Practice Centre KS3 & KS4

Help! I don’t know how to practice!

Every year students say they don’t know how to revise. Practice is a daunting process, but here you will find all the tips and tricks that you need to be successful when practicing in preparation for your assessments at KS3.

Practice Routine

Follow this simple procedure to get yourself into an effective revision routine. Just follow the MARS Strategy.

M - Make a Plan
A - Assess your knowledge
R - Review your learning
S - Self-quiz

M - Make a Plan!

Building an effective revision plan is really important. Here are some examples of bad, better and best plans:

Bad

Better

Best

A - Assess your knowledge

There are several revision strategies that most people think work, but they are not as effective as they could be. Here are some examples of ‘Traditional’ revision that aren’t effective:

Re-reading notes
Highlighting
Cramming
Last minute ‘revision sessions’
Not being taught how to revise and it all being done too late

These strategies, rooted in research, are guaranteed to work and are applicable to all subjects:

Self Quizzing
Brain Dumps / Schema Maps
Past Paper Practice

Using the strategies mentioned above, will be able to identify what you do and don’t know and be able to work out what it is you need to work on next.

R - Review your learning

After working out what you do and don’t know, you should then work on the areas that you’re unsure on using some of the following strategies:

Flashcards
Key Question Writing
Leitner Method
Past Paper Practice

To know how to produce an effective flashcard, please watch our video here:

FlashCards - How To.mp4

S - Self-Quiz

Now that you have worked hard on the bits you didn’t know, you can quiz yourself to see if you have retained the new information that you’ve been working hard to remember. You can use the strategies below to help you:

Self Quizzing
Brain Dumps / Schema Maps
Flashcard Questions
Past Paper Practice

Once you have completed the MARS cycle for one subject’s topic, begin it all over again for a new subject. It really is that simple!

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