Kelly Coleman  

English Teacher
Upper School Teaching and Learning Coordinator
ELIS Murcia

 

Students are forever preparing for different exams, whether they be internal assessments to monitor their progress in school, or external assessments that will provide them with the qualifications that they need to achieve their goals in the future. For many, the prospect of revision can be overwhelming – where do you even begin? For parents, we are desperate to support our children and provide them with any opportunity and support that we can that will enable them to do their best.

One of the mistakes we often make is thinking that the more we revise, the better we will do. In reality, it is not how long you study for that is important, rather it is how you study. Are you using effective revision strategies to maximise your chances of success? The reality is that revision can become all-consuming and does not always achieve the desired outcomes. It is important to note that on average, a typical 14-year-old child can concentrate for approximately 28 minutes, raising to 32 minutes by the age of 16. With this in mind, it becomes more and more important to find ways of revising that will not only allow them to remember what they learn, but will also allow them to achieve an appropriate balance of work and day to day activities such as sports and social activities.

In his 2023 research, William Wadsworth surveyed 40,000 secondary school students discovering that 76% of Year 10-13 students are not spacing their revision consistently. Repetition has become a common strategy in revising, particularly when spacing it out across a period of time or interleaving it with other units and topics. In “chunking” revision, what we are actually doing is revising it, shutting it away, and then not returning to it. In the 19th Century, psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, discovered that after one week, we would only retain 25% of what we had learnt, therefore, it is vital that we space are revision and return to topics at reasonable intervals.

Many students here at ELIS use flashcards as part of their revision. These are an excellent tool for summarising and condensing information into smaller chunks. Despite this, 40% of students, according to Wadsworth, spend the majority of their time re-reading them rather than testing themselves with them. Flashcards for different topics can be re-used at regular intervals across the revision period and even mixed with other topics and subjects. A continuous pattern of testing enables students to continually bring to the front of their memory, key information that may have been forgotten about.

For some students, revision has come to mean simply re-reading notes, highlighting information or making notes, often resulting in less recall of the key knowledge. 37% of students use this as a key revision strategy, but in doing so, are relying on a photographic memory rather than actively waking up core memories that they have.

At ELIS Murcia, following feedback from a student panel, students from Years 7-13 are undertaking PSHE sessions designed to focus on different revision strategies and teach them the different methods that will work for them as individuals and enable them to achieve success in their exams. Strategies include the use of technology software to more traditional strategies such as Cornell notes and Dual-Coding. As part of this, students are encouraged to produce a realistic revision plan that allows them to revise whilst fulfilling their out of school commitments, promoting both their physical and mental wellbeing. In providing them with an array of different strategies, students can feel empowered in managing their revision time effectively in a manageable and beneficial way.