Why Your Child Should Be Revising NOW
It’s January, the kids are going back to school, for year 11s we are now in that run up to the exams (assuming that they go ahead), and some very organised young people will be getting out the coloured pens and highlighters and beginning to plan their revision, draw mindmaps and get on with it. To be honest though, they are probably in the minority. In my free Facebook group, Education Support 4 Parents, most parents said that when they were at school they didn’t revise!
Schools will be talking about revision, but there are many reasons why a young person may not find that they are able to (or want to) start. I’ve written the following as a helpful explanation, so that you can use this when you talk to them about revision.
When should you start revising?
Two quotes that I love for this are:
But it doesn’t explain why revision works. You and your child need to understand the forgetting curve, and the reason why going back over learning helps. It’s not that they didn’t grasp the work, it’s that we forget 50% of what we learn within an hour!
By covering it again, and again and spacing it out your child will not forget it. In turn, recall becomes quicker and easier. I’ve written a blog post explaining it which you can read here.
That’s why I recommend starting now. Go back over things your child did some time ago.
By starting now, they can do a little at a time and balance school work with revision, rest and play.
How to Revise
I’ll give more details on ways to revise over the next few weeks, but here are a few tips to get you both started:
- Structure is essential for revision, it can be really difficult to get started without it and your child needs to understand themselves. If you need extrinsic (external) motivation, how can you work together to put that in place? Can they have a study buddy, or a tutor? (I have the perfect tutoring package for maths revision). How else can you help your child get that support and motivation? If you are a ticklist person, create lists and find someone to hold you accountable. Alternatively, put money in a jar for each hour you revise so that you have a visual track of what you have been doing, and a reward for after!
- Use resources for structure so that they can have an aim. Get your child a revision guide with a matching workbook to work through. If you don’t know which revision guide to get for maths, read my e-book explaining the differences to help you make an informed decision, it’s like a ‘Which?’ guide to maths resources. The bundle covers apps and websites as well.
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- The most important thing with knowing how to revise is that your child understands their weaknesses and focus on them. Don’t cover what they know well already, as that is pointless and a waste of precious time. For example, in maths they could only do the questions towards the end of practice papers, or the harder topics.
- Practice exam questions for their exam board. There are plenty of past papers on the web and by marking them together, you can understand how marks are awarded. You can also have a look at examiners reports. Use them to understand where those who sat the paper went wrong, so that you can help your child to avoid the same mistakes.
For all of the month of January I’m focusing on revision. There’s less than 20 weeks until the exams start, and starting now works. I’ve seen predicted grades go up over this term, time and time again, when a young person starts revising. What are you waiting for? Your child’s future self relies on them revising!