How to revise!

Remember!

•Different strategies work for different people

•Learning styles: – visual, – auditory, – kinaesthetic (practical)

You need to use a range of strategies!

What strategies can you use?

• Flash cards• Practice questions• Internet• Revising with / testing

friends• Labelled diagrams

• Writing notes• Writing lists• Underlining in notes• Star diagrams• Mind maps• Mnemonics

Writing notes

• It is better to rewrite notes than to simply read through work

• Don’t rewrite everything, you need to cut down on the amount of information

• Do make sure you have enough detail!

Summarise!

Writing lists

• Lists are a good way of remembering information or advantages / disadvantages for a topic

• Write lists as bullet points

• Use small pictures to help you e.g. Quarrying Limestone

Advantages Disadvantages

Used to make cement and glass

Noise pollution and increased traffic

When writing lists…….

• If you use a colour (e.g. green for good and red for bad) use the same colours every time

• Use a different colour to highlight

• 5 points is a good number to remember

• Little drawings are a good way of helping you remember points, even a silly drawing will help!

Using numbers!

You may be able to remember numbers more easily than names. If this is the case try to put figures with points where you can.

E.g. ‘Recycling is good’ would become ‘Recycling uses only 5-10% of the energy used to extract a metal from its ore’

Using labelled diagrams

• An excellent way to learn especially for visual learners!

Underlining in notes• Its difficult to remember a page of notes if they

are all the same font and colour

• Use colour / different sizes for heading / key points

• Underline key points or draw borders round them

like this!

• Use diagrams, lists and pictures to break up pages of notes

Mind maps• Like a star / spider diagram but contains

much more detail and demonstrates links between material more clearly

Revising with friends

ADVANTAGES:

can talk about the work

can test each other

easier to remember facts if spoken out loud

DISADVANTAGES

Too easy to talk about something more interesting instead!

Exam questions

1. Use past questions as you revise to make sure you have the notes / case studies necessary to get full marks

2. Test yourself under exam conditions

Mnemonics

• Use the first letter of a series of words to create another word

• The sillier the better! E.g. OILRIG )

O oxidation R reductionI is I isL loss G gain of electrons

Revision cards

• Put separate topic / case study on each card

• Keep topics together

• Don’t try to put too much information on each card

Revision card example

Ionic bonding

Metal bonds with a non-metal:

•Metal loses electrons to form positive ion

•Non-metal gains electrons to form a negative ion

•Oppositely charged ions attract

•Overall charge = 0

Practical learners

• Post-it notes

• Walk around

• Use the rooms space e.g. one side of the room for good points, the other side for bad points

• Make shapes with your hands

• Make something (a mobile, a tower)

Auditory learners

• Record your notes as an mp3 file (and listen to them!)

• Speak aloud

• Tell someone else what you have learned

Visual learners

• Use pictures, video• Use coloured pens / highlighters• Remember white space• Form a ‘mental picture’ to try to ‘see’ the

whole topic e.g. Reaction rates .…. How do things link together? What affects rate and why? What make particles collide successfully?

• Use mind maps

Other points!

• To get you started, make your first revision session 5-10 minutes – then have a break

• You should then find it easier to go back to• Organise yourself• Plan a revision timetable• Take breaks of 5-10 minutes every 25 minutes• If you are worried speak to someone!• DON’T leave it all until the last minute

Task!

Do past exam questions – and get them marked! You need to know if what you are doing is working.

Useful websites

• KS3 www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize

• KS4 www.docbrown.info

www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/gcse

• KS5 www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry

www.succeedingwithscience.com/labmouse