Revision & Study Tips

tip two; past papers

revising from past papers does help you, if you or your school has access to these past papers, print a few out and use them. 

you will become familiarised with varied question formats, and will know how to approach each question as required by the exam board (pay attention to key works in the question and what each one requires you to do - e.g. 'show', 'evaluate'). furthermore, it could be useful when you are met with very similar or related questions in the real exam. 

especially if it's for a subject like mathematics it would be useful to go through papers in timed conditions and use youtube video walkthroughs or mark schemes as guidance to mark the paper, for not only identifying your current grade but also where your mistakes are. 

answer the paper using a black / blue pen then mark and add corrections using a different coloured pen or highlighter so you can distinguish between them easily. 

after completing the corrections, set yourself targets on the topics you need to revisit or learn. for example after completing a non-calculator maths test they could be; algebraic fractions and non-linear simultaneous equations. later, answer a few harder questions on these topics, there are a plethora of videos online that explain them too. 

for subjects like english or gcse religious studies, ask your teacher to mark the papers and provide feedback on for you to make improvements on the next time. for example, if it was a creating writing task then attempt to utilise an extended metaphor or more pathos on your next attempt. the small improvements count for it all. 

finally, store all of your practice tests in a lever arch folder or any organised manner, relating to the topic or paper, or subject. if necessary, you could also record all of your results on a table or excel spreadsheet to track your progress. perhaps complete a paper a day, then file it away for you to revisit and retry the harder questions you lost marks in.