Revision strategies that work
Revision season is here whether you're in Year 11 or Year 13 (or one of the years in between). Studies by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) have found that 85% of students struggle to revise.
One reason is that revision is a long process that takes several months, meaning it's too easy for students to lose motivation and focus. If you have a struggling student and want to help, here are the revision strategies that work.
Problem - memory retention. Solution - revise actively
Memory retention issues usually relate to passive revision strategies that students can use without engaging in the material, such as note-taking and reading. If that's the issue, encourage students to think actively about how their learning relates to their existing knowledge and ideas. They could try reading notes out loud, discussing them with other students, or explaining key concepts to others.
Revising actively also means doing something different from usual revision strategies. It should improve learning and memory retention by encouraging the mind to think critically, which in turn helps with recall.
For example, if your child is studying human circulation, they could consider drawing a diagram of the process. This visual representation can help you see how blood flows through the body. Label the circulatory system, including the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries and clarify how the different parts of the system relate to one another.
Students could also try explaining the circulatory system to a friend or family member using your diagram to illustrate your points. Teaching forces them to articulate their understanding clearly, revealing areas they might not have fully grasped.
Problem - information overload. Solution - chunking
Chunking entails breaking up large amounts of information into smaller, manageable units to improve comprehension by making complex information easier to process.
Start by identifying the revision material. For example, if your child is studying GCSE History and looking at the causes of the Second World War, divide the revision material into smaller chunks: the political, economic, and social factors that led to the war, such as the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of fascism, and the League of Nations.
For each revision chunk, create associations to help reinforce memory. This could involve relating new information to something already known, such as the rise of extremism, which capitalised on public discontent. Visualising films linked to this or thinking about the extremist ideologies of the present and how and why they overwhelm moderate views will all help.
Ultimately, chunking works as it reduces cognitive load by limiting the amount of information processed at once.
Problem - not understanding what you have revised. Solution - teaching others
A study from Applied Cognitive Psychology has shown that students who spend time teaching what they've revised go on to show better understanding and knowledge retention than students who spend the same time taking notes. The study is based on the idea that retrieval practice is a good form of revision and shows that teaching materials to others enhances one's own learning and retention of those materials.
Researchers in the study believe the learning benefit of teaching to others is that it brings to mind what you've learnt and leads to deeper and longer-lasting retention of that information than more time spent passively re-studying.
Students can try this revision method with peers or family members on subjects that involve complicated theories, themes, and facts to recall.
For example, Urbanisation in GCSE Geography. Start by covering key concepts like migration and the impact on cities. By discussing these ideas, an understanding of how and why urbanisation occurs becomes clear. Sharing examples using specific case studies (like Mexico City or Mumbai) also embeds details and connects concepts to scenarios.
Explaining urbanisation also requires recalling key information. The more information is retrieved, the better memory retention will be.
Further reading
Effective last-minute revision techniques