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Practical revision strategies to achieve top grades:
essential advice for Yr11
Practical revision strategies to achieve top grades
• Rachel Kitley: Welcome • Tracey Fidalgo: Using the library to support
revision in the best way • Advice from KHS students: Enilla (yr11) and
Jotham (yr13) • Michael Senior: What can parents do to help? • Kavita Vishnuram: A practical workshop • Rachel Kitley: Revision websites
How important are GCSEs?
Dr Paul Teulon, Director of Admissions
King’s College, London
The habits of A* students • Cover specification • Use Mark Schemes • Use Examiner reports • Make notes (not read notes) • 20 extra hours a week • Have a range of resources • Seek feedback • Study buddy (like university) • Practise recall • Seek model answers • Avoid social media & other
distractions
GCSEs are a key selection tool for university because we do not have A level grades when students apply and predicted grades from schools are too
often too high.
KHS Sixth Form Entry Criteria
To study A levels our current Yr 12s had to achieve:
6 GCSE grade Bs including • C in Maths to gain general entry • B in English Language to gain general entry • B in relevant subject(s) to study the A level • A in Maths to study A level Maths and Computing
THE ENTRY CRITERIA FOR CURRENT YEAR 11S WILL BE PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER AT THE SIXTH FORM OPEN DOOR WEDNESDAY 25th NOVEMBER 6.30-8.30PM
KHS Sixth Form Entry Criteria
Btec Nationals will take students to university such as Brunel and Hertfordshire. To study Btec Nationals, our current Yr 12s had to achieve:
5 GCSE grade Cs We offer a retake in maths or English – but not both. THE ENTRY CRITERIA FOR CURRENT YEAR 11S WILL BE PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER AT THE SIXTH FORM OPEN DOOR WEDNESDAY 25th NOVEMBER 6.30-8.30PM
Highly competitive universities / courses
• Medicine – although web sites show lower entry for GCSE the experience in this school is that upwards of 7* GCSE is needed along with AAAA at A level + work experience and high scores in aptitude tests ie UKCAT & BMAT
• There are NO ‘easy’ medical schools to get into.
• Tip – make sure you achieve A* in coursework as low coursework marks tends to bring grades down to an A.
What can parents do to help?
Learning mindset
We’re all projects – learning how to manage people and ourselves
DWECK – praise
• VALUE - A2L
• VALUE - SUPPORT
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FIXED MINDSET LIVE A WORLD WHERE: Personality is fixed – sociable or not Intelligence is fixed – smart or not Leadership ability is fixed – talented or not Sporting ability is fixed – got the physical skills/physique or not Because these are not in your control – spend a lot of time seeking feedback that you have the ‘fixed gifts’ e.g. popular, high grades, share price high, winning races Avoid risk at all cost - situations where you might get feedback that you don’t have the ‘fixed gift’ anymore Obsessed with avoiding making mistakes and failing. Why?
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GROWTH MINDSET LIVE A WORLD WHERE: Personality develops – become more or less sociable Intelligence grows – harder you work, more able you become Leadership ability develops with experience – training can be key Sporting ability develops – even Olympians admit they persevered more than most – were not the best at the beginning Because these traits are in your control – spend a lot of time getting advice about how to develop Risk helps expose weakness - situations where you might learn more Making mistakes and failing are a vital part of the learning process. Why?
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RESEARCH POINT 4 Year-olds
Carol Dweck
• Asked 4 year-olds if they would like to redo a difficult jigsaw that they had been unable to solve.
• Fixed mindset – said “No”
• Growth mindset – said “Yes, please”. They kept choosing difficult ones until the figured them
out.
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RESEARCH POINT University students
Carol Dweck… • Asked students, not proficient at speaking English,
starting at University of Hong Kong (taught in English), if they would like English lessons.
• Measured their mindset using a questionnaire.
