GCSE revision tips!

It’s half term! If you want to get the best grades you are capable of getting, follow these tips.

Ideally spend between 5 and 7 hours per day on revision. Yes, really. You’re not going to ‘burn out’ by spending exactly the same amount of time revising during the holiday as you would usually spend at school. You’ll save time by not having to travel to school. You’ll have no homework in the evenings; that’s when you can relax. 5-7 hours per day is not unrealistic or unreasonable.

Maybe structure it like this:

• 60-90mins every day on either Physics, Chemistry, or Biology.
• 45-60mins every day on either English or Mathematics.
• 60mins every day on humanities subjects, such as History, Geography, or RE.
• 30-60mins every day on creative or practical subjects, such as art, music, or PE.

That’s between 3¼ and 4½ hours. Use the rest of the time to focus on particular issues that you need to fix, but work around the subjects each day, don’t try to do it all at once.

Use the 3-2-1 strategy; each day spend around three hours on the subjects you find most challenging, two hours on those you find less challenging but still need work, and one hour on the subjects you find easiest and most fun.

Consider Mark Twain’s frog metaphor: if it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first. Do your revision early, don’t leave it until the evenings, or you’ll have it hanging over your head all day and you won’t feel rested. Start with the least enjoyable task first.

Revision must be active. It must feel uncomfortable. It must feel difficult. It must be hard. If it does not feel uncomfortable, difficult, or hard, you are not really revising. The trap some people fall into is spending a long time revising, but doing tasks that aren’t actually pushing them forwards. Reading, watching videos, answering basic quizzes and simple textbook questions are not going to help you. Instead, use past examination papers, under timed exam conditions, and critically apply the mark scheme afterwards.

There is a huge difference between opening a textbook and recognising the content, and being able to recall the content yourself! A different part of the brain is active. Recalling content is far more challenging and it requires time and effort to improve. To find out if you can recall the content yourself, why not try placing a blank piece of paper and trying to write down everything you know about a particular topic without any help. You may be surprised how much you miss, which you’ll recognise when you check against the textbook later and say to yourself, “yes, I knew that really”. No, you didn’t. You recognised it. That’s not the same thing as being able to recall it.

You are capable of learning anything. Before the current century, we would all memorise phone numbers. Arbitrary strings of numbers with no patterns, but we would make our own patterns and somehow commit loads of numbers to memory! How did we do it? Look, cover, write, check. Repetition. You are capable of learning the material.

If you need more help, take a look at the resources and support I offer!