Revision Techniques For Gcse And A-level

Even till this day I am still learning how to revise, however when I do revise, I always follow the following fundamental points.

- Space Repetition

- Active Recall

1. Space Repetition

- When one revises, they should always ensure they cover something again later on. If you cover something once in class, it is extremely unlikely you will remember it again in six months for the exam.

- This is where the space repetition graph comes in, it shows that the more times you cover a topic over a longer period of time, the better you will remember it and be able to recall it, search it up on google!

- An example of this is for my own studies, if I wanted to learn about the anatomy of the heart, I would cover it straight after the lecture, then cover it again in a few days, then cover it again in a few weeks, then in a month or two. This way, you are seeing it multiple times which is strengthening your memory of it, and it will not take as long to cover it since you have seen it before

- The fundamental point here is as well as learning new content, ensure you are still covering old content so everything stays in your head

2. Active Recall

- Always make sure your revision is active, not passive, if your brain switches off or you start day dreaming and not focusing on the topic at hand, you are not revising actively

- The way people revise actively is different for everyone, since we are all different personalities and have different brains!

- A few suggestions include, flash cards, speaking out loud, doing exam questions, revising with a friend (make sure you work!) or writing notes

- Ultimately, it is very unlikely you will find your revision technique the first time, it is more likely that you may try something and find you are not remembering much or it is not working, so you can go and try something else out, and keep doing this till you find a technique that works