How do I revise sheet
- 1. How can I revise? Association: Link new knowledge to existing information and topics and create vivid personal examples which act as 'mental hooks' or 'cues' for recalling material in the future. 1. Mind maps - good for remembering topics and sub-topics. Imagine a Mind map is like a giant Spider’s Web with all the ideas around it. The spider (or main idea) is in the middle and everything is around it. The most important ideas are in the middle and the sub-topics go out further and further. 2. Concept maps Now imagine that Spider’s Web falling down and turning it into some kind of weird chain with the words concept map on it. The spider can go backwards and forwards and around so he knows how ideas connect, but there are no sub-topics. Mnemonics: Mnemonics help you to remember by using short words that stand for something to help you. Here is a Mnemonic for REVISION. Rest Exercise Variety Imagination Structure Individual Ongoing Not too long Make lists: 1. Bullet point them Or 2. number them Or 3. letter them According to what suits you best. Numbers will definitely suit those who are more comfortable using their left/logical, side of the brain. Chunking: This breaking up a big piece of information into smaller chunks rather like steps in a ladder. It can be used for numbers and words. Often students use Bullet points to break up information. Try to remember this by breaking it up into chunks: The average person can take in four numbers or words at a time, can concentrate on revision for a maximum of 45 minutes at a time and remembers information best shortly before bedtime. Chunked: Remember 4 words/numbers at a time Revision max 45 minutes. Remember best before bedtime Reading Out Loud: Read your revision notes out loud to a particular rhythm – this could be set by music playing in the background or tapping your foot or by walking calmly and steadily. This is a sort of walk and talk. Cards: Two ways to practice with cards: 1. Put the answers on the back, but you will need to remember more at once before you check OR 2. Use a piece of paper and move down to reveal answers as you guess the contents. These techniques are very useful for checking that you know key facts. Visuals: Make good use of drawings /diagrams in your revision. Use different colours. Replace key words /ideas /people/places with pictures. Create and put posters up around your home. Underlining: As you read through the work in your exercise book underline key words. You could come up with a predicted list before you start or you could make a list of the key words at the end. You could underline in different colours, patterns or lines like wiggly, thick etc. Use Colour: Your brain just adores colour and will remember things much more easily if you use it. For example, put all the important words in red, the important concepts in green, important dates in purple etc.
- 2. Magenta Principles: Do something different with your exercise book notes. Reduce it Change it Assemble it Search for it Connect it Arrange it Enlarge it Simplify it Classify it Compare and contrast it Deconstruct it Apply it Prioritise it Act it out By rote: Learning by rote is simply reading the text over and over until you remember it. It is the most basic kind of revision, but without the help of other techniques may not be very effective and it can be very boring. Q & A: Devise questions and answers about a topic for other people and quiz each other. Post-its: Write information on post-it notes and place them on the wall, door, large sheets of paper etc. You can then rearrange them according to a variety of ideas: Group various things together Organise them into what you know and don’t know – rearrange as you learn more Follow trends or themes Record yourself: Make a recording of yourself to revise from using your phone or voice software on your computer. 1. It could be you reading your notes out loud. 2. It could be you singing your notes. 3. It could be you reading and then stopping to summarise what you have read (key words, ideas, phrases, quotations) Or 4. Asking questions on what you have covered. 5. Listen to the recording as you lie in bed, walk to school, travel on the bus. Preview – Question – Read – Review your notes and revision book pages P = Preview Give your notes / revision book a quick skim (2-3 minutes), trying to get an overview of key points. Look for section headings, illustrative charts and diagrams, signposts or key words. Don't start highlighting text at this point. Q = Question This is the key to active learning. Look for answers to the basic questions of "Who?", "What?", "Where?", "Why?" and "When?" Identify the main theme or learning point of the notes / textbook page. R = Read Now read your notes / textbook page carefully, with these questions in mind. Your mind will be actively looking for answers as you read. Work with a pen and paper, make brief summary notes, look for 'topic sentences' that summarise the most important point in a paragraph or section and highlight them, if necessary. Vary your reading speed - move quickly over lighter, less important material and slow down when you come to a difficult section. R = Review Always check your understanding of the material by reviewing and testing your recall before putting the text away. Look at the notes you have taken and check that they answer your initial questions. Summarise your findings from this study session. Loci: It involves thinking about a journey that you know well and the landmarks along the way. You then add in images to help you remember information. (They do not have to be famous, but things that you notice as you go by.) Example: When revising you could do the following: 1. Read through your books 2. If you do not understand something ask somebody. 3. Now choose the memory tricks that work best for you 4. Create posters to help you to organise information 5. Create cards with key points and practice 6. Use past papers to practice answering questions Now let us take a journey from Newport Bridge to Macmillan Academy. 1. On the bridge itself you see a huge book 2. You reach the large roundabout and see your teachers, parents and friends. 3. You see the houses on the left and there is a magician performing magic tricks. 4. On a billboard on the fence of Macmillan you see a huge poster with your revision on it. 5. As you walk into the gate you see a huge pile of cards. 6. When you arrive into the canteen you see test papers set out for you on all the tables.
