GUMLEY HOUSE Convent School FCJ

KS3 Revision Booklet

At Gumley House we want you to achieve your full potential. It is proven that the more successful you are at KS3, the more likely you are to have success in your GCSEs. In every subject in KS3 your teachers are helping you to lay the foundations for the knowledge and skills you will need to acquire, as you step into the demands of KS4 courses.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to pass tests, but we can give you many tips on how to use your study time more effectively. This guide has been written to remind students about how to revise and how to learn. Revision means “to look at again”. You need to look at things again as part of learning as well as in preparation for exams. But we need active ways to do this “looking again”. Revision gives time for reflection and learning. You can start to see the big picture, you can add in more details and examples. You may discover something you still don’t understand and you can ask your teacher about it again. The idea is to “revise” each major section of your work shortly after you have finished it. For instance, you could draw a Mind Map of each major topic you cover. Keep the Mind Maps because they will be very useful for revising before tests.

HOT TIP: Be active and change the way you think.

KS3 - HOW TO REVISE…

WHY?

1. Revision helps learning.

2. Revision increases your achievement in tests.

3. Achievement in tests gives you wider choices later on.

4. Achievement will make everyone proud of you!

5. You will feel great!

It is important to be positive about yourself because people who think they can do well find it easier to learn. Think of five things that you felt good about doing, for example, winning a race or performing in front of a large audience, or being selected as Form Captain. Think about how you felt when you did those things and get yourself into a positive frame of mind.

HOT TIP: Develop a vision of success for yourself!

WHEN? Make sure you know when your tests are. Teachers will revise with you and give you advice about how much revision to do and what you should revise. Many will give you special notes and/or exam revision packs to help you with revising. Make yourself a revision timetable: Fill in leisure, relaxation and family commitments Put in some sessions that you can devote to revision Share out the available revision sessions between your subjects Allow extra sessions if you know some subjects will take longer than

others Vary the subjects – don’t do all your Maths revision on day one! Here’s an example for one weekend:

Morning Morning Afternoon Evening

Saturday Football Maths Geography

Science; RE Video

Sunday English Science

Lunch at gran’s

Still at gran’s French History

The ideal length to revise one topic is 25 to 45 minutes.

Go through your exercise books and textbooks and revise subjects in chunks, spending no more that 45 minutes on any one subject at one time. Your brain needs a break too! Set yourself a reasonable deadline for when you want to have revised and tested yourself on one topic. Then move no to the next. You will remember more at

the beginnings and the ends of sessions, so create more beginnings and ends by stopping for a brief break or doing a brain gym exercise.

HOT TIP: Stop and start – create brief breaks.

WHERE?

The ideal study room is light, airy and quiet. It has shelves and a desk. Some people are lucky enough to have this and enjoy working in it. Don’t worry if you haven’t got this. You can still try to have some of

the elements. Vary your revision place. It is a good idea to put up posters, lists and post-it notes in other places in the house.

Some students find that they revise well with friends and it is a good idea to do this sometimes as it provides variety and fun.

Ban the television! Television is too distracting, so make sure it is turned off when you are working. Remember to keep a space in your revision timetable for your favourite programmes.

• Revise in chunks. • You would not

eat a whole elephant at once!

• You would break it up into chunks, wouldn’t you?

•

•

•

• you.

WHAT?

What type of learner are you? How can you revise effectively? (VAK)

VISUAL

Prefer to see how to do things.

29% of us prefer to learn by storing images in our brains.

Possible revision techniques: • Use pictures, mind maps, computers, diagrams, flowcharts, key words, posters

and/or timelines. • Videos. • Use colour and highlighters to help the brain remember. • Write information in bullet points or as key words on “post-its” (they come in

different colours). • Careful lay out of notes.

AUDITORY

• Learn by listening and speaking. • 34% of us prefer to learn by storing sounds in our brains.

Possible revision techniques • Talk through the work with someone else. • Record notes and play them back. • Repeat your work out loud in funny voices. • Make up rhymes or raps about the work. • Get someone to ask you questions about the work.

KINESTHETIC

• Learn by doing. • 37% of us prefer to learn by movement or touch.

