A-LEVEL STUDY TIP: TRACK YOUR REVISION! ⏰📝

As an A-level biology student, you’re no stranger to studying for tests. But how do you make sure you’re studying properly, and when are you supposed to find the time to fit the necessary studying steps into your daily routine? Well, keep reading this blog post to find out how to do exactly that!

STOP FORGETTING WHAT YOU JUST LEARNED

Did you know that your brain will forget half of what you’ve learned in a lesson within the first hour? Even worse, if you don’t look over that new information at all, that knowledge will be almost gone completely within the first week! Clearly, revision is important when it comes to getting that A*, but where do you find the time to fit that revision in, and what technique works best when it comes to retaining that information?

Research shows that in order for a piece of theory to stick in your long-term memory successfully, you need to revise it 5 times. So, how do you possibly find time to revise your topics 5 times in addition to everything else you have to do?

The good news is that you’re homework and prep for exams count in this 5-time revision. So in between your initial homework and your exam preparations, you need to find time to revise 3 other times. When you revise, I recommend you use techniques that fall under the category of “active recall”. 

ACTIVE RECALL

The most effective revision tools are any that involve active recall, or techniques that require you to test yourself to make sure you understand and remember the content. My personal favourite active recall techniques include making flashcards, blurting, and text to image (or image to text!). You can get an overview of active recall study techniques by using my Active Recall Workbook. Stay away from passive recall, like reading the textbook or rewriting notes. Ideally, you should be doing a mixture of the different techniques listed above, as each provides you with a different skill you can improve upon. If you would like to see an example of how I would make each of these techniques, you can watch my youtube video here!

USING THE SPECIFICATION: HOW TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY

When figuring out what you should focus on for your A-levels, be sure to refer back to the specification. As you already know, the specification is a huge document, with a lot of information. To use this document to your advantage, I would suggest you make a list of the subheadings and main topic headings on the specification, and check off topics as you revise them. Now, this process can be time consuming, so I have created a study tracker for you! 

MY STUDY TRACKER IS AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS LINK!

WHY TRACKING YOUR REVISION HELPS 

This study tracker covers all of the subtopics for the 4 major exam boards in the UK, and allows you to track when you have revised a topic 5 times, in 5 different ways. Tracking your revision encourages you to do a range of different active recall strategies, so you can make sure you’re retaining that information into your long term memory. By tracking your revision, you ensure your setting yourself up for success and on track to get that A* you’ve been aiming for!

HOW TO USE THE TRACKER

For each subtopic, there’s a drop-down menu to select how far through a review activity you are. As you review and check things off, your progress is recorded as a percentage of reviews completed. You also have an overall percentage of how far through each topic you are for your revision (ex. if you’ve studied half the material, you’re tracker will help you see that you’re 50% through). For each review, select which activity you completed from another dropdown menu to help make sure you’re completing a range of activities.

As you revise, track your status! The tracker lets you record whether you’ve not started, started, or completed a review, and what activity you did as that review – such as concept map, flashcards, homework, blurting, exam questions, and so on. Your goal should be to hit each topic 5 times, using a range of these active recall study techniques. 

Overall, this tracker helps you see you’re completing and reviewing your topics throughout the course. It helps keep you motivated, shows you your progress in percentage and colour (if you’re more of a visual learner) and is meant to be used from the start of the course.

MORE OF A VISUAL LEARNER?

Check out my YouTube video on this topic to see an example of the best way to do this.

 Hope these tips should help you stay motivated and teach you the exact processes you need to be continually doing in order to achieve that sought after A*! Comment down below: what should the next blog post should be about? 

Happy Studying!

– Miss Estruch