- 3. Other ideas that you may have come across during your geography lessons that are good activities for revision too. QUIZ QUIZ TRADE 1. Write 10 questions for a topic. 2. Attempt the questions without looking at your notes or doing any revision. 3. Then mark your answers by looking through your notes. Identify how many you got correct and this is your starting point. 4. Do something with the information learned e.g. Teach your parents, make a crossword, read it aloud, write an exam answer using the information etc… 5. Re-do the questions again but in a different order. How many did you get correct this time? What am I? Design a set of clue cards for different key terms or case studies which you can then get your parents, friends or family to use to test you. You could have these as simple one sentence clues or graduated into levels e.g. 5 levels, first clue the hardest and the last clue the easiest. Find someone who? If you are struggling with a topic write down the questions you cannot answer and find someone else who is studying geography who can answer the question, this could even be your teacher. Splat Write down a series of key terms or facts onto a sheet of paper. These are the answers, now write down the questions that match these answers. Then either; 1. Get a parent to say aloud the statement and you have to splat the key term as quick as you can and someone times you. 2. Play with a friend who is also studying geography and get a parent / family member to say aloud the statement and then compete against your friend to be the first one to splat the correct answer. Write the mark scheme to the question 1. Look at past papers and apply your knowledge of mark schemes by writing the mark scheme for the question to work out what detail and information you should include in the exam answer. 2. Check this against the real mark scheme. 3. Then write the exam answer. Listen, read and recall task 1. Play this in pairs with someone else who is revising the topic. 2. Read through a specific section of your notes and make a table with the key points from the notes in it. 3. Then recall to a friend as much as you can of what you have read and they tick off the key points that you tell them. See how many key points you remembered. 4. Swap turns. You now listen to your friend recall what they can remember and you tick off on their table how much they recall. 5. Swap a further 2 times. 6. Then use the key term table to rewrite in your own words the notes that are in your exercise book on the topic. Word cloud Make a word cloud (using www.wordle.co.uk) to summarise the key terms used in a given topic you are revising. Ready, steady, teach… Use materials e.g. play dough, beads, string, pasta etc… to make models of landforms or processes that you are revising. Then use the model to teach your parents, a family member or friend about the landform or process. You could record yourself doing this and then play it back to remind yourself of the key points. Key term cards 1. Make yourself a set of key term cards using index cards. 2. On one side write the key term and on the other write the definition. 3. Play in a pair or group. 4. Place the cards key term side up. Select a card and give the definition of the key term. If it is correct you turn the card over, if not it stays as it is. The next person than selects a key term and attempts to define it and so on… 5. Once all the cards have been turned over so they are definition side up, then repeat the process but this time read the definition and you have to say what the key term is. Quizlet Use Quizlet on line to test your key term knowledge and understanding. Make a flipbook Use post it notes and make a flipbook to draw the stages involved in the formation of a landform. Connect 4 Make yourself a grid with questions in it (have the answers ready too). Play in a pair and the aim is for you to get 4 questions in a row on the grid correct. If you get an answer wrong you lose your turn. Headlines Turn your case studies into a series of engaging headlines to remind yourself of the topics and questions the case studies relate to. Tweet it Summarise the key points of a topic or case study as a tweet (so as 140 characters) or a series of tweets. Learning as a recipe Write a recipe for the knowledge you have to know for a specific landform or process e.g. coastal spit or bar formation. Draw a cartoon sketch Draw a cartoon sketch or storyboard of the topic you are learning to consolidate your understanding in a visual way. Paper chains Create a paper chain. Each link must have a key word on it. You then explain to a friend / family member what each link is and how it relates to the next link in the paper chain. Come dine with me Create a summary for the topic you are studying on a paper plate. Cheat cards Pretend that you can cheat by putting the key points of a topic on a small index card. Limited space means you only write the most important things. Talk-Listen- Repeat Face a partner and talk on a subject for 30 seconds. Now swap. Repeat trying to get more key words into the 30 seconds without looking at your notes.