With GCSE and A-Level exams on the horizon, students will be increasingly anxious over the weeks ahead. So how can they turn nervous energy and adrenalin into positive activity? As successful sports stars will tell you, there is no substitute for training and preparation.
To get you started, here are 10 winning revision tips from Kings Oxford:
- Draw up a revision timetable. Plan short spells of study with regular breaks to help maintain concentration.
- Use different strategies. Use a range of approaches to stimulate different areas of the brain, building connections and varied interactions with the content. Strategies could include: summary notes, flash cards, creating presentations, question writing, using colour to highlight or group ideas, recording oral notes.
- Don’t just revisit your favourite topics. The reformed GCSE and A-level formats require a comprehensive understanding of the whole syllabus. Considering starting with the area you find most difficult to build confidence and a sense of achievement.
- Use past papers and questions. Develop subject knowledge and exam skills. Build your understanding of what the examiner is looking for, familiarise yourself with the question formats and develop your strategies to answer them.
- Use family and friends. Practice sample questions with friends and compare notes on your answers. Give family or friends your revision notes and ask them to test you.
- Start in the morning. Don’t procrastinate, start early, work to your plan and then enjoy the rest of the day.
- Find a quiet place. It will help maintain concentration and avoid distractions. If you work to music, keep the volume down, instrumental is better.
- Reward yourself. Plan activities and treats to look forward to when you finish stages of your revision plan.
- Keep fit and healthy. Physical activity increases heart rate, gets more oxygen to the brain, increases productivity and reduces fatigue and stress. Eat healthily and stay hydrated.
- Keep positive. You can do this. Feeling prepared reduces stress. Put the work in and enter those exams, a little nervous of course, but confident that you are ready to give your best.
Get active, be positive and be prepared – you can do this!
Kings Oxford is a modern independent college for ambitious students looking for a mature yet supportive learning environment and community in which they can express their own identity, explore their interests and achieve their ambitions. The college supports students to become responsible and independent learners, based on a mutual respect between staff and students.
