As Y11 begin to prepare for their exams in the summer, it is vital that they feel confident and well equipped with all the necessary knowledge and skills needed to perform well in their exams.  More importantly, they need to know how to manage their time wisely, effectively and productively, creating a revision schedule that enables them to revisit topics in all subjects more than once, as well as build in time for relaxation, including socialising with family and friends.

The secret is to be systematic, think long term and not leave everything to the last minute when everything piles up and panic sets in because they feel overwhelmed by everything they now realise they’ve got to do.

In tutor times, we’ve been focusing about how to learn good revision habits and create a practical and achievable revision plan.  In all subjects, we are providing guidance and opportunity for students to learn how to revise and this will continue from now until they leave.

As you know, many subjects are already offering revision sessions and pupils are welcome to attend independent study sessions in the library until 4:45 Monday – Thursday.  It’s all about just getting started and below are some resources we would like to share with students and parents alike that offer practical and informative tips about the importance of revision and how to do it.

One of the most useful resources we would like to share with you comes from The Learning Scientists, who tell us of the six evidenced informed approaches to studying, that help students revise.  These approaches are underpinning much of the work we are doing with Y11 in lessons.  They are:

• Elaboration- explaining ideas in detail
• Retrieval practice- practise ‘remembering’ what you’ve been taught
• Spaced practice- spacing out your studying over time
• Dual coding- combining pictures and words to help you remember things
• Interleaving- switching between the topics that you study, rather than doing big chunks of the same topic for long periods of time
• Concrete examples – using specific examples to understand abstract ideas.