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Make a plan.
Work out how long you have until your exam, how much you need to cover before it, and how long that will take you. For GCSE revision you might be doing about 30 -50 hours of work for each subject – no small task!
Get all the resources you need;
Revision guides, question books, practice papers, folders, coloured paper, card, small note cards, coloured pens, and blue-tack!
Create a habit.
Habits are very powerful and the sooner you can get into a ‘good’ one the better. For instance, some people always do their revision after school, or put aside Sunday to do it, or whatever, but make one and then you’ll make doing the work easier for yourself. Hey, anything that makes work easier is a good thing, right?!
Use technology.
There are a lot of great websites which have games, tests and revision notes you can use. Try making powerpoint presentations for your work or use the ‘text effects’ button in a word document to make it more appealing. Use an online diary to help you plan your revision.
Do your revision at a time of day that suits you.
Think; are you a morning person or do you work better straight after school? Maybe you work best in the evening once you’ve had a break?
Learn about revision styles;
Do you prefer having things explained to you and talking things through with people? Or do you prefer to make posters and mind-maps? Perhaps you prefer to make card games and do ‘activities’ where possible to help you learn. Take the learning styles quiz on ‘downloads’ and learn how you learn.
Reward yourself!
If you’re working hard you’ll need something to look forward to at the end of each stage. Make a list of things you enjoy; things that don’t take long, things that take longer, things that don’t cost anything and things that cost something. Give yourself a reward at every stage, maybe after every practice paper or completed set of revision notes.
Ask your parents for help.
You’ll be surprised how helpful they can be! They don’t have to be good at a subject themselves to ask you questions from a book, or test you from your own revision questions. They can probably have a go at marking your essays too. Just ask!
Drink water!
Have a bottle handy to hydrate your brain at all times. A small drop in hydration leads to a big drop in the ability of your brain to function well.
Remember that you do get another chance.
Sometimes life just gets in the way so don’t put yourself under excessive pressure to do it now, you can re-take later. However, it may be more difficult to retake your exams once you’re doing other courses, like your ‘A’ levels. Maybe you’ve left school altogether and you have to go back to college to do your maths, that might be worse than putting the effort in now!
If you feel like you need some more help on revision or getting your homework done or another studying skill then ‘contact me’ and we can arrange for you to have 1 or 2 coaching sessions with one of our tutors to help get you on the right track for school success!
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