One thing that I have learned as a secondary school teacher in my ten years’ experience is that when teachers ask their students to ‘revise’, often they don’t have a clue how to start. The same is true of parents. They might think that it is important that their child completes some revision, they might even try to help - after all, every parent wants what is best for their child. But making sure that that help is useful and relevant is important; giving bad advice can be detrimental to the child, or even result in them being put off revision and using the usual avoidance strategies (Tik tok, Insta, Snapchat… need I say more….)

 

So what can you do as a parent to support your child effectively? 

 

Effective revision is not about sticking post-its around your child’s room, or sitting on them and not allowing them room to breathe. Revision is the active process of testing one’s own knowledge and memory, exploring where the gaps can be found and filling in those gaps effectively. The power of the experience comes not from external help, but your child’s ability to self-reflect and prioritise. Getting ‘too involved’, acting as a helicopter parent (a strange phrase, and one that I can only imagine refers to the annoying noise that helicopters make passing overhead), or a disciplinarian are all detrimental to this process. So what should you do?

 

1. Help to set up a sensible space for revision

 

To revise effectively, students need their own ‘workspace’ in the home. Think of this as similar to the kind of space you might need if you were working from home. Ideally, we are looking for a part of your house that is relatively free from distraction. The common tendency is for this to be the child’s bedroom - however, a great deal of research has shown that this is not the most effective choice. Left to their own devices in their rooms, the student has too much privacy and temptation not to work; after all, this is where they spend their free time. Their room is an area that is filled with distraction. Students end up sleeping, or merely pretending to work while continuing the endless doom-scrolling through socials. As a parent, you should be able to monitor your child from time to time, check in with them and ask them if they would like a cup of tea (and surreptitiously glance at what it is they are actually doing). To this end, an ideal place would be somewhere communal, a kitchen or a living room. This will help to make a division between work and leisure for your child, and it will also have the added bonus of allowing you a more natural and less blatantly obvious opportunity to check on their progress! If you have other children, having a conversation with them about giving your revising student space while doing revision and making that room ‘theirs’ for the duration of their working day is a must. 

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    2. Plan the day with them

 

Students today are asked to cover a vast amount of content for each exam. Courses are content heavy, and not all of it will appear on the exam your child sits - but they will need to cover every topic as part of revision. Often when you ask a child what they are revising, they will just tell you they are ‘doing science’ or ‘doing maths’, and this is a key indicator of a student who is overwhelmed by the subject they are studying. A much more effective approach is to break each subject down into its constituent parts, its topics. Often exam courses have already been split up into various modules and topics anyway, and having an understanding of these will feed into the creation of an effective revision timetable. I would recommend that your child’s first revision session focuses merely on the organisation of revision - breaking each subject down into topics and compiling these into a list. Ideally, they would then plan out a revision timetable which enables them to ensure that they have given each topic adequate revision time. 

 

However, sometimes these revision timetables can be counterproductive - they can make the task of being prepared seem daunting, huge and overwhelming. A more flexible approach can also work. Purposeful revision might involve you sitting down with them at the beginning of each day and deciding which topics they are going to tackle. You can also use this as an opportunity to help them reflect on the revision they have completed previously, marking on the list whether your child feels confident with that topic or whether they might need to return to that topic at a later date. Please note: I wouldn’t suggest this kind of reflection at the end of their working day. At this point, they’re likely to be knackered and at the end of their tether, so making them reflect on how badly they understand trigonometry is unlikely to keep them motivated for the revision that is yet to come. Running through their topics list with them also gives you an opportunity to ensure that they are balancing their revision evenly throughout their various subjects, and not giving more weight to their favourite subjects (which many will try to get away with). 

 

    3. Talk about what they are going to do

 

If you’re like me, the revision we were advised to do at school consisted of getting a shiny new pack of highlighters and reading copious revision books or textbooks, highlighting important stuff. What do you remember doing with your highlights? Did you ever use them to create flashcards, or an exam-style answer? Of course not! This is because re-reading notes and textbooks is easy. It’s passive revision. It involves minimal brainpower and a very small amount of effort on the part of the student. 