• Fixed mindset – did not sign up – expose weakness • Growth mindset – signed up – ability can improve
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Danger of praise
• Imagine you have your on child
• They come home having achieved 10/10 in a spelling test - should you praise their effort or spelling ability? Why?
• Praise effort not ability.
CHIMP PARADOX IMAGE SOURCE: http://chimpmanagement.com
Limbic brain = your chimp
http://chimpmanagement.com
http://chimpmanagement.com
Chimp - URGES US TO SATISFY DRIVES – FOOD, POWER, PARENTAL INSTINCT, TERRITORY, SEX, EGO, DOMINANCE INQUISITIVENESS. Neural pathways are very fast & pleasurable. Releases chemicals that make us feel good, so we repeat the behaviours.
THE BENEFITS OF THE CHIMP
• INSTINCTIVE RESPONSES – FIGHT / FLIGHT / FREEZE
• INTUITION – I LIKE YOU or I DON’T TRUST THAT PERSON BUT NOT SURE WHY.
The Chimp – problems…
http://chimpmanagement.com
HUMAN BRAIN
Work - How hard?
HARD WORK IN = GRADES OUT Grade A = 20 hours extra work / week Grade B = 16 hours Grade C = 14 hours Grade D = 10 hours = Min to continue to A2 Grade U = 0 – 9
Children who play video games twice a day are less likely to achieve five good GCSE grades, a study suggests. The National Children's Bureau Northern Ireland research involved more than 600 14 to 16-year-olds from 2012-14. It found 41% of children who used portable gaming devices at least twice a day achieved at least five GCSE A* to C grades, compared with 77% of those who used them less than once a week. The research does not establish why this might be the case.
Research ‘ICT & Me’ - October 2015 4 in 10 young people spend four hours or more online in the year they take GCSEs Pupils who spent about three hours every day using a computer to do homework achieved the best exam results, with 79% achieving five A* to C grades in their GCSEs Too much or too little use of ICT for homework also had an effect. Those who spent no time on homework or who spent more than three hours on homework, did considerably worse with only 57% getting five A* to C grades
Which level are you in terms of revision?
Are you a 3e?
Level 1 – I READ through my notes
Level 2 – I MAKE NOTES from what I read
Level 3 – I TRANSFORM my notes into another format e.g. diagrams, lists, mnemonics, flash cards
Level a – I answer past questions but avoid hard ones
Level b - I answer hard past questions until I get it right
Level c – I use mark schemes to help me improve my answers
Level d – I use Examiner reports and mark schemes
Level e – I practise AGAIN and AGAIN until I KNOW I have got it right & seek support when I need it.
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Use your Syllabus
Use your Syllabus
Use mark schemes for NOTES
Use mark schemes AS FILE DIVIDERS
Use Examiner Reports
EXAMINER REPORTS
CORNELL- Note-taking
Heading
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- Trigger Words
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WWI (1914-1918)
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
- Arms Race
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
- Arms Race
- Nationalism
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
- Arms Race
- Nationalism
- Franz Ferdinand
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
- Arms Race
- Nationalism
- Franz Ferdinand
Subheading
- Trigger Words - Trigger Words - Trigger Words
Subheading
- Trigger Words - Trigger Words - Trigger Words
Pay attention to space and colour
Focus on trigger words
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Use a colour-coding system
Dates = Green
Dates = Green Names = Blue
Dates = Green Names = Blue Quotes = Orange
Dates = Green Names = Blue Quotes = Orange Key words = Red
Dates = Green Names = Blue Quotes = Orange Key words = Red Definitions = Purple
Dates = Green Names = Blue Quotes = Orange Key words = Red Definitions = Purple Etc…
WWI (1914-1918)
Causes
- Arms Race (1913 - 14)
- Nationalism
- Franz Ferdinand
Western Front
- Ypres - Chlorine (April 1915)
- “Race to the sea”
- The Somme ( July-Nov 1916)
- Fleurs-Corcellette (Sept 1916)
Eastern Front - Invasion Galacia (1914) - Brusilov Offensive - Russian Rev (March 1917) - Czechoslovak Legion
Versailles - Big 3 Conference Wilson, George, Clemenceau - 14 Point Plan - “Hall of Mirrors”
WEEKLY STUDY SCHEDULE
TEXT BOOKS & REVISION GUIDES
HOW TO HELP YOURSELF
• Foundations – look at the material provided first
• Clear about the TASK
• Look at how it relates to the exam – past questions, mark scheme, examiner report
• Access to useful resources
Folder per subject – 4 pillars
1. Specification
2. Past questions
3. Mark Scheme
4. Examiner Report
What can parents do?
