With weeks or even days to the final exams of the year, is there still time to make a difference? 

Well, here at KSP, we believe that every effort counts. But if you would really like to maximise your child’s time, and focus on ‘faster’ revision techniques that may yield greater returns, read on as we share tips adapted from the book “Outsmart Your Studies” by study expert William Wadsworth! 

#1 Flip the Revision Routine

The typical revision routine works this way — study a topic by reading one’s notes or the textbook, then proceed to try multiple choice and open-ended questions to test one’s ability to retain and apply knowledge. 

But what if your child could start by attempting topical questions first? Even if your child is not sure of the answers, just give it a good guess. By trying questions and checking the model answers — before referring to school notes — your child would already have a better idea of what he or she should know, and how the information needs to be applied. 

#2 Do More to Boost Concentration

If your child is in the middle of a revision session, don’t interrupt him or her with a sudden request or question. It’s the same for those of us who’ve faced interruptions while trying to complete a task, especially while working from home — it can take 15 minutes or longer to sit back down and refocus! 

Your child should also set aside devices (or put them on Airplane Mode), and try out different methods to stay focused. One hack that many students use is choosing instrumental playlists to set the ‘mood’ — you can search for ‘peaceful’ playlists or playlists intended for studying and reading, and see if these help to enhance concentration in your child. 

#3 Use Study Techniques that Involve Testing

How do you decide which study methods are the best, or the most effective? Choose only the ones that involve ‘active recall,’ or the act of testing oneself, so that one can retrieve information from memory. 

Let’s say your child is watching a learning video and copying word-for-word what is said into a notebook — your child may feel productive but he or she may not remember much, once the notebook is closed! 

Instead, if your child had to tell you what the video was about, or jot down notes only after watching the video, these would all count as attempts to retrieve information from the brain, and would be considered effective ways to revise. Of course, don’t neglect the feedback — your child needs to check if the information has been recalled and applied correctly. You or a tutor can provide the feedback, or if your child is doing practice questions, make sure that these are marked promptly, so that your child is aware of learning gaps.

#4 For Science, Use the ‘Chunking’ Method to Group Information 

If you follow learning gurus on social media, you may have already heard about the chunking technique — it’s simply about finding ways to group information for easier recall. 

For instance, let’s say your child has to learn about animal life cycle stages. The first step might be to broadly recall a three-stage life cycle (egg-young-adult) versus a four-stage life cycle (egg-larva-pupa-adult), without going into the specific names and examples. 

Next, within the three-stage life cycle, identify the different variations, for example:

• Egg-Young-Adult
• Egg-Tadpole-Adult
• Egg-Nymph-Adult

And within these variations, list examples of each:

• Egg-Young-Adult (mammals, fish, birds, reptiles)
• Egg-Tadpole-Adult (frogs, toads)
• Egg-Nymph-Adult (cockroaches, dragonflies, grasshoppers)

From here, you might break it down one last time, to give examples of mammals, fish, and so on. If your child has revision guidebooks, chances are, the information is already neatly organised for your child’s benefit. Yet, it’s not always easy to read and memorise from such notes, especially when information is presented in dense chunks, or in table form.

For children who feel overwhelmed by notes and information, it may be helpful to talk through the process and begin with a broad understanding before zeroing in on specifics, just like what we’ve done above.

#5 For Maths, the ‘Interleaving’ Method Works Best

What’s the ‘interleaving’ method all about? Put simply, it’s about mixing up different problem types for practice, rather than focusing on one topic and skill. The most obvious example of interleaving would be to attempt practice papers, as opposed to topical exercises. 

Why is this particularly important for maths? Well, solving maths problems requires that you identify the nature of the problem, and the methods and formulas that can be used to solve them. With topical questions, it’s more about reapplying a similar technique over and over, and one doesn’t get to train one’s mind to ask, “How should I solve this problem?”

If your child is struggling with a topic and wants to practise topical questions to get the hang of things, by all means go ahead. But you can limit this to perhaps two questions, and then move on to give your child a question that will test other maths skills as well. This better simulates what your child will face during the exams, and is a more efficient way of ‘training up,’ especially in the final weeks of revision.

Want to chat with other parents about exam prep? Browse our Primary Schools – Academic Support forum to find a chat to join, or start your own!