Year 11
Study Skills / Revision
How to prepare properly for
your exams!!
Some Encouragement
A number of teachers have spoken at our Year
11 Study Skills sessions on Thursdays about
good revision skills.
They have all shared stories of their own
school days and how much they struggled with
certain subjects – often the subject that they
now they now teach!
Where Are We??
Friday 16th January
Monday 11th May
RE Exam!!
How Long to Go????
16 WEEKS
13 WEEKS IN SCHOOL
HALF-TERM:
13th – 23th FEBRUARY
EASTER HOLIDAY:
27th MARCH– 13th APRIL
Payback!!!
Most of you will complete your
exams by Wednesday 10th June
PARTY TIME!!!!
In the meantime.......
Starting Points
• Be positive! Even if you have not
worked as hard as you could have
done so far, it is not too late.
• Get organised and stay in control!!
Hard Work!!
It will require hard work to succeed.
RED ALERT!
Please do not be influenced by
somebody who claims to have done
no work, or somebody who always
misses homework deadlines.
To put it simply......
• Do not be negative about what you think
you can achieve.
• Revising thoroughly and receiving the help
and support of the people around you will
make all the difference.
• So, do not tell yourself you “can’t do it
anyway” – that is just opting out!!
What are the Big Questions
for Now?
Do you have a copy of your Exam
Timetable?
(On School Website – Curriculum – Exam Dates 2014/15)
Are your Subject Folders / Notes
organised? Are you missing important
notes?
Are you aware of Syllabus Content / Key
Topics?
Stating the Obvious
• Be present in school! You need to be
here over the revision period.
• Listen in class and complete all your class
and homework to the best of your ability.
• Make sure that your coursework is
completed on time and, again, to the
best of your ability.
• IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO COMPLETE
COURSEWORK / PRACTICAL PROJECTS
SOON – DO SO.
Create a Revision Timetable
• There is a template on the school website
for you to use.
• By making an Action Plan you are in charge
of your work and more likely to stay in
control.
• Be specific: don’t just write in ‘maths’ – write
in ‘maths, algebra’, for example.
• Remember that all ongoing homework will
also be relevant to final exams
Revision Timetable
• At this stage smaller amounts of revision are
likely to succeed – do not be too ambitious.
• Aim to do 15 minutes revision each on two
subjects per night for four of the five week
days (= 8 slots)
• Or devote more time to subjects where you
have greater difficulty or that have a higher
amount of content.
Revision Timetable
• Use time at the weekend to review your
revision through the week – 5 minutes on
each topic = 20 minutes on Saturday and 20
minutes on Sunday)
• This review is crucial – it will embed your
understanding
• Use weekends and holiday periods
effectively (4 hour sessions per day – see
revision booklet on website)
Note Well!
• Do not overstretch yourself! This will lead to
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exhaustion and an increase in anxiety.
Plan ahead, taking account of your other
commitments.
Plan a week at a time - review and adapt.
Do not abandon the revision timetable if it
does not work at first.
Do not spend endless hours rewriting your
timetable!
Revision Techniques
One of he most effective methods is
condensing your work into:
• Flash cards / Bullet points
• Mind Maps / Spider grams
• Visual cues
• Voice recording
Use your condensed notes for your
REVIEW sessions
By changing the format from the
original into a form that suits you,
you are giving your brain the best
chance of processing the
information.
Poem: Refugee Blues - Notes
• Form : blues song – sad lyric – regular rhythm –
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repeated pattern – refrain
Speaker – refugee to a loved one
Contrast throughout
Ideas: Exclusion – Hostility – Barriers – Fear –
Inhumanity – Intolerance
Imagery – “thunder” – “doors” – “windows” nature
Direct speech – powerful impact
Give yourself the best chance you
can.
• Attend revision classes offered by your teachers
• Ask for help!
• Avoid the temptation to focus on what you are
good at or what you most enjoy. We all do this to
make ourselves feel successful - it is human nature.
• Make sure you devote extra time to those areas
you find more difficult and, possibly, less
interesting.
Give yourself the best chance you
can.
• Revise in a quiet environment.
• Close the door.
• Ask your friends not to call, text or contact you on
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social media.
X-Box – NO!!!!!! Time consuming.
Tell your brothers and sisters to stay out!
Eat, drink and sleep well.
You brain needs and uses energy and burns
calories. So feed it!
Give yourself the best chance you
can.
• Complete practice papers. Your teachers will
be only too happy to mark them and give
you advice.
• Work on exam technique as a key part of
your exam preparation, especially:
• Time management
• Reading and answering questions properly
Give yourself the best chance you
can.
Use post-it notes, strategically placed around
your home, to remind you of tricky facts.
This is a good place…
You need to choose places you go to
regularly!!
Finally…..
“Minimum effort brings minimum
results”
“The harder I work, the luckier I get”