Mock Exam Revision Guide For Year 13 and Year 11
Introduction This guide is meant to help you plan your revision over the Christmas break. The strategies and techniques listed in here will all be useful for your external exams as well, so this is a perfect time to get into some good habits and find out what works for you!
What is the point of Mock Exams? Mock exams are a very important part of your preparation for external exams. They are important for a number of reasons: 1.
External exams are completely different from your usual way of working, so the aim is to recreate the experience as closely as possible. How do you perform under time pressure, in exam conditions? Mock exams let you practice this very important skill.
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What is your level right now? There is time to improve between January and the real external exams. Mocks help to show you and your teachers what your current level of understanding is and where you need to improve.
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Answering questions in a specific way is often necessary, to get the highest marks. Mock exams allow you to work on exam technique, to make sure you are answering questions in a way which will allow you to gain the most marks.
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By running these mock exams as if they are the real thing; lining up in silence before you go in, sitting at an exam desk, following rules about mobile phones, pencil cases etc., you will gain experience of the whole process of external exams, which will hopefully make these things much less stressful, when it comes to the summer, allowing you to focus on the exam itself.
Revision How much revision should I be doing over the Christmas break? By the time you get to Easter, you should have a full revision plan, spending around five hours per day revising. This is similar to the amount of time you would spend on a normal school day. Remember that good results are made over the Easter break. For the Christmas break you should, of course, take some time to enjoy the break and spend time with family and friends. However, a structured revision plan is essential. We would recommend dividing the day up into three sessions - Morning, Afternoon and Evening and revise for two out of three of these sessions. Always plan to work in the morning session, when you will have higher levels of energy and focus. You can then choose to study in the afternoon and spend time with friends and family in the evening, or the other way round, depending on what you are doing that day.
Revision The Right Level of Challenge
External exams can be daunting, but don’t let the pressure overwhelm you. You should aim to be in the ‘courage zone’, working hard on your weaknesses and aiming to put yourself in the best possible position for the summer. Only focusing on your strengths, or answering practice questions that you find easy, is too ‘comfortable’ and will not help you to get the best possible results. Equally, allowing yourself to become paralysed by everything you need to get through is not optimal either. This is why sticking to a structured revision plan is so important. Plan your time and stick to your plan. You can be confident that your hard work will pay off in the summer.
Revision
Sleep, Eat, Exercise Getting the basics right is crucial for performing at your best. Treat yourself like an athlete training for a competition. Countless studies have shown the importance of sleep for learning and memory, as well as the benefits of eating well and getting regular exercise. Sleeping well, eating healthily and getting regular exercise are some of the best things you can do to learn effectively now and to perform at your best in the summer.
Revision Organising your Study Space The key to studying effectively is to reduce distractions as much as possible, allowing you to focus on your work. Constant updates on your phone or device from social media apps or other distractions can very significantly reduce how much information you retain. You should avoid all of the following things, when you are studying: ● ● ● ● ●
Phones Social Media Television Radio Notifications of any sort
Studies show that even having your phone in the same room, reduces your ability to concentrate and retain information. Leave it charging it in a different room, while you study, so that you can concentrate fully.
Revision Music A constant question pupils ask is “can I listen to music when I’m revising?”. The answer, unfortunately, is absolutely not and especially not when working on something new, or studying complex material. Below are the results of one study looking into this, which shows that music of any sort, but especially music with lyrics, has a very significant negative impact on the amount of information we are able to recall after studying:
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Students who revised in quiet environments performed more than 60% better in an exam than their peers who revised while listening to music that had lyrics.
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Students who revised while listening to music without lyrics did better than those who had revised to music with lyrics.
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It made no difference if students revised listening to songs they liked or disliked. Both led to a reduction in their test performance.
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Students who revised in silence rated their environment as less distracting and accurately predicted that this would lead to better performances in subsequent tests. - Perham and Currie, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Revision Know What You Need to Revise It seems obvious, but you should make sure you know exactly what to revise. Your teachers will have given you lots of resources to revise from the following tips will make sure you are targeting your revision in exactly the right areas: ●
Make sure you know exactly which board sets your exam and which syllabus you are following.
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Check how the exam is structured. Is it two papers of one hour, or one paper of two and half hours? Knowing this will help you prepare.
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Get a list of topics you have covered - your teachers will most likely have given you this and you can also check the syllabus for the exam on the exam board website.
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Make sure you have notes for each of the topics you need to know about. If you have missed a lesson, or don’t have notes for any reason, now is the time to catch up.
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There are so many different resources for you to use, including the textbook (if your subject uses one), revision guides, online tools such as BBC Bitesize and much more.
Revision How to Revise Even with a structured revision plan, plenty of sleep, a clear work space and no distractions, you need to make sure that you are revising effectively. A key principle here is what teachers refer to as retrieval practice practicing being able to get information out of your head and down on the page, without referring to your notes, textbooks, or any other resource, Essentially, this is what you are doing in an exam. It’s very important to remember that simply reading through your notes, or the textbook does not work. To find out what you already know, or can retrieve when you need to, you need to test yourself. Summarise what you need to know. Make notes. Make notes from those notes and then see how much you can recall.
Revision Mind Maps Mind maps are an excellent way to summarise a topic. Use as much colour as possible, use diagrams, make it vibrant, so that you can visualise the mind map when you are in an exam. Once you have created your mind map, test yourself by seeing how much of it you can recreate on a blank sheet of paper, from memory. Go over any areas you missed and try again, until it sticks.
Revision Flash Cards Flash cards are a very useful tool for learning key vocabulary, facts, or short quotes. Write the term you want to remember on the front, with the definition on the back and then test yourself, or ask a friend to help you. Paper flash cards work well, but if you prefer, the app Anki (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) uses a clever algorithm, which makes you come back to the cards you find hardest to remember, until they stick.
Revision Past Paper Questions One of the most useful tools you can use to practice exam technique and recall is past paper questions. Your teachers will most likely use these between the mock exams and the summer, in any case, but you can find past papers for almost all of your qualifications on the exam board websites. Try to recreate exam conditions as closely as possible; no notes and with a limited amount of time. Once you have answered the questions, use the mark scheme (which you can also find online) to see what mark you would have given yourself. This is incredibly useful to learn how the exam boards are expecting you to structure your answers and what key vocabulary you need to use.
Revision Pomodoro Technique The Pomodoro Technique is a way of structuring your time, to make sure that you are as alert as possible and in the best state to learn. Break your time up in to 25 minute sessions, with a five minute break in between. A two-hour study session can then be broken up into four sessions. 25 minutes isn’t too long; you get a good amount of focused work done in that time. Then take a break, have a cup of tea, walk around the house or do something completely different for five minutes (but only five minutes, don’t be tempted to let this drag out for longer!). When you return, you will be rested and able to focus effectively for another 25 minute session. This is often much better than attempting to plough on through for hours in a row.