ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
REVISION
AND EXAM
TECHNIQUES
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
Academic Learning
Development
What can this team offer?
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01227 782641
Call in: Augustine House (PIL)
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link on Blackboard
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[email protected]
k to organise a session
Individual
consultations
One-to-one tutorials
with and Academic
advisor
Online
resources
Advice and exercises
for developing your
academic skills
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• How do I deal with exam anxiety?
• How do I start revising?
• How can I improve my memory?
• Which revision techniques can I use?
• How do I organise my time in the exam?
HOW DO I DEAL WITH EXAM
ANXIETY?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
CONCERNS – STRESS
• There is too much to learn
• I don’t know what to revise
• I don’t know how to revise
• I don’t know where to start
• I don’t have enough time
• My notes are too messy/disorganised
• I don’t know how to memorise things
• I feel too worried to remember
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
COMMON PROBLEMS
• Not starting to revise early enough
• Forgetting to revise key topics
• Reading notes again and again
• Not gearing revision to specific exams
• Learning essays off by heart
• Putting off revision – Lack of motivation
• Losing interest
• Unable to fit revision into schedule
• Feeling overwhelmed by panic
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
REFLECT ON PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES
• What revision or memory techniques have worked for
you in the past?
• Do you have any experience of using any particular
memory techniques?
• Are there any revision techniques or strategies which you
feel have been less successful for you previously?
• How are you planning to approach your revision this
time?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
MAKE SURE YOU TRY TO…
• reduce worry
• Have good foundations – plan you revision
strategies as soon as possible
• look after yourself:
good nutrition and water
rest, exercise and relaxation
• learn to remember (techniques)
• revise – sleep – review
This will help
you deal with
anxiety and
improve your
memory
HOW DO I START REVISING?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 1
Begin as early as possible. Familiarise yourself with what is required
and plan:
•
•
•
•
Time: when will you revise?
Location: where will you revise?
Work: what do you have to revise?
How – what works best for you?
To be a successful reviser you should:
• Prepare
• Organise
• Memorise
• Recall
(Price and Maier, 2007)
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 2
•Plan your revision strategy
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 3
•Make a realistic timetable and stick to it
•When do you work best?
•Plan your day: include targets, treats,
meals and time to relax and sleep
•Take regular breaks
•Maximise your time – use short blocks of
time
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 4
• Select key issues to revise (use your notes
from lectures/ seminars as a starting point)
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 5
Organise and reduce notes
• Group and organise your material
• Highlight and subordinate
• Use numbered points
• Highlight key words/phrases
• Have plenty of white space so that you can see the
information easily
• Use different colours, pictures or symbols if these help
you
This helps you to:
• understand and to remember the information
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 6
• Make master cards,
question and answer cards,
mind maps, graphs, tables
and charts, etc.
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 7
Utilise memory techniques:
• Record and listen to your notes
• Place reminder notes around your study area
• Draw diagrams
• Use different coloured pens
Don’t forget to:
• Take regular breaks
• Exercise
• Adopt an active revision
strategy
Remember that there may be material
which you use/learn differently
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 8
• Use past papers
• Key themes
• Blackboard
• Short questions/essay questions
• Practise timing and technique
• Build up writing speed
HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY
MEMORY?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
WHY DO WE REMEMBER?
We remember when
We don’t remember when
• we make
connections/links
• it’s of personal interest
to us
• we write it down
• we say it aloud or record
it
• we are stressed
• we aren’t interested in it
• we haven’t looked at it,
thought about it or
listened to it long
enough
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
MEMORY CAPACITY
• We can only commit a certain amount of information to
memory at any one time.
But we can do things to increase
the amount we can retain.
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 1
You will have 1 minute to memorise these words:
Panda
onion
peach
jeans
car
coke
hare
label
hat
puppy
currant
cab
tie
tea
bean
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 1
Write down all the words you can remember
How many
words did you
remember?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 2
Try the same thing with the next list of words:
window
wall
door
ring
necklace
bracelet
blue
purple
green
desk
chair
butterfly
wasp
guitar
drum
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISE 1
Write down all the words you can remember
How many
words did you
remember this
time?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
COMPARE YOUR RESULTS
Perhaps you did better with the second list?
