REVISION TECHNIQUES

Practise key skills

➤ Part A of many questions will involve drawing a sketch map or interpreting charts, graphs or statistics.

➤ Make sure that you practise these, using past exam papers as examples – practice is the only way to get better at these key skills.

Timing

➤ When revising, practise sticking to the timing for each question.

➤ Allow yourself the amount of time that you would have in the exam to answer a particular question and try to get the question fully answered in this time.

➤ The more you do this the quicker you will get and the easier it will be to stick to the timings in the exam.

Keywords and bullet points

➤ When you start revising, you will probably have pages of notes for each topic that you made or got from your teacher.

➤ When revising topics for the first time, summarise these notes and make them shorter – emphasising the crucial points.

➤ When you revise the topic again, reduce the material down further – emphasising keywords, examples and figures that you will be able to elaborate on in the exam. Flashcards can be of huge benefit here.

➤ Create a list of keywords and definitions for each topic.

Marking schemes

➤ Marking schemes are available online for all past exam papers. This is an excellent way to see what information had to be included in previous questions.

Study plan

➤ A well-organised study plan is key to effective revision. ➤ Don’t sit down and start studying whatever topic you come across first.

➤ Have clear aims and goals set out before you begin. ➤ Identify the topics that you feel you know least well and plan to spend extra time on these.