Revision and Exams
Your exams and the results you achieve will have a huge impact on the opportunities that will be open to you moving forward. Within this section we will be giving some hints and tips on how to handle Revision, the Exams themselves and also the inevitable results, whether good or bad.
Revision
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” - Benjamin Franklin
This is a very true statement, those students that do not set aside time to revise for their exams are not going to achieve the best results they can, at most they will coast through the exam, at worst they will fail. The following tips will help you when working through your revision:
- Plan your revision time in advance, don’t leave it to the last minute as this will only cause stress, which will cause your mind to fail to work as effectively. Not what you need during an exam.
- Create a timetable for all your subjects, making time for revision at home. This is a great way to ensure you give equal time to all your subjects and stay on track. Remember it is never too early to start revising, creating your plan at the start of the course is a great way to keep on top of your revision.
- Think about how you like to revise, we are not all the same some work better on their own, while others will be better working with a friend. Do you prefer to have short sessions, or really get stuck in with longer session? It is your revision, it needs to suit you, or you will not end up doing it.
- Make sure that you have planned breaks in your revision timetable, this is to help you refresh and to prevent the loss of concentration.
- You need to ensure that you sleep well, ideally getting 8 hours sleep a night. This will ensure that your mind is completely refreshed, and therefore ready to take in the information and keep it there.
- Eat well, a good diet has been proven to help concentration when it comes to study and exams.
- Carry out some moderate exercise, this can help to keep your mind clear, relieve stress and increase confidence.
- Avoid distractions during your planned revision sessions, tell family and friends that you are revising and need to be left alone, turn off your mobile, log out of Facebook etc.
Knowing where to start or testing yourself may sometimes be difficult, for that reason there are a number of resources available to help you with your revision. The following websites are great at providing general revision advice and guidance.
| Website | How can it help? |
|---|---|
| www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/advice/studying_work /school_studying |
This site has tips relating to the basics of revision along with a section called Blitzing Exams. |
| www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize | Provides a subject by subject revision guide, along with video, audio and games to help. There is also a message board, and they even have resources for you to use, such as Revision Maps that you can fill in and print out. |
| www.schoolsnet.com | If you click on the hot courses tap you will find revision topics for Business Studies, DT, English, Geography, History, ICT, Maths, MFL, RE and Science. |
| www.s-cool.co.uk | Provide GCSE and A Level revision material for free. They have a revision tips section, along with articles to provide general advice and guidance. There are also separate areas for GCSE and A Level to work through. |
| www.revisiontime.com | This is a site that has a list of helpful links that are set up subject by subject. It also covers revision for GCSE and A Level subjects—they have even included ‘break time’ links to provide relief from revision. |
If you are looking for revision guides for specific subjects the following websites will be helpful:
| Subject | Website | How it can help? |
|---|---|---|
| IT | www.reviseict.co.uk/revision | This is a great site that provides students with help on specific topics, general revision and interactive practice exam papers. |
| Geography | www.pupilvision.com | This is an award winning site that was created by Keith Phipps at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys. It has lots of information that will help you with Geography revision. |
| Science | www.abpischools.org.uk | This is the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's site and has a range of science modules that are aimed at a range of different age groups. |
| www.my-gcsescience.com/core | This is a great site providing videos on key topics within each of the three core science subjects for GCSE for free, along with notes. For an added subscription cost you can also have access to over 400 marks worth of exam questions for unit 2 and 3 papers, along with answers and commentary. | |
| Maths and Science | www.skoool.co.uk | This is a site that has been made available through the London Grid for Learning but will be helpful to anyone studying Maths, Biology, Chemistry or Physics anywhere. |
| Maths | www.counton.org | This site is supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, and includes a wide range of resources and activities. |
| www.studymaths.co.uk | Free GCSE Maths revision site aimed at helping you with GCSE Math, there are hundreds of worksheets, past question papers and games to improve your maths abilities and hopefully grade. | |
| www.examsolutions.net | Specialises in helping students improve maths at GCSE and A Level. | |
| History | www.schoolhistory.co.uk | This is a great site providing not only resources and activities for students, but also lessons and even a history forum. |
| English | www.englishbiz.co.uk | A great site to help students with their GCSE English Language and Literature. Skills focused and written by an experienced English teacher. It provides information on reaching for the higher grades |
Exam Tips
We all get nervous and stress over taking exams, we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. Below is a list of hints and tips to remember when taking your exams:
- The night before your exam make sure you have a good sleep, at least 8 hours. It will do you no good revising into the middle of the night, as your brain will not be able to function well without rest. Aim to finish any revision by 10pm the night before, and then try to get some rest and sleep.
- As you go into the exam room stay calm, and try not to worry. Remember, all you can do is your best. As long as you have put in the time to revise, and you listen carefully to the instructions you will likely get the result you deserve.
- If you do start to feel very stressed or begin to panic, breath in deeply and slowly, concentrating on the air you take in and breath out. This will help to calm you down, and can even help get more oxygen to the brain to get the brain thinking again.
- Make sure that you read all the instructions for the exam carefully, if unsure on an instruction don’t be scared to ask. You don’t want to end up answering too many questions, not enough questions or even the wrong questions (all situations that have occurred).
- Reach each question carefully before you begin to answer, even make draft notes where applicable on key points that need to be covered in the answer (if essay based). Make sure you answer the question asked and not the question you would have liked it to ask, as you will lose valuable marks this way whether what you wrote is correct or not.
- If you have a choice over a question read through all the questions, make sure that the question you choose to complete is the one you feel you will achieve the highest grades for.
- Plan your time carefully so you don’t struggle at the end to complete the questions. For example many exams will say that for every mark on the paper you have a minute to complete, so a 30 mark question should take you 30 minutes to complete. Keep an eye on the clock and try to stay within these timings.
- If you find you are running out of time, try to use the last few minutes to write clear notes, even using bullet points, showing the main parts of what your finished answer would have discussed.