The Secrets to Revision- Molly N

Lifestyle Opinion School Molly N April 26, 2024 0 Comments

With GCSEs round the corner I can’t help but look back at last year when I was in the same position: concerned by the amount of stuff I should know but didn’t. Some topics I completely forgot we ever learnt! So for those struggling with revision, or just wanting to read something during P6 while you’re meant to be doing work, here are some top tips on how to successfully revise.

The first (and in my opinion, the most important) step is finding out what you don’t know. This provides the base for all your revision. For example, I made mind maps for most papers (e.g. Chemistry Paper 1) with very simple titles of what the topics were and vaguely involved. To find these topics I used OneNote page titles, Cognito (for science), booklets from teachers (e.g. history) or any document online about the paper (check it’s the right exam board!!!). This is basically for RAG rating, which some teachers provide resources for anyway.
Then highlight the topics you really struggle with (or had forgotten existed). With a different colour you may want to highlight topics you need to brush up on, but I would have highlighted everything so thought it might not be a good idea. And don’t worry if your page is just full of highlighter, you will fix that.
Pick one highlighted topic to start with.
Now for the actual revision… Flashcards are always useful but I tried to keep them as brief as possible e.g. for history I had ‘Munich Putsch’ on one side and then the date and short summary on the other. Or you can find some online- for Latin I used Latin Vocabulary Tester. Videos were also very helpful e.g. Dr Bruff for English. For sciences, Cognito was my holy grail!!! I did the lessons then answered the questions. For maths, I did some really simple questions on difficult topics then built up the difficulty. To remember specific things I often made acronyms.
DO PAST PAPERS! I know they take forever and are annoying, but do them! I found them particularly useful for maths because you notice the questions start to repeat themselves. For Spanish I did listening past papers because I found them the hardest (I also watched Netflix with Spanish audio and English subtitles, which I found really helped and was an excuse to watch Netflix!). You can access past papers online (e.g. Cognito or Physics and Maths tutor) or from your teachers.

Unfortunately I can’t guarantee all 9s, but this is what I did to get them so it might work for you too. The key is effective revision, not necessarily doing lots. And I know it seems obvious but check you’re using the correct exam board!!! Finally, don’t worry if you don’t know everything yet, you also have time between exams and during half term to revise.

Good luck!