We all need some help!
The new style 9-1 GCSEs 2017
• More rigorous in their content
• More rote learning / closed book
examinations
• Changes in tiers of entry in some
subjects
REVISION IS MORE IMPORTANT
THAN EVER BECAUSE COURSEWORK IS
BEING REMOVED.
When – when should they revise?
They should have already started
because the time in Yr11 flies by –
honest!
Little and often is the best way.
Get them
organised
with a
revision
timetable
revisionworld.com
•
•
•
Free to register
Enter names of exams and topics / number of sessions
Will generate a revision timetable
Where – where are they going to revise?
All of these:
A quiet place at home with a desk and
stationery...
In bed – rereading information / notes...
On the bus – listening to an audio version
of a text, notes, formulas…
With a friend at lunchtime – testing each
with quiz questions / repeating quotes...
In a computer room after school – using
suggested websites...
Time management problems
• Studying for hours on end results in a
student who is not actually learning
anything.
• Time Management Technique – the
Pomodoro method (it’s a real thing) –
suggests setting a timer / app for 25 mins
and focusing on just one task. Then break
for 5 mins and do something completely
different.
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO REVISE...
This is the important bit...
STARING AT THE BOOK FOR
HOURS ON END IS NOT ACTUALLY
REVISING – IT IS STARING AT
THE BOOK...and very few people have
photographic memories…
They need to be pro-active!
24 – 7
• If you know something 24 hours after
you have learnt it, it is in your shortterm memory.
• If you know it 7 days later, it is in
your long-term memory.
• They need to keep revisiting topics
and retesting their knowledge.
How can they revise smartly?
• Reduce it by working out what they
do know and what they don’t know.
Get them to concentrate on
understanding the ‘don’t know’ topics.
• Get them to begin with jotting down
everything they know about a topic…
this should guide them towards the
areas they need to focus on.
I
already
know
that I
am
very
cute!
If getting started is the
problem…
• Encourage them to
have a set time to
start – and finish!
• Use a revision
timetable and stick
to it wherever
possible.
If certain topics don’t come easy
• Make them a number 1 priority… NOW!
• Break them into even smaller revision
units
• Get them to give themselves twice as
long to revise these topics
• Get them to test themselves after every
revision session
• Encourage them to get a ‘study partner’
to help and encourage them
If they can’t master something
and it’s getting them down?
• Tell them to stop
struggling immediately –
it’s draining their energy.
• Get them to make a note
of the problem and ask
the subject teacher for
help the next day.
If they have no sense of time?
• Encourage them to get
used to working under
time limits by allocating
10, 20, 30 or 40 minutes
to revise a topic, do a
test or write an essay.
• This will make them
familiar with the time
limits they’ll allocate to
questions during exams.
Here are a range of
techniques – you can
encourage your son /
daughter to use…
…for any subject
HIGH 5
• Decide on 5 key words / ideas /
themes for each topic they are
studying and rank order them…
PAST PAPER PRACTICE
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
• Use the internet / get them to speak
to teachers and get copies of past
papers.
They could be extra
cunning and just do plans
for some…
RANDOM SELECTION
• Encourage them to work with other
people - get someone else to select a
quote or fact from the text(s) and see
if they can explain it / make some
comments on it…
CHARTS / GRIDS
• Devise their own chart / grid to
display information they are learning.
Transforming
information
helps it
to stick…
SKETCHING / DRAWING
• Sketch the key characters from a
novel / from history / famous
scientists and label them with key
words
(exaggerate the sketch to make it even
more memorable)
MIND MAPS
• Produce mind maps for each topic /
chapter / event
• Mind maps are good at start of
revision to see what they actually
already know!
MAKE A POSTER ABOUT A TOPIC
• Use internet / notes and produce
their own poster or fact sheet about
each of their revision topics.
LISTEN AND LEARN
• Get them to record themselves
reading a text or saying key notes /
quotes / formula so they can play
them back at their convenience – when
walking to school, on the bus, in the
car...
QUIZZES
• Get them to devise a series of quiz
questions – they can then work with a
friend who does a different section /
topic or another text.
POST IT NOTES / CUE CARDS
• Reduce to a post it / cue card.
Reduce each topic, chapter, concept,
theme to the size of a post it.
• As they learn things they reduce
again.
EQUIPMENT
• Supply the student with a revision
pack of stationery: post-it notes,
highlighters, coloured pens and
pencils, cue cards, folders, binders…
•
•
•
•
DON’T PANIC
Accept this is going to be a
stressful time for all.
Keep positive.
Get them to attend every
day.
Remind yourself (and them)
it will end… and they’ll have a
brilliant Summer!
