Tips on how to revise for exams:
From my experience with revising for GCSEs, I know how difficult it is to know where to begin revising. However, here are a few pointers as to where to start.
A good place to start is by revising as much vocab as possible, especially if you are considering continuing the language further.
Take about 10-20 words each day and make it your goal to know them off by heart by the end of the day. Any words which you have difficulty remembering at the end of the day, write day on a separate piece of paper or a book and slowly begin learning these.
Go over these words whenever you have a spare minute or two: on the bus, while waiting for your train, in the adverts while watching tv…
Begin by writing out the corrected work again, so that all the corrections you/your teacher have made do not distract you. This can either be written on separate pieces of paper or – as I prefer – in a brand new notebook, specifically for this language’s writing.
My method of learning is by writing all the questions out in one colour, followed by the writing in another colour. All of the different topics are separate so that I do not confuse them.
Every day/week aim to learn a few questions off by heart and regularly test yourself on all of the questions. So, instead of ticking them off one by one, keep going back to them, even weeks later, just to ensure that you really do remember them.
Usually, you will be given back your marked work which you are told to learn for your exams. Now, this can seem daunting at first but if you take it slowly, you will know it off by heart in no time.
With speaking exams, it is best to ensure that your pronunciation is spot on. Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher for help; this is the best way to guarantee that you are correct so just ask as much as you need to.
Once you’ve learnt your piece, work on improving your timings – don’t just stop after you’ve learnt it but continue to go over it again and again, each time improving a different element. This could be your fluency, intonation, timing, etc.
Another tip is to record yourself each time to check your timing and your pronunciation and even to check for mistakes you may have missed.
The only advice I have for this is to learn as much vocab as possible and go over as many past papers as possible, highlighting which words you don’t know.
You could also try and identify trends in the papers, such as which words appear to come up regularly but don’t use this as a prediction for what will come up in your exams.
Again, go over as many past papers as possible.
Once you have gone through the paper, listen to the recording again with the transcript next to you so that you can follow it.
Underline any vocabulary which you found difficult to identify and begin to learn this.
Continue listening to the recording until you can confidently understand the recording without looking at the transcript.
These are all the tips I have for now, but I will be posting regularly with loads more advice which will help you get organised and inspired!