 

Revision should be active. Students should actively hunt for the gaps in their memory or understanding and create something with these. This could be a set of flashcards for a subject where they will be required to recall concepts and vocabulary from memory, or an exam answer which they then reflect on and improve. It could be a mindmap which they will then use to create an exam answer or a product. The important thing is that they are not just willing themselves to absorb the information, but actually using that information in a practical way. At the beginning of each revision session, sit down with them and ask them what they are intending to do, and what this outcome will be. What will they create with their knowledge? You could even write a to-do list together (although you run the risk of helicoptering here…). Stating each task that your child wants to complete out loud will help them commit to completing it, again making the process more purposeful. And the effect of completing small bite-sized tasks in this manner will then help them to see that their revision has been successful, that they have achieved something as part of the process. This will build their confidence and self-assurance. 

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    4. Encourage them to use revision tools and different means of learning

 

The world has changed since the dark ages in which parents took their last exams. At the students’ fingertips is a wealth of resources and knowledge that is open to them and freely available online. The difficulty for students is often in knowing which of these resources is likely to be the most useful to them. If a student is aiming for a 9 at GCSE, they should be exploring their learning at the highest level. Similarly, if a 4 is the target, then they should be exploring the key fundamentals of a topic. 

 

Many tools exist online to help support students. Remind them that if they are exploring online resources, it will be important that they make sure they are looking at the right exam board (AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas etc) and the right course. They can always ask their teachers if needed, and if they are reluctant to do so, a quick email from you to a teacher will usually be welcome and receive a prompt reply. 

 

Some useful sites to explore include Mymaths, which will set them tasks based on topics, or Seneca, which is a tool which provides short multiple choice knowledge tests. Brainscape is a useful app which involves students creating a deck of personalised flashcards, which they can test themselves on using their phone - an excellent resource for revising subject terminology and concepts, or mathematical/scientific rules and formulae. For a more in-depth view of subjects like English, finding a relevant video or course online can be really beneficial. I offer an online course covering the poems for many of the exam boards, and this contains purposeful tasks and active learning, rather than meaningless scrolling through the minimal content that exists on Sparknotes. This will be coming up on my website, where I will also post some tips and tricks to help with revision. You can find my site here. Most teachers will have their favourite resources that they recommend to students, and, again, a simple email is often gratefully received. 

 

By helping students to use revision tools that exist online, you can open their thinking to ideas that they might not have encountered in lessons, and enable them to see their topics from different angles. This in turn will lead to better progress, more interested learners and better grades. 

 

    5. Encourage them

 

Every student is different, and they will need different forms of encouragement. But one thing is for sure: exams are difficult and scary. Students deal with pressure in a wide variety of ways, and being attuned to how they are feeling will really help them. Accommodate their (often unreasonable) demands to the best of your ability. Encourage them to take breaks in the mid-morning and at lunchtime. Allow them to start later and finish later if that’s what they would like. Give them time to do things that support their mental health, such as connecting with friends or doing some exercise. Allow them to take time off if they need it. Give them rewards for completing tasks on their to-do lists, and support them in making their day more interesting. Think about what you might want if you were in their position. Yes, some students will need tough love - there may be tears and arguments. But try to come off as someone who is on their side, not just because exams are important and will have an impact on their future (possibly the scariest word for young people to hear), but also because you want them to feel confident that they have tried their best on the day. It might not always go their way. They might still have disappointments on results day. But at least they will know that they really tried. And that is something crucial for their motivation in all parts of their lives - and their scary futures. 

 

Ben Aizenberg is an ex-teacher who now creates revision resources and offers tutoring. If you are interested in hiring him to support your son or daughter with their revision, don’t hesitate to get in touch at Southdownstutoring@gmail.com.