GCSEs are just around the corner for year 11, whilst mocks are looming for year 10s. This can be a stressful time - you have never experienced formal exams like GCSEs and therefore you don’t know what to expect. And on top of that, the pressure to revise for every subject adds a heavier load to your day, especially when you don’t know how to revise. It took me ages to perfect a way of revising, and I found different methods worked for different subjects; once I had revised regularly (little and often), I felt not only did I have more free time on the weekends, but I felt more confident with what I was learning. There are many different methods of revision, each suiting different people and subjects. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck or need a little help, here are some ways of revision I found helpful:
1. Mindmaps
Mindmaps were useful for me to summarise what I already knew as well binding key points I would need to know. Before starting revision (maybe once a week), give yourself ten minutes to make a mind map consisting of how much you remember from the topic you are revising (I found this very useful with English Literature quotations). You could also make mindmaps of key information to read and test yourself on each day - I would recommend this method for science. However, overall I found that by making mindmaps once every few days with quotations from different texts and characters, my knowledge and bank of quotes for English Literature was consolidated and therefore improved.
2. Flashcards
Another useful technique is flashcards, I found this effective for theory subjects like science and geography, which required key information rather than subjective data or work like English. Get your parents or an elder to test you on your flashcards twice a week, you may find you are more motivated with someone like a parent or carer as opposed to a friend. However, it is always useful to test each friends or students who study the same subject as you, as you can help each other and bounce ideas from one another.
3. Tables of Information
For subjects like history, I found that condensing my notes into very short, summarising bullet points containing only key dates, individuals and events to remember were good to store in a small table. For example, for each period in history, I would make a very small table containing only dates and names to ensure I knew supporting details that I could use for evidence. It is important that these tables are small and only contain vital details (I recommend only names and dates), as this works best for subjects which contain case studies or have evidence based exam questions. Read over these, and like the flashcards, get someone to test you on it. Or alternatively, you could combine this with the mindmap method and see how much you remember from the table at the end of the week.
4. Talk
Some lessons can be challenging, whether you struggle with the content or do not enjoy it, it’s hard to find motivation. I found that I struggled motivating myself to do science revision, as I really hated the subject. So, I would sit down with my dad and my revision book and he would help with content I wasn’t understanding, or in areas I really lacked enjoyment. This didn’t have to be at home, I would often utilise my train journeys to football to do an extra hour of revision, instead of scrolling on my phone for an hour. By utilising any moment where you would be bored or just on your phone mindlessly scrolling, you can be productive and complete one extra hour of revision, leaving yourself a more relaxed weekend or evening. Of course, it is important to have downtime - so not every spare moment has to be filled with revision!
5. Past Papers
I also found it helpful to both attend intervention and have 1-on-1 meetings with my subject teachers to help push me. Probably my most useful method of revision was by completing one past paper for each subject a week, and arranging a thirty minute meeting with my teacher to sit down and discuss how I could improve and reach the next grade. This was definitely helpful for the core subjects of Maths, Science and English, where it helped me climb more grades due to independent work and teacher help. Sometimes it’s not even help you need, it may be reassurance to know that you’ve done the paper before and you got a good mark, so you know you can replicate that in the exam without panicking. It also gets you used to exam conditions, where you are not completing papers with your notes and relying on your friends. Allow yourself the length of the paper - eg 1 hour 45 minutes for English (and extra time if you are illegible) - with your phone in a different room and any distractions out of the way. Imagine you are in the exam hall, and try and replicate those conditions to ensure that when it comes to your exams, you are familiar with the conditions and environment of it, making you therefore feel less uncomfortable.
Those are the five main ways I revised for my GCSEs and the ones I found most helpful, however there are plenty more ways, and each differ in favorability based on the person. Another useful way is listening to podcasts or watching short YouTube videos, however I didn’t feel like this helped for me as I found myself getting distracted regularly.
Most importantly, if you need help revising, or have any worries or concerns about your exams, speak to your parents and teachers. They can always help you, whether its worrying about confusing content or worrying about the exams themself, the teachers have templates and resources that they can provide you with to ensure you go through the exam season as worry-free as you can.
By Grace Wells
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