Resilience
4 written exams + speaking task
English paper 1 = 1hr 45mins
English paper 2 = 1hr 45mins
Literature paper 1 = 1hr 45mins
Literature paper 2 = 2hr 15mins
Pre 20th century content
Cotherstone Academy Aug. 7. 1822
Dear Father
Our Master has arrived at Cotherstone, but I was sorry to learn he had no Letter for me nor
anything else, which made me very unhappy. If you recollect, I promised that I would write you a
sly Letter, which I assure you I have not forgot, and now an opportunity has come at last. I hope,
my dear Father, you will not let Mr. Smith know anything about it for he would flog me if he knew
it. I hope, my dear Father, you will write me a Letter as soon as you receive this, but pray don’t
mention anything about this in yours; only put a X at the bottom, or write to my good Friend Mr.
Halmer, who is very kind to me and he will give it to me when I go to Church. He lives opposite
and I assure you, my dear Father, they are the kindest Friends I have in Yorkshire and I know he
will not show it to Mr. Smith for the Letters I write you are all examined before they leave the
School. I am obliged to write what Mr. Smith tells us and the letters you send me are all examined
by Mr. Smith before I see them, so I hope, my dear Father, you will mention nothing of this when
you write.
It is now two years come October since I left you at Islington, but I hope, my dear Father, you will
let me come home at Xmas that we may once more meet again alive - if God permit me to live as
long. Our bread is nearly black; it is made of the worst Barley Meal, and our Beds are stuffed with
chaff1 and I assure you we are used more like Bears than Christians2 . Believe me, my dear
Father, I would rather be obliged to work all my life time than remain here another year.
George is quite well but very unhappy.
Your respectful son
Henry
How can you help?
• Encourage students to read widely:
newspapers, letters, articles, blogs,
diaries…
• Students will be set weekly paper 2
homeworks which will include pre 20th
century material.
It’s all about the quotes!
If they tell you they have nothing
to do…they can always be learning
key quotations…
What exams they need to
learn quotes for?
Literature Paper 1
• ‘Romeo & Juliet’ / ‘Macbeth’
• ‘The Sign of Four’ / ‘A Christmas Carol’
Literature Paper 2
• ‘An Inspector Calls’
• Cluster poetry – Power & Conflict / Love
and Relationships
How many do they need to know?
This is a bit like asking how long
is a piece of string…
They need to know enough KEY QUOTES
that they can use a variety in their
essays.
They need to learn enough to cover
possible question topics.
How often should they learn them?
• Little and often.
• 24-7. If they know a quote 24 hours
later, it is in their short term memory.
If they know it a week later, there is a
good chance it is in their long term
memory.
• They need to keep revisiting
their selected quotes…
How can you help them learn
quotes…
• Remind them - just looking at them is
not learning them!
• Ensure they are actively learning and
not passive…
REPETITION – VISUALLY / AURALLY
• Get student to put quotes on cue cards
and dot around the house so they see
them over and over.
• Record yourself speaking them and play
back on headphones in ‘dead’ time e.g. on
the bus, waiting for a lift, on a journey
in the car…
Look / Say / Cover /
Write / Check
• This is how you helped them learn
spellings when at primary school…
• Because they use more than one sense
(sight, sound, touch/feel) there is more
chance of quote sticking in their brain.
Mnemonics
• Get them to look for patterns in
quotes and silly reminders
• TTTTBB – four teas / two biscuits
“teach the torches to burn bright”
(Romeo & Juliet)
Say it to a tune
• Encourage students to say different
quotes to particular tunes / beats or
rhythms to help them stick…
• “Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou
Romeo?” to the tune of ‘This old man, he
played one’
Analyse / annotate
• Get them to write each quote on a
cue card / middle of a piece of paper
• Analyse / Annotate it
Visualise
• Encourage
students to
create pictures
in their minds…
“Like a rich
jewel in an
Ethiop’s ear”
Don’t panic – paraphrase!
• Tell them if they can’t remember the
whole quote – just put the bits they are
sure about.
Eg. Romeo says Juliet is
like a precious gem in an
earring in an ‘Ethiop’s ear’…
We all need some help!
Oxford
Literature
Companion
Revision guides –
all available on Amazon
CGP
Mr
Bruff
Helpful websites and apps
• www.getrevising.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/m
rbruff/playlists
www.litcharts.com
• Create a free log-in (no spam!) and receive a
20 page study guide.
• Lots of different activities and revision
elements to cover the Literature texts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/t
opics/z2b2tyc
GOJIMO
• Be mindful not all units for English have been
updated to the new specification.
• The texts for English Literature still explore the
relevant themes, characters and overall
understanding so still worth a look!
PiXLit
• Coming soon!
• Students use school issued log-in to access
Literature texts, quote learning activities,
quizzes etc.
Revision sessions
• Every Tuesday after school and Wednesday
lunchtime.
• All sessions repeated 4 times from October up
to exams.