If so, this is probably because…
• the words in the first list were in random order
• in the second list the words were grouped into categories
We can remember information
more effectively if we organise it
into meaningful ‘chunks’
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
LEARN AND RECALL
• Remembering more:
• Organise material into meaningful, connected sections
• Use techniques that suit you personally – people
remember best in different ways
• Longer, more effective recall:
• Repetition – review material often
• Adopt active strategies and practise using the material
• Use memory aids
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
REPETITION
• Whatever our personal memory style, repetition is key to
learning and remembering long-term
• We can’t hold much in our short-term memory so we have
to move things from our short-term memory to our long
term-memory
• And then we have to be able to retrieve them promptly
when we need them in the exam
• Reviewing the material regularly makes the ‘memory
pathways’ to the information stronger
WHICH REVISION TECHNIQUES
CAN I USE?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
REPETITION TECHNIQUES
• Carry mini revision cards on a key-ring. Look at them in
‘dead’ moments e.g. in queues
• 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 days then randomly
• This technique works on the fact that if we repeat
something intensively to begin with, it becomes more
secure in our memory, so we can gradually leave
longer gaps between revisions
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
THE TEN-ENVELOP TECHNIQUE
• Number 10 envelopes from 1- 10
• Write 10 – 15 related facts on separate mini-cards
• Put them all in envelope 1
• Test yourself once a day:
• Move all the facts you can remember to envelope 2
• Leave the ones you don’t know in envelope 1
• Every time you remember a fact, move it to the next
envelope; every time you forget it, leave it where it is
• By the time the fact reaches no.10, you should know it
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY
Cottrell suggests using your senses to ‘train the
brain’ (2007, pp. 129-31):
Visual memory – diagrams, charts, using
different colours, pictures, cartoons
Tactile and motor memory – writing, tracking
information, reading out information without
sounding the words
Auditory memory - music, recording,
vocalising, study groups
How do YOU
remember
things best?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
MNEMONICS: WHAT MAKES THEM SUCCESSFUL?
They should be:
• important to you
• logical
• dramatic
• funny/bizarre
• colourful
For example:
RHYTHM: Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move
The order of planets in average distance from the Sun:
(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
My Very Easy Method: Just Set Up Nine Planets (The Mnemonics Guide, 1997).
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
NARRATIVES
• Cottrell (2007, p. 132) quotes a ‘story’ which will support
the recall of the bile pigment bilirubin (an anti-oxidant
which protects the cells of the body against the effects of
free radicals):
“Billy Rubin always wore a yellow T-shirt. He worked at
the local prison where he protected the cells from a local
terrorist group, The Free Radicals”.
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
TO SUM UP,
Grouping and labelling
• use the power of association
• breakdown material into categories
• find associations between items/points
• develop these into revision sheets
Techniques
• Question and answer cards
• Revision groups
• Use past exam papers
• Use your visual memory
• use recordings
• create narratives
• stick reminder cards around your desk and home
• Create information maps, flow charts, spider diagrams, etc.
• Recite aloud
• Make jingles
• Move around
• Interact with others – try revision tests with your friends
• Use mnemonics
HOW DO I ORGANISE MY TIME IN
THE EXAM?
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
BEFORE THE EXAM
• Find out:
•Length of exam
•Number of questions
•Any compulsory questions?
•Type of questions
•Regulations?
• Ensure that you have revised enough subjects
(revision not research)
• Find out if you need to take in any specific materials
e.g. a ruler, pencils, calculator, into the exam.
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
IN THE EXAM
• Are you comfortable?
• Can you see a clock?
• Listen carefully to any instructions given
• Try to remain calm
• Start to read through the paper as slowly and
calmly as possible
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
THE PAPER
• Read the instructions on the paper very carefully
• Read the paper twice
• Make sure that you are aware of any compulsory
questions
• Take note of any instructions regarding choice of
question
• Make a note of how much time you have for each
question
• Do not panic if you do not see
the questions you were hoping for
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
PLAN YOUR TIME
• Note the marks for each question carefully
• Estimate how much time you have for each
question
• Plan to spend an appropriate amount of time on
each question
• Keep an eye on the clock
• Follow your plan
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS
• Read the question carefully
• Answer each part of the question
• Use your plan
• Write in answer books as directed
• Note how marks often relate to the question
•‘Give three reasons why…’ 3 marks
•‘Name four…and describe…’ 8 marks
•Do not write a page when there are only three
marks available
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
• factual/descriptive
• details of a procedure,
naming an item,
describing its use,
differences or
similarities
• take note of the mark
system
• answer all parts of the
question
• if it is broken into
sections, make it clear
as to which section you
are dealing with
• make it as easy as
possible for the
examiner to mark your
answer
• stick to the point
• don’t waste valuable
time
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
ESSAY QUESTIONS
• They are analytical,
critical and creative
• They are usually worth
large percentage of
marks each
• Follow instructions
• Do not overlap subjects
• Answer the question
• Look out for key words and
direction words
• Follow usual essay format:
• Introduction
• Main body
• Conclusion
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
FINALLY,
• Do not leave too early
• If you finish early, read your work through – you
may have more to add
• Always leave time to check your work
• Check spelling, punctuation and grammar
• Move on when you get stuck
• Learn from any experiences
ACADEMIC
LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT
REFERENCES
Cottrell, S. (2007) The exam skills handbook.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Price, G. and Maier, P. (2007) Effective Study
Skills. Harlow: Pearson Longman.