My Revision History

So as I've said before i have been a Maths Tutor and a Science Tutor for the last 6 years and am a Physics teacher in a school, but in this post i want to let you know about my own experience with revision and how i built up my techniques.

So as we all know the first really important exams we take are our GCSE's, obviously we have important exams in school before then but these are the first ones we take that could really effect the rest of our lives, where we go to University, what jobs we can get etc etc! I never really worried about any exams before this and therefore never really worried about revision, thinking that I'd just worry about doing that when the GCSE's come along and I'll be fine, therefore i never really built up any study skills. The revision i did do wasn't really any good, mainly just reading over notes and then reading over them again, maybe getting a family member to test me on some facts but that's about it, pretty bad revision really. Luckily this served me fine and i got fairly good grades in my GCSE's, my exam technique has always been really good as well (luckily) which really helped. When it came to A levels i thought i could continue using this system as it had served me well so far and putting in more effort seemed like hard work and if i could avoid that then all the better. Unfortunately i was definitely wrong!! This time round in my first set of modules my glorious, not much effort system failed! This was the wake up call I'd been waiting for (even though i didn't know i was waiting for it). Problem was i didn't know how else to revise, i didn't have the routine of working consistently throughout a term, my routine was solely based on last minute revision and this is a predicament that is difficult to get out of! So i just modified my last minute revision technique slightly (not much mind you), relied on my good exam technique and thankfully it worked! Just well enough to get me the grades i needed for University, not all A's by any means even though i could easily have achieved all A's if i knew how to make the most of my revision time as i do now.

So University is another step up again both in terms of the difficulty of the exams and in terms of the distractions during term time! Now as I've said I'd never been great at working consistently during term time and University was no exception, part of the reason i went to University was for fun so i wasn't going to let work get in the way. Luckily for me i made some really good friends on my course who helped and i picked up lots of revision tips from them and also from other friends. My revision technique was still centred on last minute revision, even though at Uni last minute was a slightly longer period than it had been before. Some might call my lack of work during term time laziness but I'd call it productivity, why take many hours/weeks of boredom to achieve the same results that can be achieved in a few rushed hours/days at the end. In fact i found i worked better when stressed in the last few days before an exam, i needed the stress of an exam looming to kick my brain into gear. Now this may not work for everyone but it certainly worked for me. I had a great time at University and still got a really good degree a 2.1 in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Manchester. I'm sure most would agree not an easy degree at all, but all my revision was last minute and i got over 90% in a lot of my exams. I even got 72% in one of my Astrophysics modules and I'd only got a full copy of the notes together at 9pm the night before the exam (the exam was at 9am the next day). Admittedly i did have to stay up until 4am but still! This is how good my last minute revision technique had gotten and i want to share it with you. Last minute stress is not for everybody, my aim here is to minimise your stress, and the best way to learn and to do well is to work consistently throughout term understanding the material as you go along. But if like me you just can get yourself to do this no matter how hard you try then these tips are for you! They will work just as well for someone who has worked consistently throughout the term and wants to know how to get the best out of their revision too. So in this blog i am going to share with you all the exams and revision tips i have learnt over the years, but was never taught. If only someone had taught me these tips when i was 16 then i wouldn't have had to put up with all those A level module resits!

Study Skills Expert Blog

So just a quick post to let you know what I'll be writing about and who i am. I'm a Physics teacher at on of the leading schools in Manchester and have also been a personal tutor for the last 6 years. I have a degree in Physics with Astrophysics and trained to be a teacher in Manchester. I have always had a interest in study skills, mainly due to the lack of instruction i had in them while at school and my own discovery of what worked for me while at University. While i was completing my teacher training i undertook a research project which looked at study skills and the benefit of students taking specific lessons in study skills. My study showed that specific lessons in study skills dramatically increased students confidence with revision and exams which reduced stress and lead to a much better understanding of the subject. It is thus that i am starting this blog with lots of hints and tips for revision and reducing the stress of exams. Hopefully it'll be of some help.