Our director’s reflections on revision.

So why is this critical skill that underpins a child's success in education so misunderstood?

Let's start with looking at active vs passive revision. The ‘go to’ way to revise often is described by students as being ‘I read my notes’ or ‘I highlight my notes.’ Both of these techniques have been shown to do very little to aid internalisation of content. They are passive as they do not require you to participate in the digestion of the resources - and ultimately, they give students an easy way to pass the time and feel productive. Despite this, reading and highlighting alone yield little exam success.

Active revision, on the other hand, requires a more complex process that requires students to manipulate information largely through recall and testing. These have been linked to a far greater amount of exam success.

So what does the evidence say?

Prior to any discussion on revision, it is important to unpick the neural pathways that underpin this cognitive process. Psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus (1880) pioneered the idea of the ‘forgetting curve.’ This is a well-known concept in neuropsychology that repeated exposure to information strengthens neural connections, a concept that has been replicated many times over (Murre, 2015). Ebbinghaus mapped out a model of memory that stated that in order to internalise information one must revisit and relearn this information several times over many weeks.

Active revision, on the other hand, requires a more complex process that requires students to manipulate information largely through recall and testing. These have been linked to a far greater amount of exam success.

Prior to any discussion on revision, it is important to unpick the neural pathways that underpin this cognitive process. Psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus (1880) pioneered the idea of the ‘forgetting curve.’ This is a well-known concept in neuropsychology that repeated exposure to information strengthens neural connections, a concept that has been replicated many times over (Murre, 2015). Ebbinghaus mapped out a model of memory that stated that in order to internalise information one must revisit and relearn this information several times over many weeks.

A key revision strategy that stands out in the literature is dual coding. This is the concept of combining the text with visual materials so that your brain is processing the same information in two different formats. Researchers have found that this greatly increases your chance of retaining information in your long term memory store (Meyer et al., 1992). The beauty of this technique is that you can use this to add a little fun to the revision process which can particularly appeal to neurodiverse students and those with a creative eye. There are many ways to do this and can be achieved by creating cartoon strips, colourful mindmaps or learning posters. Whatever method you choose to do this, combining words and visuals will greatly increase your chance of being able to remember concepts for the final exam.

In summary, if you begin early with revision, allow yourself to revisit chunks of information several times over, use images and visuals, and test yourself regularly to give yourself the best possible chance of exam success.