How NOT to revise for science GCSE.
Studying can be a strenuous activity. So, time after time, we resort to using old age study methods we think are effective but they are actually not very effective.
Scientific studies have identified revision techniques that actually work! And these are the ones we should be using more often. We’ll discuss them in the next post, but for now, let’s look at some of the most common revision methods we use to revise for science GCSE that may not be serving us well.
Highlighting.
This is one of the most common mistakes students make. I have been through this road before, so I can totally relate. There have been so many times when I’ve marked up key texts and pointers so that I can skim them over right before my exams.
But there’s a problem with highlighting. In reality, when we highlight sentences, we remember the highlighted word, but we do not integrate all the key information together. This means that we are able to retain the keywords we have highlighted but cannot form a connection between the entire topic. Studies conducted by L. L. Johnson (1988) for example, found that students who highlighted texts performed better on questions relating to the text they’ve highlighted but worse in everything else.
So, while highlighting does have its place in revision, we’ll need to use other more effective study techniques that will help us fully integrate our knowledge of the specific topic.
Re-reading.
Students usually read and review text to understand and learn. This is another frequently-used method that is not very effective. Why? Because it’s a passive method. Reading something repeatedly does play a role in helping us revise, but the information does not enter our long-term memory. This means that it is harder to recall later on. What we need are more active methods that will help us remember and understand the topic. More about this in the next post.
Reading alone is also not always an effective strategy student for studying science. Subjects like chemistry, biology, and math require a deeper level of thinking and analytical skills as well as ample practice. For example, many students struggle with quantitative chemistry (the calculations part) but, by continuously practicing that unit, they’ll eventually become a pro.
Cramming.
Cramming is another revision method that is outdated in today’s learning world. But, with a large science curriculum, students often resort to cramming. They memorise significant chunks of information in one go and blurt it back out in a test, without understanding the content.
The problem is, cramming causes a lot of stress on the brain which can make a student down for a few minutes. I’m sure you must have heard stories about children who blacked out during exams. This is because they stressed themselves too much over swallowing large pieces of information. Another problem with cramming is – you guessed it! – the information is not retained for a long period of time. That means, you actually haven’t effectively learned the content. So, when you get tested on the same topic again in 3 months or 1 year’s time, you start from scratch all over again.
Okay, hope you’ve learned a lot from this about inefficient revision techniques. In next week’s post, you’ll learn how TO revise for science GCSE as I’ll be talking about the most effective study technique to help us ace our science exams.
