The objective of this unit is to provide students with a range of tactics and strategies to make their revision a helpful, active learning experience.

This unit offers strategies to manage revision, including when and where to study, and how to plan a revision timetable, as well as active revision techniques.

Students are encouraged to see revision as a structured and planned activity that is conducive to good learning, rather than a panic response to an approaching exam. They are helped to recognise that revision means a return to prior learning rather than a first look at a topic, and advised on how to arrange their environment, avoid distractions and draft a workable revision timetable.

This unit lends itself to being both a whole-class activity as well as one that students can do on their own. It is recommended that this could be most usefully introduced early in the school year as an early marker and returned to as exams approach. It would also be helpful for students if the activities were reinforced by setting aside time in class for making a revision timetable and occasionally returning to the topic by asking how students are getting on with adhering to the timetables they have drawn up for themselves. This will encourage discussion about what works and what doesn't.

Like many of the other skills shown in this series, practice and reinforcement on a regular basis is the key to effective use of what is learnt.

Extension

• Support the learning in this unit by working on other units that offer other complementary skills, such as 'Exam preparation' and 'Time management'.
• Review any strategies that were used again after tests or exams. Pay particular attention to discussing those strategies that pupils found useful and those that failed, and discuss why.