What can parents do?
GCSE
Activity Please use the information on the screen about the heart and take 5 minutes to revise this with your daughter/son.
Now test your son or daughter- how much of
the information can they remember?
Is your daughter/son able to label the heart?
How did you all do?
Right atrium
Right ventricle
Right valves
Left ventricle
Left atrium
Left valves
Revision
Professor John Dunlovsky's research published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association
for Psychological Science (2013)
"Students who can test themselves or try to retrieve material from their memory are going to learn that material better in the long run“.
"Start by reading the text book then make flash cards of the critical
concepts and test yourself”.
"A century of research has shown that repeated testing works."
Only two of the 10 techniques examined turned out to be really effective : 1. Testing yourself 2. Spreading out your revision over time.
So what does this look like in reality?
Helping you memorise 5 simple steps
Step 1- Highlight the key points on the revision guide/teacher handouts Step 2- Make a flash card/bullet point list/mind map Step 3- Copy out flash card/bullet point list/mind map over and over- x5-10 times Step 4- Test yourself- verbally or in writing- (if you cannot remember, go back to step 3 and repeat) Step 5- Practice exam question in timed conditions with no notes.
The Heart
Step 1-Highlight at least the key points on the revision guide
Don’t highlight everything- just keywords and points
You are trying to condense the content
Step 2- Make a flash card/bullet point list/mind map using the highlighted text
Use colours to help key concepts and points
standout
These are students’ neat notes that they
keep and use to revisit and test themselves
Step 3- Copy out flash card/bullet point list/mind map over and over- x5
Writing is better
than simply reading when it
comes to memorising.
Step 4- Test yourself- verbally or in writing- (if you cannot remember, go back and repeat to step 3)
REPETITION is very important- REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT
Right atrium
Right ventricle
Right valves
Left ventricle
Left atrium
Left valves
Step 5- Practice exam question in timed
conditions with no notes.
Revision and information learnt must be applied to the exam. Otherwise students will learn information but will no idea how this information actually helps them score marks in
the examination.
Benefits of using flashcards
1. Forces students to condense information to the core points.
2. Flashcards can be hole-punched in the corners and treasury tagged together so students can have packs of flashcards that cover different units/topics/subjects.
3. Flashcards are easily transportable- so revision does not have to simply be an activity that is confined to the home.
4. Anyone can use the cards to test the student. Parents or friends simply need the card in front of them to test the student.
Start early- start now!
Plan a weekly timetable: • Slots for revision rotating between subjects
and topics (use the 5 steps) • Slots for homework completion • Slots for self testing • Slots for parents testing
Activity 2
With your son/daughter, using the science handout on ‘Vaccination’, have a practice run at
the 5 steps.
Revision resources
• Our revision handout is a handy guide to the best revision websites for each Yr11 subject
• KLIC and Show my Homework have many revision resources uploaded by teachers
Supporting YOU to Achieve Success
evision Sessions
fter school
cience
arly morning
aths
Maths Revision in Room 84 @ 8.30 am
on Wednesdays
Science Revision in Room 79 @ 3.30 pm
on Wednesdays
** Extra Maths Revision in Room 84 @ 12.30 pm on Thursdays! **
