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GCSE Astronomy — Revision techniques

 

 

GCSE Astronomy >  [Buying telescopes]  >  Revision >  [Astro Photography]

VC1.3.

Last updated  Sept 20, 2007

How to revise

 

 

The purpose of revision is to learn your newly acquired knowledge until it becomes 'second nature'. You will only achieve this if you understand the material you're working with, so your first task is to go through the course making sure you understand all of the basic ideas and know what is meant by all the jargon.

   Everyone will have their own strategy for revision but whatever form yours takes you are very strongly advised to take account of the following:

(i) Passive reading is not revision. Revision must be active. It should involve writing out material from memory, asking questions about astronomy in your head and then trying to answer them,  tackling questions from past papers (in particular you can only get good at the maths bits by doing lots of examples), getting together with friends to test each other etc. In all of these activities check with your CD-ROM, textbook or notes to make sure you are understanding and remembering correctly. If you are not finding your revision challenging, or even hard sometimes, chances are you being too passive.

(ii) Revision sessions should be little and often. Psychologists have shown that we learn best if we go over material several times and distribute this practise through time. In other words, it is better to do one hour of astronomy revision each evening for a week than a 7 hour marathon stint. For those of you studying for several GCSEs you will learn all your subjects best if you switch subject every hour or so. Exercise helps. If you are feeling a bit tired go for a half hour run/swim/cycle or whatever. After a shower you'll feel fit for another couple of hours revision. It is hard to estimate how much total revision time is sensible for a GCSE, because people differ in study skills and the rate at which they can learn, but 20-40 hours is probably in the right ballpark.

(iii) Have a revision plan, i.e. what topics you are going to tackle and when (remembering each topic will need to be done at least three times, see above), and stick to it.

(iv) Use time efficiently. If you are doing something that doesn't require any thinking — cooking dinner, washing up, brushing up leaves— then multitask by doing some revision (in your head) at the same time.

(v) Don't even think about trying to question spot. Revise the entire course. However it is legitimate to work a bit more on stuff that really interests you, but don't spend so much time on it that you have no time for other material.

(vi) Start your revision early. This way you won't feel rushed and stressed — stress inhibits learning and memory. You are bound to feel a bit nervous at the beginning of the exam, everyone does, but if you've revised thoroughly the nervousness will go away as soon as you start reading the paper and realise you're able to tackle most, if not all, of the questions. On the other hand if you've not revised sufficiently or efficiently you'll be stressed throughout the exam and that will degrade your performance even more.

(vii) Toward the end of your revision period, do a past paper under exam conditions so that you get a feel for the exam and how long it takes to do individual questions. On the basis of this you should highlight areas that need further attention in your remaining revision time.

(viii) When the going gets tough remember your revision is helping you do more than pass the exam, you

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