Aspire to Achieve
Revision
Techniques
Evening
For Parents
Tuesday 4th
November 2014
6.30-7.30pm.
Ideas and
techniques to
help you support
your child’s
revision to
achieve their
potential
On results days I have never heard a student say I did too much
revision. However, I have heard numerous students say they hadn't
done enough!
Programme
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Introduction and general tips – Mr Arnold
English – Mr Dawson
Maths – Mr Varsani
Science – Mr Bilton
MFL – Ms Charles
Concluding remarks – Mr Arnold.
Important Dates
• Tuesday 18th November – Year 11 Parents’ Evening
• Pre-Public Examinations begin Monday 1st December
• PPE Results first week back in January.
• Summer exams May and June 2015.
• Results 20th August 2015
Study Skills Guide
• All Year 11 students
have been given a study
skills book.
• Please look at this with
your son/daughter.
What is Revision?
• Actively looking over work on an ongoing basis
• To remind you of things you have forgotten
• To make links with other learning = the bigger picture
• To reinforce learning
• To identify what you don’t know
• To check understanding
Why encourage your child to
revise?
• It reduces panic – gives them control and confidence
• It means that exams reflect what they can do, not
what they didn’t bother to do
• It can help identify problem areas
• Achieve better results
Should I help with revision?
• Children whose parents/carers take the opportunity
to be frequently interested in their child’s learning
make most progress
• You will get to now your child’s strengths and
difficulties and find out what they are studying
• Helping them with their work is not the same as
doing it for them!
• Discussing work with them strengthens their
understanding
Where to start? When to do it?
• Help them work out how much time they have –
being realistic
• Don’t forget to factor in a bit of playtime also!
• Take into account their ideal time of work – decide
when they will revise
• Break it down into manageable chunks eg “Revising
French verbs” sounds more manageable thank
“Revising for GCSEs”
Creating a Revision Time Table
Mr Dawson - English
• The English Language and English Literature
GCSEs are a test of …
KNOWLEDGE
and
SKILLS
English SKILLS and GCSE Language
• reading… skimming and scanning
• reading… inferring
• writing … explaining… comparing…
• writing for effect… informing...persuading…
engaging
English KNOWLEDGE and GCSE Literature
You must know:
‘Of Mice and Men’
‘An Inspector Calls’
plot………...character ………….theme………
and QUOTE from these texts CONFIDENTLY
English Lit. and Poetry Revision
There are many ways to work on and revise your
learning about poetry. But one method we
recommend is …
The 3 Ss
This is a way your child can revise. But it is also a
way you can revise with your son or daughter.
What does 3S stand for?
S = SUBJECT
What is the poem about? Does it have a particular
message or meaning?
S = STRUCTURE
How is the poem set out?
S = STYLE
What techniques / poetic devices are used...and why?
Poems of Place: ‘Spellbound’
The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go.
The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow.
And the storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.
Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me;
I will not, cannot go.
Mr Varsani - Maths
Maths Revision Card Trivial Pursuit
(with or without a board)
N – Number
A – Algebra
S – Shape and Space
H – Handling Data
P – Pot Luck
Challenge someone next to you to see if
they can earn a card by getting all 5
questions correct
Maths Revision Card Questions
Teaching someone else leads to the highest retention rate of
knowledge and understanding
Ask your child to try and teach you something and as they do,
you can devise 5 short questions with answers (alternatively
your child can create all the revision cards and answers)
At a later date, challenge your child to answer all the
questions correctly – if they do, they win that revision card...
…if not, they get asked the same questions from that revision
card again and again, until they successfully earn the card
Past Exam Paper Practice
It's all about the problem questions!
Can they quickly and clearly IDENTIFY them?
Do they have a plan for how to RESOLVE them?
Can they REVISIT resolved problem questions to ensure they can
still answer them correctly?
Past Exam Paper Practice
It's all about the problem questions!
Can you quickly and clearly
IDENTIFY them?
Can you have a plan for how to
REVISIT
RESOLVE them?
Can you
resolved problem questions to ensure
you can still answer them correctly?
IDENTIFY
IDENTIFY
Using the
Mark Scheme
Mathswatch at school
or at home using the disc
Asking at an
appropriate
time in class
RESOLVE
Working with
someone at home
Revision guides
MyMaths
Working with peers
Maths Surgery
Revision websites
Speak to a Maths
teacher outside of a
lesson
REVISIT
Check you are definitely secure in answering the identified and
resolved question by doing it again in a week’s time, a month’s time
etc.
