Dealing With Revision

Use the notes frameworks I provide – they will direct your notes to the kind of questions you will face in your exam. But if it helps, jot absolutely central points onto index cards. Draw diagrams too if you find them easier to remember. They are particularly good to show how things link.

Allow time to practise under exam conditions. You don’t have to do all three questions – you only need a spare five minutes to try your hand at a Qa!

Things like key events, treaties, key words, etc could be written onto index cards with the word on the front, and the definition or a brief explanation on the back. Shuffle them and test yourself. Like I suggest below, you can make good use of friends and family too.

Put key words and phrases on sticky notes around your bedroom, so you’ll see them often.

Record yourself reading your notes – then play it as you head to school or in idle moments at home. It sounds a bit desperate but if it works ….

Make as much use as possible of past papers. Your teacher should have given you plenty (I have many, many years of them). If not, or you want more, you can get them off the internet. I would use them first to check whether your knowledge of a given topic is good enough. Jot down the points you would make to answer a question. If it looks good, and you could check it against your notes or a textbook, perhaps there is no need to revise that topic. If you are looking at a blank piece of paper, perhaps the need is urgent!

Don’t go it alone! Form a study group with friends – you are not in competition with each other, just the rest of the world! Use your family too. Put a copy of your revision timetable up in the kitchen. Get your family to test you on key facts. I offer short tests for each topic.

As the big day looms, decide whether you should refine your timetable. Focus on what you’re weakest on.

Finally, and I think this is so important, do be aware that nobody should go into an exam feeling they have revised enough (even when they have). So, don’t panic. And always remember, there is no such thing as a perfect answer which means a less than perfect answer can get you an A*!