Effective Revision

 Click here for Subject revision resources across the key stages.


There are a number of important considerations when preparing for revision, whether for an assessment in class, a test or an external examination. These include using the right resources and the right strategies.

Without a knowledge and understanding of these, students can often spend time revising the wrong aspects or spending time revising with little to no impact on long term retention.

We make sure that appropriate revision materials are uploaded onto Google and are clearly identifiable for use by staff, students and parents. These include: checklists, suggested revision materials, examination past paper questions and mark schemes among many others.

As a research-informed school we try to ensure that we utilise every moment to its greatest effect. Revision is no exception to this. There are some clear strategies that work and there are some which whilst reassuring to students actually have very little impact on long term retention of the important knowledge or understanding.

To help students and parents understand these and ensure that time is used effectively in independent study, we have provided some short guides here on the critical strategies we know from research and from our experience, make a difference.

Revision Resources

Please see here for revision resources across the key stages.

Organising Revision

Every student should put together a comprehensive revision timetable. This will break each subject into bite-size chunks. We recommend creating a free account with “GetRevising” and using their “Study Planner” to organise revision time. A list of all GCSE subjects and the appropriate exam boards can be found here .

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Revision Guides

Please see here for a list of recommended revision guides and links to where they can be purchased.

Effective Revision Strategies

Materials shared with students and parents summarise the strategies shown by research to lead to the most effective revision. Click on the image below to access the materials.

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Additional advice designed for parents (but also relevant for revising teens)

The information in the presentations below includes research informed ideas set out clearly as an infographic, a 1 minute video and a 15 minute podcast. More like this can be found at https://www.fromthesidelines.uk/.