Multiple ticks or crosses
Highlighting in green
problem questions which
are now secure
Past Exam Paper Practice
It's all about the problem questions!
IDENTIFY them? RESOLVE them?REVISIT
resolved problem questions to ensure you can still answer them
correctly?
Ask them on a weekly basis to show you their
problem questions progress – they should aim to
complete one exam paper per week
Revision Resources
GCSE Revision guide and workbook
with answers
RRP £10.99
School price £4!!
Mathswatch CD £4
Video lessons and practice questions
Tracking chart - topic based revision
Mr Bilton - Science
• Tarsias
• Key Vocabulary
Mrs Charles-MFL
Your MFL Revision Toolkit…..
To be effective, your revision needs to be
ACTIVE 
Revising Vocabulary
OPINIONS:
Aburrido/a
Afortunado/a
Antiguo/a
Barato/a
Bueno/a
Caro/a
Decepcionante
Desagradable
La diferencia
Difícil
Distincto
Duro/a
Emocionante
Entretenido/a
Espléndido/a
Estúpido/a
Extraordinario/a
Famoso/a
Fascinante
Favorable
Fenomenal
Genial
Horroroso/a
Importante
Boring
Lucky
Old
Cheap
Good
Expensive
Disappointing
Unpleasant
The difference
Difficult
Different/distinct
Hard/difficult
Exciting
Entertaining
Splendid
Stupid
Extraordinary
Famous
Fascinating
Favourable
Great
Brilliant/great
Terrible/awful
Important
If you were trying to revise the vocabulary from this
page, how would you do it?
Write the words out in
different colours
depending on their
genders…
Write
the
start of
each
subsection
on a
blank
piece of
paper
and try
to fill in
what
could
come
next….
OPINIONS:
Aburrido/a
Afortunado/a
Antiguo/a
Barato/a
Bueno/a
Caro/a
Decepcionante
Desagradable
La diferencia
Difícil
Distinto
Duro/a
Emocionante
Entretenido/a
Espléndido/a
Estúpido/a
Extraordinario/a
Famoso/a
Fascinante
Favorable
Divide the words up
according to difficulty
level and learn them in
batches.
Boring
Lucky
Old
Cheap
Good
Expensive
Disappointing
Unpleasant
The difference
Difficult
Different/distinct
Hard/difficult
Exciting
Entertaining
Splendid
Stupid
Extraordinary
Famous
Fascinating
Do it with the book open
first, then have another go
from memory. Check your
work – how did you do?
Write out
the initial
letter of
each
word in a
sentence,
then take
away the
book and
try to
write the
words in
full.
You can either do two
sets, one with the MFL
and the other with the
English…..
First make your cards…..
Don’t
forget,
the
words
on your
cards
can be
colour
coded
too!
Or you can do one set
of cards with the MFL
on the front and English
on the back.
aburrido
grande
bueno
precioso
bajo
antiguo
caro
distinto
largo
moderno
genial
barato
divertido
alto
nuevo
Get someone to test you
from your cards.
Test yourself, putting the
cards into a ‘right’ and
‘wrong’ pile until the
‘wrong’ pile is non existent!
With two
sets, you
can play
pairs….
turn the
cards face
down and
pick them
up in
twos until
you get
pairs.
Did you know that…..?
Language learning improves your child’smemory
Final Pieces of advice
• Be positive about your child’s attempts. Make an
appointment with the school if you are concerned
about their progress
• Be patient – help your child become an independent
learner. Explain how to look up information or find a
word in a dictionary rather than simply giving them
the answer in order to get the task finished
• Don’t let working together become a chore. Make it
a special time you can both enjoy
• Turn off the TV whilst revision is underway, but do let
your child work to music if they find it helpful
• Agree a place and a time for help – listening while
they do another chore can work too.
• It doesn’t need to be a marathon session: little
and often is usually best
• Recognise your own emotional state – if you are
tense or worrying about something else it may
not be a good time to work with your child
• Don’t be afraid to STOP if it isn’t going well. Try
to agree what the difficulty is and when to
come back together later
• ALWAYS end with praise (they’ll feel good and
you’ll feel good. It should be enjoyable for both
of you
Useful Websites
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/
• Advice on helping your child
• http://www.revisioncentre.co.uk/parents/help
ing_with_school_work.html
• Lots of advice about revision
• www.familylives.org.uk
• National family support charity
Aspire to Achieve
Thank you for attending this evening