Putting as much effort and hard work, under the circumstances that are in front of you will mean that the grades that you get will truly reflect where you are at the moment. This true reflection and indicator is so valuable not necessarily in itself but in helping you to create a clearer path for the future and where you actually want to be. For instance, you could learn that you are almost there and need to spend more time learning a specific area or you may realise that your knowledge may have let you down, so you would now spend more time doing recall tests and quizzes to improve your knowledge. I think another benefit of applying this mindset is that doing as much revision and work now, (even regardless of the outcome) will make life so much easier in the near future. Take this as an opportunity to get to grips with the content so that it will feel so much easier when you are looking at it in preparation for the real mocks.
2.) Discipline: I think when it comes not only to revision but any form of important work, it is so important to be disciplined with yourself and with your time. Time is precious, and that is why it is so important to maximise your revision in the time that you have available. Balance is also crucial, being able to balance the time between work and play is something that we all as human are trying to master every single day, but I think it is important because as much as it may be tempting to work for long hours with no breaks or may be tempting to binge watch your favourite show on Netflix and put off your work, neither one is very productive. I think what has been proven to be more effective is to work in chunks with regular breaks in between. This break is not necessarily just a form of relaxation but enables your brain to process all the information that it is acquiring. Having (some form) of balance between small breaks and work will also allow you to be more productive when you are working as you are fully alert and focused rather half-awake and not alert as it turns into passive revision where you don’t retain as much and it effectively becomes a waste of time.
3.) Teach someone else the content and active recall: Following, Mrs Price and Mrs Izod-Miller’s Sixth Form Assembly on effective revision strategies, this proved to be placed as one of the most effective ways of revision. Normally the advice is alongside the lines if you can’t explain it to someone else than you don’t really know it yourself. Like Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Reciting key information out loud, is amazing for retrieval, allowing you to actively recall the information you learnt and process it. This retrieval method may be more important than passively re-reading your textbook but instead the test of trying to make someone else understand the content will assess how much knowledge you have actually retained in the long run and what areas of work you need to focus on next to remove the gaps in your knowledge.
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