For senior school pupils throughout the city, study leave is about to begin.  As students embark on this stressful six-week period, Claire Gemson from Glasgow Science Centre asks if there is a formula for successful revision and finds out how technology is shaping the way today’s students revise. 

The Wrong Way to Study?

If you think back to your own study leave, your revision tools were probably no more sophisticated than an island of flash cards surrounded by a sea of fluorescent highlighters.  Fast forward to more recent times and it turns out that re-reading tottering towers of textbooks might not be the most effective route to revision at all. Research by Professor John Dunlosky of Kent State University looked at the ten most popular revision methods such as re-reading, highlighting/underlining or making summaries. From these ten study techniques, two stood out as the most effective: spaced study, breaking your study down into smaller chunks over a longer period, and practising retrieval, actively recovering knowledge by self-testing. 

Professor Martin Hendry, astrophysicist at the University of Glasgow, describes the benefits of having a study plan: 

“Exams can be stressful but can still be a good way to demonstrate your knowledge. It’s all about being prepared and having a breadth of understanding at your fingertips that can adapt to new problems you haven’t seen before.” 

Technology Reshapes Revision

Methods such as the Pomodoro Technique (where you set a timer for short chunks of time and then reward yourself with a five-minute break) and note-taking techniques such as the Cornell Method (which encourages pupils to take notes and revisit them in spaced gaps as opposed to simply making notes alone) have been around for decades. Technology, however, is increasingly popularising and breathing new life into these techniques and pupils are now able to take advantage of apps and websites dedicated to their use.  Students are also using technology to carefully manage their time and distractions by using apps blocking access to social media for a set period.  

Technology also had a huge role to play as pupils navigated the stormy waters of a global pandemic.  As exams return to normal, the legacy of lockdown study is an unprecedented change in the way pupils engage with technology to revise at home. One local example is West Partnership Online School (West OS), an online school created by teachers. West OS provides recorded learning experiences and revision resources for children and young people and is freely accessible online (www.westpartnership.co.uk/west-os) and via a pupil’s Glow account.  

Debbie McGorry, West OS Engagement Officer, takes up the story on the effect of the pandemic on study skills: 

“Working online during COVID-19 lockdowns highlighted that young people are keen to learn in a more independent way. West OS resources allow them to select learning materials to suit their own needs. The range of videos covers early level through to senior phase and is ever-growing. In the senior phase, resources are available from National 4 to Advanced Higher level.” 

A Masterclass in Revising

West OS has just launched Masterclass revision resources too. Experts in their field link their real-life subject knowledge to curricular exam areas. Masterclasses include actor Atta Yaqub for Higher Drama; lawyer Claire Mitchell KC for Higher Modern Studies plus Masterchef Gary MacLean for National 5 Practical Cookery.  

The revision value in connecting with real life skills is something Tara Gibson, Senior Learning Co-ordinator at Glasgow Science Centre, feels strongly about: “For me, it is definitely easier to study when I can put it into practice or see where there is a connection to real life. That’s something we try to highlight in science centre activities.” 

Is it time for cards and highlighters to retire gracefully? A group of Scottish secondary school teachers polled for this article thinks not. Flash cards and highlighters remain a firm favourite with students but it’s what they actually do with the cards that counts. Research points to the need to actively use index cards to test knowledge again and again. Studies also suggest that writing by hand offers significantly better recall than writing by keyboard. Glasgow Science Centre’s Susan Meikleham echoes this point: “I think technology absolutely has its place but there is no substitute for a pen and paper when it comes to studying and really getting the knowledge into your brain.”    

The pen then remains mighty but today’s candidates can take advantage of the wide range of technology and online resources to create their own personal formula for success.