The ONE Email students must read before they start revising

Revision is horrible.

Students are not taught how to revise in schools.

They are slapped with huge textbooks.

Directed towards past paper websites.

And then are made to feel guilty when they either haven’t revised,

Or worse,

Have tried to do some revision,

But end up sitting there feeling useless as nothing seems to work.

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There is also SO MUCH NOISE.

Your Facebook feeds are likely filled with ads for new revision textbooks,

Other parents complaining about their teenager’s motivation or revision habits,

And horror stories of teenagers who flunked their exams.

That’s why in this newsletter,

And in all my other weekly newsletters to come,

I am going to simplify.

Could I teach you about the memory palace and Parkinson’s law?

Sure.

And who knows maybe it will come up one day.

But most importantly,

I want to give clear,

Simplified,

And strategic tips,

That are going to get your teenager more marks in less time.

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How does strategic revision work?

Most students are focusing on the wrong things.

Whether that’s full past papers,

Or endless notes on photosynthesis,

Students are not preparing to ‘beat the exams.’

Strategic revision is all about reverse engineering the exams.

But not to worry if that sounds complex,

I know I promised simplicity,

I am going to do the reverse engineering for you.

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Let me give you an example.

Most people spend hours and hours making aimless notes.

And then once they are content,

They will spend a couple hours doing a past paper,

Mark it,

Either pat themselves on the back or have a quick cry,

Stash it in a draw, never to be seen again,

And move on.

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Instead,

I strong recommend students start off with the past papers.

Information is not equal when it comes to your teenager’s exams.

A more importantly,

Information is pointless if you cannot apply your knowledge to the questions in the exams in the EXACT way that the examiner is looking for.

The test isn’t how many facts you can recall about photosynthesis or MacBeth,

The test is can you tick off the marking criteria that the examiner is looking for.

And to do that,

Students need to obsess over the past papers,

Not as a vehicle to see what grade they are working at,

But as a vehicle to see where they are losing the easiest marks.

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Strategic revision is all about understanding which information a student should prioritise based on how likely it is to come up in the exam.

They then need to understand in what capacity it comes up – i.e the types of questions.

And then how the examiners want the answers presented for that particular question..

Finally, the most important step,

And the step where the actual revision starts,

Kicks off by asking the following question:

What is the easiest thing that I am getting wrong, that is likely to come up, that I can easily fix?

Then, and only then, do you start revising.

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I hope you all have a great week ahead,

Best wishes,

Joel