At Ivybridge Community College, we explicitly teach students how to revise effectively. Revision should not simply involve reading through notes or highlighting information. The most successful revision requires students to actively retrieve knowledge, test their understanding and practise the tasks that they will be expected to complete in their assessments and examinations.

We teach students a range of simple, evidence-informed revision methods through our Self-Testing Toolkit. These approaches help students identify what they know, recognise gaps in their understanding and strengthen their ability to recall and apply important knowledge.

Our Self-Testing Toolkit

The principal revision methods taught and encouraged at Ivybridge Community College include:

Flashcards and retrieval practice

Flashcards allow students to practise recalling key knowledge without looking at their notes. Students should attempt to answer each question from memory before checking the answer and correcting any gaps or misconceptions.

Flashcards are most effective when they are used frequently over time, rather than being produced and then simply read through.

Past-paper questions

Past-paper and examination-style questions allow students to practise how they want to perform. They help students become familiar with the types of questions they may encounter and develop their ability to apply knowledge accurately.

Students should complete questions without immediately referring to their notes and then use mark schemes, model answers or teacher feedback to improve their responses.

Blind mind mapping

Blind mind mapping helps students connect knowledge from across a topic.

Students begin with a blank page and record everything they can remember about a topic without using their notes. They then compare their mind map with their learning materials, identify missing information and add corrections in a different colour.

This allows students to test both their recall and their understanding of how different ideas connect.

Other self-testing methods

Different subjects may require different forms of practice. Students may also benefit from completing quizzes, explaining ideas aloud, labelling diagrams, practising calculations, writing extended answers or teaching a topic to somebody else.

The essential principle is that effective revision should require students to think, recall and apply knowledge.

Why does revision need to happen over time?

Learning naturally fades when knowledge is not revisited. Revision strengthens students’ ability to remember important information and use it successfully in the future.

Students achieve more when revision is:

• planned in advance;
• completed regularly in manageable sessions;
• spread across several weeks or months;
• focused on identified gaps in knowledge;
• based on active self-testing;
• followed by checking and correcting mistakes.

This approach is known as spaced retrieval. Revisiting knowledge repeatedly over time is far more effective than attempting to complete large amounts of revision immediately before an assessment.

Planning revision

A clear and realistic revision timetable helps students manage their time and balance revision with school, home learning, activities and rest.

Students should divide larger subjects into smaller topics and allocate specific tasks to each revision session. For example, rather than writing “revise science”, a student might plan to:

• create and test ten flashcards on cell biology;
• complete and mark five calculation questions;
• produce a blind mind map on photosynthesis;
• complete a past-paper question and improve it using the mark scheme.

The resources below include blank and pre-prepared revision timetables that students may download, print and use to plan their revision.

Revision throughout the College

Students in Years 7 to 9 are taught how to revise through their subjects and lesson content. This includes guidance on producing and using flashcards, completing mind maps and answering examination-style questions.

During Year 10, students and parents are invited to our How to Revise Event. This ensures that families are well informed about how students can prepare effectively for their upcoming GCSE examination series.

Students in examination year groups will also receive subject-specific advice about the content they need to revise, the resources available to them and the most appropriate methods for preparing for each subject.

Online revision and learning platforms

The College purchases access to a range of online learning platforms, including Sparx Maths, Sparx Science, Seneca Learning and LanguageNut.

These platforms provide students with opportunities to retrieve knowledge, practise important skills and complete targeted revision activities at home. Many of the platforms use students’ previous responses to identify gaps in knowledge and direct them towards activities suited to their individual needs.

We strongly encourage students to use these platforms regularly alongside the revision methods within our Self-Testing Toolkit.

Supporting revision at home

Parents and carers can support effective revision by helping students to:

• establish a regular revision routine;
• identify a quiet and suitable place to work;
• reduce distractions during revision sessions;
• use a revision timetable;
• complete short, focused revision tasks;
• test themselves rather than simply rereading notes;
• attend additional support sessions where available;
• maintain a healthy balance between study, rest, sleep and other activities.

Parents and carers do not need to be experts in each subject. Asking a student to explain what they have learned, testing them using flashcards or helping them follow their revision timetable can make a significant difference.

Please explore the guides, revision timetables and Self-Testing Toolkit resources below. For further advice about effective revision, please contact the College’s Finish Line Strategy Team.