KISUMU BOYS HIGH
SCHOOL
REVISION TECHNIQUES
20- 02-2020
EFFECTIVE REVISION
TECHNIQUES
• Winning is an event but being a winner is a spirit|process
• In todays competitive academic world and unpredictable
performance, only one thing is a constant – COMPETITION. How
then do we prepare for it? Mastery of content gives the learners a
competitive edge over their cohorts.
• Poor performance among many learners is attributed to a large
number of them not having any knowledge of good study skills and
insight into their abilties.
• To achieve the projected targets, there is need to focus on the targets
and hatch strategies that will work for you.
• When learners revise what they studied it gives them the opportunity
to review areas they did not quite get properly the first time. It also
refreshes them on that which they have studied.
• Revision is necessary both during studying and also in an examination
condition.
• Re-vision—the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of
entering an old text from a new critical direction…: it is an act of
survival. -Adrienne Rich
• We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does
not liberate, it oppresses. -Carl Gustav Jung
The following techniques of effective studying as advanced by
researchers might be helpful to learners;
1. MAKE YOUR LEARNERS HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• Positive attitude here implies the learner/teacher looking beyond the
exam, failure and fear of failure, already seeing their success and
being conscious of it before the exam without any slight doubtful
thought. So, to have a good preparation for an exam they must first
have positive attitude towards the exam and the preparation.
• In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can
• To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion
that it becomes a reality
2. UPDATE STUDY MATERIALS
• You must collate and update all materials necessary for the study of
any particular topic. The materials should include notebooks,
textbooks, and any other relevant materials like current syllabus. This
will help learners answer questions based on current information and
not that which is already obsolete. Many have been found in a tense
situation because of the lack of the right material
• The quality of information a student has distinguishes him from
others.
• The quality of a man’s life is dependent on the quality of
information he possesses
3. GUIDE STUDENTS TO MAKE A READING TIME-TABLE
• Studying without direction is wrong. Your learners must prepare a
time-table to guide and direct them on what and when to read. In the
preparation of time-table either for the normal studying or
examination purpose, the subject and time should be clearly spelt out
and scrutinized properly
• Be ruled by time, the wisest counselor of all. -Plutarch
• To choose time is to save time. -Francis Bacon
4. USE PAST PAPER QUESTIONS TO PRACTICE
• it is advisable to use past questions to guide learners reading pattern.
Although, the questions may not come the same way as contained in
the previous question paper, however, there have been innumerable
cases where it occurred and it will be to the advantage of a student
who had familiarized himself/herself with the questions through the
use of past questions.
• It also helps you to ascertain the way and manner in which
examination questions are often set as well as the sequence of
questioning
• The future is made of the same stuff as the present. -Simone Weil
• The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration then
more practice and more concentration. -Babe Didrikson Zaharias
• To become an able and successful man in any profession, three
things are necessary, nature, study and practice. -Henry Ward
Beecher
5. FORMULATE DISCUSSION STUDY GROUP
This strategy helps LEARNERS in two ways.
I. Firstly, learners are able to compare what they have studied with
those from several others and,
II. secondly, it aids the correction of your shortcomings.
• Life is a game where there are players and spectators. The
players work hard to get a reward but the spectators enjoy the game
as their reward. In study groups no learner should be a spectator
looking or watch others make contributions that push them forward
while he applauds them on their success, rather they should be great
contributors.
• Few people are successful unless a lot of other people want them to
be. -Charles Browder
• The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the
team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have
many fathers, failures have none. -Philip Caldwell
6 MAKE CORRECTIONS WHERE LEARNERS ARE WRONG
• Learners must go back and amend work where necessary, make more
research and update themselves on the areas that have been studied
with the integration of gained knowledge from the study group or
tutor to produce a more concise work during any exam. This makes
them more superior than any other person.
• A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong
which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he
was yesterday. -Alexander Pope
• A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is
committing another mistake. -Confucius
• One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without
making a mistake. -Anton Chekhov
Good study habits
The way you study shows your result unless cheated.
• Reading can take any of these forms:
Glancing – taking a quick look at something or reading very quickly
Skimming – reading something quickly to find the main facts or ideas
Flipping – looking through a book or material quickly or by sudden
movement across pages.
Browsing – looking through the pages of a material without any
particular purpose but only the interesting parts
Contemplative – looking the written words of a material and make
meaning out of them.
• All the above reading patterns except for contemplative are done in a
short time to get quick information but no detail is required. However,
in contemplative reading, a lot of time is required because each
sentence or statement must make meaning to the reader.
• In studying, to get proper understanding of the material been studied,
use the following strategies:
I. Underline salient points
II. Jot down the salient points on your jotter
III. Be conscious of your speed if you are fast or slow
III. Use dictionary to clarify unknown words
IV. Use reference materials
V. Take a subject at a time. Do not read several topics or subject at
a time.
VI. Apply mnemonics – the coding of names or processes for quick
remembering e.g. SARABAHEMO. for the vegetation succession
on a mountain; SHOME for the great lakes of North America
VII. Revision and practice
BAD STUDY HABIT
a. Using finger to point at words and move it along a sentence while
reading. This is a bad habit because the eyes are faster than the
finger, so the movement of the finger slows down the pace of the
reading.
b. Reading aloud or moving lips while reading is also a slowing down
process in reading.
c. Reading a material word by word
d. Regressive reading i.e. re-reading words, phrases or sentence
already read.
e. Random movement of the eyes across several lines at a time
while reading.
f. Listening or singing along with music while reading
g. Cramming/memorizing while studying.
• Nothing is wrong when you repeat something several times to know
it, but is better to know it than the information be short-lived or
transient, just for an exam purpose and afterwards such information
becomes lost in the brain that is what cramming does.
GENERAL REVISION
TECHNIQUES
• Internet research to make geography teaching lively and interesting.
• Use of ICT / DVDs and TV in teaching.
• Exposure to internal and external symposia as many as possible.
• Use of well synchronized evaluation. All exams done must be revised.
Learners be made to write clear answers to all the questions where
they flopped.
• Use topical questions and answers students generated in areas they
did not follow.
• Emphasize on key areas. (Map work, Fieldwork, Statistical methods
and photograph work).
• Adopt (students) question attack approach (i.e. handle questions as
they come)
• Green teaching approach should be embraced. At times teach from the
open field to boast learners’ memory. Teach from local environment. It
is very important to help learners grasp geographical ideas and
processes e.g. a visit to the nearby river or market. (For those close or
may not afford).
• Lunch time quizzes that are topical - to help take learners off the
comfort zones.
• Group tasks; from co-host groups and let the learners do presentations.
(Peer learning)
• Take learners through the exam technicalities (terminologies – so
that they internalize. List, give, identify, name, draw, describe,
differentiate etc.
• Check or have a spot check on the lesson notes (rapid response) as
learning and teaching progresses. (Encourage them to have summary
notes)
• Vary teaching among department teachers – (team teaching).
• Use of mnemonics; word formula that enhance/build learners
memory.
THE END
PRESENTED BY
JOHN K. LIMO
0721536161
MOI HIGH SCHOOL KABARAK
