People don't get taught how to learn, if you have - you are ahead of the game! With Exam season creeping, revision can be a struggle. Exams may not seem urgent enough to feel the need to take real action. You may be in year 12 or year 10 - thinking
'I've got ages...'
Let me tell you,
you really haven't.
Revision is the one thing that students have to take responsibility for. At the end of the day, it's you that sits the paper and you that gets the grade. It's a personal experience where you truly tailor your learning for yourself. I don't mean to scare you, but you have ultimate control over what you do now. That's the best possible position to be in. Only you really know what topics you're struggling on, and only you can do something about it.
After listening to 'The Wooden Spoon' about being proactive compared to reactive. It's important to be proactive when it comes to your revision techniques to be able to stride forward and reach optimum.
Tasks instead of time
A typical revision day for me is not based on the hours I work, although it's a really good guide - instead my day is based on tasks that I want to get through. It gives me a sense of achievement and allows me to feel satisfied that I've done something productive. It can also be a little less intimidating. 3-5 tasks of set work for myself sounds a little bit sweeter than 5-8 hours of work.
I also keep a 'daily folder' filled with different booklets of questions, tasks and homework so I can get on with it efficiently. Carrying this folder allows me to spend more time doing and less time thinking about what I should do.
Excel Flashcards
We all know flashcards are great for revision, it definitely helped me through my GCSEs and allowed me to get creative with them, but once you hit A-levels; the amount of information dumped on you is exponential. It would definitely take me more than two years to write out flashcards for every topic for my subjects. This is why I love excel sheet flashcards.
Here's how I set up my excel flashcards:
Open up an excel sheet for said subject
Write in cell A1 'Question' - this column is what would be the front of the flashcard
write in cell B1 'Answer' (this would represent the back of the flashcard)
Now write down all the kind of questions to test yourself on down the 'A' column
Compliment these questions with the correct answers down the 'B' column
note: within an excel sheet, you can make more sheets along the bottom of the page, I use this tool to create more sheets specific to each topic.
When you want to test yourself, change the font colour of the answers to white, and simply go through each question to yourself. To log what you have done and how well you answered the question - in the next column, fill this with the appropriate colour of how you felt you answered it. I use the traffic light system (green for correct, orange/yellow for nearly, and red for wrong). By doing this traffic light system, the next time you answer the same question, you can clearly see if you did better or worse.
I also like to date when I answered the set of questions. I'll delve into why I do this in the next paragraph.
Pros and Cons
Now this technique won't work for everyone. It can depend on various things like your subject, your learning style, how consistent you are with these flashcards.
But here are reasons why I love this way of learning.
All my flashcards are in one place and are portable (with a device),
No need to have 50 million flashcards weighing you down, when you can just take your laptop/phone with you to answer quick questions on the go, in a study period or during planned revision time. (there is an excel app you can get on your phone)
Quicker to make
Without a doubt, I've saved so much time when making these documents. Flashcards would take me hours to make. I like to write up my questions as I review the topic after being taught it in the lesson. I'm learning why making notes - a form of active learning apposed to passive learning.
There's a backspace button!
Every time I'd make flashcards, I'd be a bit obsessed about making them look pretty and perfect, one mistake would lead to completely start the flashcard again and wasting time. With this excel sheet, it's easy to edit and correct anything.
Logging is life
Being able to log how well I did for a question through visual tools allows me to quickly see which questions to focus on. Reducing wasted time, because time is so precious. Putting the date down of when you answered the questions allows you to see what topics you haven't reviewed in a while - therefore you can priorities what to go over.
Here are some Cons I have found with this method
Creative block
Each cell will look almost the same and can look very systematic. You can't really draw pretty pictures or make it look creative. However, this is only a con if you like doing that kind of thing. Some people may prefer a systematic way of learning.
You have be organised and committed
If you fail to keep the logs up, you won't reap the full benefits of this method. So try and stay persistent. No-one said it's going to be easy, but stick with it.
Active Recall
Active recall is embedded within this revision technique to help your brain make stronger connections with information, therefore helping you remember the knowledge long term rather than short-term. Active recall in this sense is when you recite the answer without looking at it. This is more effective than passively reading the text and it really does test whether you know it or not.
Space Repetition
The idea of space repetition has been researched and proven - if done well you'll be able to transfer your short-term knowledge into long term. An example of how you can implement space repetition could be:
first day - you learn the content. You go over it maybe 3-4 times during the day, until you can recall the information without forgetting anything.
You may recall again the next day. Then recall again 3 days from the last time you did it.
Then recall in a weeks time.
Then recall in a 2 weeks time.
Then recall in a months time.
When I say 'recall' this is testing yourself without looking at the answers. A way of active recalling is answering the excel questions made or doing a 'knowledge dump' on a piece of paper - to increase the pressure, time yourself or set a time limit. This will put yourself in exam mode. Creating a timed environment. Once you've recalled as much as you can, stop the timer and go back over your work with a different colour pen and fill in the gaps - referring to your answers.
A lot of these revision techniques may make you feel uncomfortable - especially the timed aspect of things. However, it should make you more confident in the knowledge you know and hopefully you can apply at least one of these methods to your revision.
Good luck my friends, feel free to message me via Instagram - if you have any other questions or queries.
You've got this.
Simone
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