Mock season can be tough, both for students sitting their examinations and for families trying to support their stressed-out teenagers. For year 11, the mock milestone is now complete, whilst Year 13s still have this rite of passage to look forward to on their return to school in January. Once done, it is time to reflect on learning and look for opportunities for improvement. This includes thinking about ways to improve the revision process to work smarter for the real examinations in the summer. If students can improve their approach, mocks should be a stepping stone towards a higher grade in the real thing.
What should students be thinking about?
Organisation
One of the keys to working smarter rather than harder is being organised. For all their examinations, students need to ensure they have:
Information about all their exam boards and specifications, allowing them to tick off the topics covered as they revise and master each area.
A clear understanding of what is covered in each of the papers they need to sit, with access to examples so grow familiar with the format.
Revision books and materials.
Having all the resources organised and ready allows students to have an overview of what needs to be achieved. Initially this can be overwhelming and seem as if there is a real mountain to climb. To make this all feasible within the timescale, students need a plan early on.
Revision Routines and Timetables
Teachers often repeat the adage that the revision process is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a marathon that needs the necessary training to develop stamina for the long build up to the final examinations. This means creating routines that help students get used to regular revision sessions from early on.
Signing up to subject development hour sessions is a no brainer. Whilst timetabled lessons will largely be focused on delivering the content to complete the specifications, the development hour help students review content and practise their revision skills.
Creating a revision timetable can be helpful and there are lots of templates and even apps that can help with this task. However, spending too much time perfecting a very detailed timetable can prove a poor investment of time. It can be difficult to know how long is needed for specific topics and failing to follow the timetable exactly can be demotivational for some students. Often a simple approach is useful. For example:
Nominate study time – a set time each day to complete revision and then allocate a different day for each subject, splitting between week 1 and 2. Initially this might simply be half an hour in addition to their usual homework. Makting it a regular routine is the key.
Make a list! – For each subject, make a list of tricky topics that need to be prioritised for revision and organise them into manageable chunks of work.
Ensure there is output – reading through material isn’t active revision. Students need to have some output. This could be making flash cards or mind maps or completing practice questions for example.
Revision Techniques
Advice on revision techniques is littered across academia. The truth is that everyone is different and what works for one student doesn’t necessarily work for another. The techniques that would be useful for different subjects can also differ widely. You will find the History department and the Mathematics department giving very different advice for their subjects for example. If students start their revision journey early, they have enough time to experiment with different techniques and find what works for them.
If students want to consider different approaches, Birmingham City University provides a useful page that highlights five techniques that can be useful and might be worth exploring. At the bottom of the page, it also has some links to useful advice for students with dyslexia and ADHD. Their website can be found here: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/exams-and-revision/best-ways-to-revise/best-revision-techniques
Motivation and Revision Stamina
One of the biggest barriers to overcome is the difficulty in maintaining motivation. How can parents help with this?
Revision stationery – whilst we have all embraced the iPads, many students prefer to go back to paper to create revision notes and materials. A bundle of fancy new pens and highlighters, a stack of fresh flash cards and a new Pukka pad can be surprisingly motivational for some students.
Parent praise – taking a supportive interest in the output of the revision can make a real difference. Admiring revision notes and encouraging them to show their teachers (where they will get more praise and perhaps some house points) all reinforces the feel-good factor to learning and can aid motivation.
Rewards – go a step further with the praise. If your son or daughter has been working hard, offer to take them to Starbucks for the latest elaborate Frappuccino or some other small reward that can feature regularly during their revision journey. Getting our teenagers out of the house as a break from their revision can also help reduce stress and allow them to clear their heads between revision sessions too.
Easter revision camps. For many students, the long Easter holidays can be a difficult period. It offers so much time for revision but studying independently for long periods can really test the motivation and even the best students can struggle with revision stamina. If students feel they are failing to use their time well, this can also build in feelings of guilt and failure, just when we need them to be building their confidence. If budgets allow, attending Easter revision camps can really help cover a lot of areas efficiently, as their expert teachers help guide them through the tricky topics and examination techniques. If you want to make bookings for our Easter revision camps, these can be found here: https://www.stjos.co.uk/easter-revision/
The St Joseph’s team work really hard to ensure that all students perform to their best. This includes subject teachers, Heads of Year, teaching assistants and learning support. As a St Jo’s Year 11 mum myself, I feel the worry of this critical stage of my daughter’s school years but feel reassured that #teamstjos have got her back. If you are worried about how revision is progressive or have concerns about understanding in a particular subject, do reach out to staff who will be keen to help.
I look forward to celebrating with you all on results day!
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