The Easter holidays will soon be upon us and for most parents this will entail that very particular feeling of helplessness, as you watch your teenager get up mid morning, before dragging an enormous bag of books from room to room in search of the right working atmosphere.
Once this has been found, it will be time for lunch, before ‘downtime’, the only part of their schedule that is rigorously observed. They will then decide to gaslight you, by telling you that they’re actually making flashcards on their mobile phones.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Here are Clarendon’s tips for successful revision:
No smartphones
Make sure your child leaves their phone outside the room where they are working. A 2021 study, with data from students from nearly 50 countries, found conclusively that excessive smartphone use can negatively impact sleep quality, attention deficit, academic procrastination, academic performance, and personal relationships.
Exercise
We recommend exercise during the Easter holidays before each day of revision – a jog, a bike ride, or even a walk would do. It needs to be cardio, rather than resistance training or muscle toning. Research from the University of British Columbia found that regular cardio exercise boosts the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involving verbal memory and learning.
Start early
Although research suggests that there are such things as morning people and night owls, the difference between the two is much more slight than you might imagine, can be changed through habit, and evolves naturally throughout one’s life anyway. Night owls can have better memory and processing speed, but morning people tend to be higher academic achievers and less prone to depression. Conclusion: revision starts at 9am!
Active revision
Make sure your teenager is writing out notes, revisions cards, testing themselves, doing exam questions, or even whole past papers. Clarendon can assist you with finding expert A level, IB and GCSE tutors who can review these past papers with your child. Committing things to memory is best achieved repetition, immersion (flashcards posted around the room) and action (writing or typing something).
Have a plan
We believe a schedule is an absolute must, giving structure to each revision day and making the work seem more manageable. Your teenager should have a checklist for each subject, breaking down the sub topics that they will need to revise over the holidays. You can find specification contents for each syllabus on the websites of the exam boards: Edexcel, OCR, AQA, CIE, Pre-U, IB, and Eduqas.
If there’s any way Clarendon can support you and your family, be it with one of expert tutors or just friendly advice over the phone, please get in touch and let us know.