When GCSE exams are approaching, it can be a hard time for young students. They have a lot of information to absorb, and need to be able to hold onto that information for exam day.
If you want to attain the highest results in your GCSEs, then you must learn the skills that you need to help you retain the vital information about your studied subjects. And of course, you will need to do lots of revision, with these elements combining to give you your best chance of excelling on exam day.
So, with no further ado, let’s take a look at some of the ways in which you can better ensure exam success when taking on your GCSEs.
Hiring a Tutor
Some students can struggle with certain aspects of their learning. It could be that they are having problems with math or that they are behind in English. This is where some additional support can be helpful in the form of hiring a tutor. There are many people and companies that are now offering online GCSE tuition.
It is important to find a tutor who has the right qualifications so that they can provide the right support. They should also have a knowledge of what will be required in the GCSE exams, which will enable them to prepare you for what you will need to study and revise.
When you hire a tutor, it needs to fit in around your other commitments and study time, which will help to prevent you from becoming overwhelmed.
Recognise Information
You may think that rereading your textbooks over and again will help you recall the information. However, this can lead to a mere familiarity with the text, instead of necessarily helping you to learn it. One useful technique here could be to create flashcards that you can use to test yourself while you are studying. This will help you to recall all the information in a test format.
Flash cards can work for a range of subjects; you simply put the question on one side and the answer on the other. It can sometimes be helpful to ask someone else to test you, as this will remove the temptation to look on the other side before you guess.
Take Regular Breaks
It is widely believed that the attention span of a 16-year-old is roughly 35 to 45 minutes. This can be longer if they are doing something that they genuinely enjoy. This is why it is important for you to build regular breaks into your study time.
As an average, a young person revising for their GCSE exams should take a five-minute break for every 35 to 40 minutes of study. This should be repeated until they have finished studying.
Although some may perceive that such an approach would cause a waste of study time, a student who uses this formula of taking regular breaks will actually be likelier to retain the information that they learn.
Create Prompts for Essays
Essays can be one of the most daunting elements of an exam. The good news, though, is that there is a way in which you can learn what you want to write, so that you can recall the information later. This entails creating “prompts” that will guide you through the essay without you having to remember every word.
At the revision stage, you can create those prompts as follows: begin by writing an essay in your favoured word-processing program, before reducing the information until you have the main points. You can then revise these main points specifically, which will assist you in remembering them once you are in the exam hall.
Use Memory Skills
The brain can only absorb so much information in a short time. This means that what you do try to remember needs to be important and give as much help as possible. Fortunately, there are ways in which you can learn to remember things easily.
- Instead of trying to learn everything, break it down into smaller chunks and try to abbreviate it if possible.
- Remember the relevant points of a topic instead of the whole thing. Once you know the main points, it will be easier to create the answer without learning vast amounts of text.
- Try to make the process as interesting as possible. This isn’t always easy, but the more interesting you can make it, the easier it will be to retain it.
Create a Revision Sheet
To make the revision process easier, create a revision sheet on which you write down the main points of each topic, along with any formulas you will need to know. The trick is to avoid making this overly detailed; it needs to be a reminder, instead of a whole learning block.
Add any abbreviations or draw diagrams to help you remember the main points as easily as possible. You can then refer to this sheet whenever you get a spare moment. It will make revision easier, and you can do it when you have spare time.
Conclusion
Trying to remember all the information that you need for your GCSE exams can be difficult. With these tips, however, you can go some way to making the process easier and retain a greater amount of relevant information – all the better for maximising your chances of exam success.
*This is a collaborative post