Education experts and experienced teachers have advised GCSE and A-level students to start with their revisions in the Easter holidays to avoid anxious situations when exams are getting closer. With nearly 2 million teenagers preparing for their exams across the UK, students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have to start their first papers on 16 May, which is just five weeks away.
According to Barnaby Lenon, a former headmaster at Harrow School, students can reduce exam stress by preparing well. Lenon said that a little bit of stress during the Easter holidays is manageable if it helps them avoid super-stress in May. While this year’s candidates have missed several months of learning due to the pandemic, education experts have urged students to avoid panicked cramming and focus on good revision strategies to pace themselves.
Daisy Christodoulou, the director of education at No More Marking, an online assessment organization, has emphasized the importance of effective revision techniques rather than highlighting notes and re-reading textbooks. She said that the "illusion of competence" approach leads to familiarity with the re-read material without clear insight. Instead, using self-tests and quizzes can help students recall topics from memory to consolidate their understanding effectively.
Adam Boxer, the head of science at the Totteridge Academy in North London, suggests that quizzing is the best practice for executing efficient retrieval practice. Students can retrieve their knowledge from their long-term memory by answering the questions rather than just getting reminded of the material by reading notes. However, Boxer insists that students should be honest and robust when it comes to self-assessment and avoid any leniency to get meaningful follow-up.
Christodoulou advocates using spaced retrieval to improve revision, ensuring that students split their revision for one subject into multiple manageable sessions of shorter duration, rather than cramming them into one long session. Students can also benefit from free apps and online tools like flashcards, including the Anki app recommended by Christodoulou and the Carousel Learning, a free online quizzing tool.
Lenon, however, advises students to be realistic and revise according to individual capacities. They should not overexert or exhaust themselves, take a good night’s sleep, refrain from revising late in the evening, and not feel the need to bust a gut. Senior lead for English at the Ormiston Academies Trust, David Didau, recommends students sit past papers of the relevant subjects thrice a week from now until the exam to perform well.