NHSpsychoblog2

Advice so far has focussed on planning what you have to do, and then on how you’re going to do it, ie how you learn material according to your preferred methods.

For most of us, we actually learn best when we are processing material in several different ways - some of you worked this out last week - you might think you are a ‘visual’ learner, but just looking isn’t enough - you have to DO something (like mind-mapping, highlighting etc) and this is kinaesthetic. And there’s a warning for ‘kinaesthetic’ learners - if you just do ‘kinaesthetic’ activities, it’s much harder work, and takes longer, and you have to be more creative. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be physically moving about all over the place though - writing is kinaesthetic!! 

If you think about what you know from cognitive psychology, this should make sense - memory is most improved when we learn it semantically, whatever our preferred ’style’.

This week, doing the mock exam, the emphasis is on reconstructing your knowledge in the context of a test. If you think ‘cognitive’ psychology, you will know you will need ‘cues’ to trigger chains of memory - so in the final stages of revision concentrate on these. You have been given general ‘formulae’ for how to answer particular types of question - make sure you look at these again this week, and organise your information accordingly!

and I could say good luck, but the only ‘luck’ involved is getting your favourite question - it shouldn’t matter what the question is; if you’ve done the work you should be able to get the marks even if it isn’t your favourite thing - so, target for everyone - Grade A!!!!!

(and this mock is important - if anything goes wrong in the summer, your final mark could depend it!)

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Ok, back to school - and time to really focus on these little tests coming up.

Previous posts have given you hints about planning a revision schedule - you should have done this by now - if you haven’t, you’re already behind!!

Having planned what you’ve got to do, this week you need to think seriously about how you are going to do it - the trick is to make your time efficient, and DO SOMETHING - not just stare at your folders forever….

Class activities this week have been devised with particular learning styles in mind - the question you need to ask is - did your method work? ie did you learn material, and manage to write it down to get full marks. If the answer is no, you need to adjust what you do.

Suggestions as to how to do it were around in the classroom - if you want a copy, just ask me. Alternatively revision suggestions can be found in the ‘Support for Learning’ section on the school website.

This week’s homework is to learn material - make sure you do this effectively this weekend - it’ll be one thing off your list later……    Don’t forget this means being able to write it down, not just ‘have it in your head’.

and if you find you still struggle with this, ask for more help - sooner rather than later!

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Firstly - a belated ‘Happy Easter’ - I assumed none of you would be looking here over the Easter weekend, so didn’t bother posting!

Anyway - down to business….

I know some people were working last week - well done you! If you worked hard last week, take the rest of this week off!!  IF YOU DIDN’T - NOW’S THE TIME TO START!!!!! 

If you haven’t mapped out how you’re going to do this term, now is the time to sort out your revision plan. And then YOU NEED TO START!!   this means ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!!

I’d recommend you start learning the definitions - aim to learn 3 each day - 2-3 marks worth, off by heart, so you can just WRITE it down in 2-3 minutes - easy, that’s all there is to it. Just do it!

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