Possible revision techniques

• Create key word cards. • Put your notes on cards or “post-its” and sequence them (perhaps rank the cards in

order of importance or make them into sentences). • Walk between notes or “post-its” that are on the floor or on the walls. • Walk around while reading. • Stand up – stretch or exercise – at least every 20 minutes. • Draw pictures, mind maps – run a finger between the words on the map, saying each

one out loud.

HOW? There are three easy steps to doing revision well:

Change

Challenge

Treats

The first step is to try change. By changing what is in our exercise books or textbooks into a different form, we kick start our brains into action – we start thinking about new ways of presenting and digesting the information and we start learning. Ways to change things: Make diagrams Create labelled drawings Time-lines (for history) Mind maps Charts and flowcharts (for processes) Audio tapes (great for languages) Outline cards Mnemonics Use colours and

highlighters.

We work best when we are faced with a challenge.

Challenge yourself to really sort out a topic that you have found difficult. Think about the following ideas/questions:

Will taking a new approach and turning it into a chart, diagram or mind map help?

Could I get someone else to test me after I have

learned something new? We learn extremely well when we have to teach

someone else – why not try teaching one of your parents, a brother or sister, your grandparents or even your friends? Get them to ask you questions about what you have just taught them. Can you answer their questions?

HOT TIP: Believe in yourself – you CAN do it!

OUTLINE CARDS

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Treats Don’t forget to allow yourself some treats. Break up your revision sessions and plan some treats to look forward to: fruit, chocolate, a drink, ten minutes in the garden, glancing at a magazine, going for a walk…whatever will motivate you. Remember, breaking up your revision gives you more stops and starts and more stops and

starts will increase your learning.

Relaxation is also important to help you stop feeling the pressure of tests and getting

stressed. Find a simple technique that works for you and practise using it if you become

stressed or can’t sleep. You could try:

A warm bath Visualising yourself passing the test Brain gym exercises Meditating Deep breathing Going for a walk Asking someone to give you a head massage Yoga Listening to music.

HOT TIP: Feed your brain! Fresh fruit, water, fish and vegetables

give you brain power!

STAY MOTIVATED!

A big goal will require both a great deal of hard work and persistence. You need to keep your energy and enthusiasm levels high, and this is within your own control. Gaining your target levels or even exceeding your target levels is what you should aim for and at Gumley House we recognise such excellence.

DON’T GET STRESSED!

Easier said than done when your revision starts to go off the rails! Talk to your friends about what you have revised and let your parents know if you are worried. Keeping calm will mean you keep your cool and achieve the target levels that you want.

Prepare for your Assessment Week

Anxiety about your tests can ruin all your hard work just when it matters. However you can reduce your anxiety greatly by taking control of the situation. At http://getrevising.co.uk/ you can prepare by making all the timetables and revision cue cards that you need.

USEFUL WEBSITES TO HELP YOU

SAM learning

BBC Bitesize

getrevising.co.uk

mymaths.co.uk

www.educationquizzes.com/ks3

Doddle Learn (Science)

Linguascope.com

OTHER RESOURCES:

Subject revision guides, e.g. CCP

Revision packs

WHY NOT TRY THESE LEARNING/REVISION TECHNIQUES?

Map it Create a mind map with the key points. Stick it on the wall.

Mnemonic it Use the first letter of key words to create a sentence.

(e.g. Naughty Elephants Squirt Water.)

Index it Write the key points on index cards. Use them to learn the

sequence too.

Journey it Remember lists of information by creating events and images at certain points on a journey.

Timeline it A great technique for dates or sequences. Place them in order along a line. Add colour and pictures.

1954 1976 1981

Record it Let your brain really hear your work. Record yourself talking about it – even play it as you fall asleep.

Sing it Set some of your work to some familiar music or make up your own tune. Use rhythm, make the words rhyme or even create a rap.

Story it Create a bizarre and multi-sensory story, using key points.

Flip it Write questions and answers and flip them. (Give yourself the answers and work out the questions. Then check if you are correct.)

Comic it Create your own comic strip using the main points.

Post it Write key words onto post its and stick them around your room.

Click it Create a presentation about the key points.

Create your own revision timetable

Week

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

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