Highlighter colour guide for notetaking…

Yellow highlighter – use to show/find all the essential parts of the text or notes.

Orange highlighter - use for questioning parts of the text or details that are confusing so you can go back and ask your teacher or friends to explain

Pink highlighter – use for any words that you may not be familiar with or that are important to understanding the concept/text

Blue higher – use for any links and connections you can find

Green highlighter – use to show evidence (references by other researchers/academics)

 

Revision techniques…

Quizlet

Quizlet is an online application to assist students in their studies and consists of interactive tools and games for students to apply their learning all for free! Quizlet is an alternative to flashcards and an effective method to test your knowledge in any modules you wish to develop your understanding. This app is particularly useful as a memorisation tool to help students learn the key terms in Criminology and consists of a scatter game to help match terms with the definition.

 

Flashcards

If you are not into using online apps as a method for revision, handwritten flashcards are also a suitable method when it comes to revising! You can adjust the notes to your preference where you can add questions on one side of the card then the answer on the back, similar with keywords at the front and definitions at the end. Flashcards are a convenient technique to memorise facts which are called active recall. Equally, you can use the cards for summarising information on a topic by including bullet points of all the key ideas.

 

Extra tips:

Don’t spend too long making them pretty!
Saying the question and answers out loud is helpful to the retain information.
Test yourself using the cards but also get someone else to test you, making a pile of the ones you get right and another one for the flashcards you get wrong. This method will indicate which cards you need to focus more on ☺

 

Mind maps

Mind maps are the perfect revision method for visual learners allowing you to understand and organise information on a topic efficiently. Mind mapping is particularly useful to plan your ideas before starting an essay/exam question, where you can branch lots of concepts and see how some points relate to each other. The visual cues of a mind map are helpful to remember critical details of a topic more effectively, and also improves retention.

 

Extra tips:

Use colours and images when mind mapping as this not only helps to enhance your memory but makes it more exciting and motivates you to learn.
After each topic covered consider making a mind map as a way to test your knowledge of what you remember – for example, you can use mind maps as a way to summarise lecture learning.

 

Past papers

Completing past papers is an extremely beneficial tool when preparing for exams as this is the right way of assessing how your revision is going and shows which areas you need to improve on. Past papers are an effective method of putting the knowledge you have learned into practice by writing essays under time conditions as this gives you the ability to work on time management.

 

Extra tips:

Going through as many past papers allows you to recognise the structure and language of questions and makes you prepared to answer them in the exam.
Looking at the mark scheme after completing the paper is also useful to see where you can improve to move to the next grade band.

 

5-5-2 Rule

When you do not feel confident that you will be able to learn something, try the 5-5-2 rule. Read it five times, say it five times, and then write it two times. This way, you will make use of most of the memory types (visual, auditive). One way or another, you will understand the issue.

Be the teacher

Even though it sounds stupid, to understand something, you need to be confident in yourself and your knowledge. Make sure that you take your notes for every topic that you would like to revise, and start teaching this to one of your friends/parents. As soon as you start engaging with the materials, and you start explaining it, you will understand it better.

Try to make a story out of the topic, and to explain it with your words.

We all know it is hard to remember all of those years and names for the exams references. Try to make a funny story, so that you will remember the idea easily.  Also, try to associate names or years with personal stuff. An example: That weird lady Jewkes (sounds like an abbreviation for a  jukebox) wrote about the values of the news in 2011 (when I got my first kiss), and she explained that fights, celebrities, children,... are significant in choosing which will be on the next front-page newspaper.

 

How to motivate yourself working from home

It can be challenging to stay motivated during these times, but here are some ways that might help to motivate yourself to work from home!

 

Make a to-do list