Revision-the art of committing to memory

When Peter Paul Byarugaba, a former pupil of Hormisdallen Primary School in Kyebando learnt that he had excelled after the release of the 2012 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results, he said that academic discussions had done the trick.

He added: “Apart from discussions, I also worked hard by concentrating on my books and my class teacher, Julius Kibamba who teaches Science, guided me.”

Byarugaba scored aggregate six. 

Similarly, Kitende’s Joan Nakintu who scored AAAA1 (25 points) in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics at A’ Level attributed her success to hard work and constant revision.

Such explanations for academic success are not uncommon. Many A-students often attribute their grades to discipline, focus and hard work. This raises the question: how best should students revise for exams? 

Dan Nokrach Odongo, head of the secondary schools exams department at Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), says revision is important because it helps students commit class work to memory as this is rarely done during lessons. It thus helps the student consolidate classroom knowledge. 

“A student is like just like a footballer. You have to go back to the field regularly, and train the moves that the coach gave you so that you do not forget. So it is with notes,” he says.

Accordingly, revision helps a student to comprehend the classroom work on their own because the teacher’s teaching methods may not suite a student and will need revision.

“As part of revision, a student should get questions to test themselves on what they have revised and see where they get stuck,” Odongo advises. 

Even during holidays, he says it is important for a student to revise in order to maintain freshness and also link previous work to new work. However, holidays should be basically a time for relaxation because school time is stressful.

David Tukesiga, a chemistry teacher at Old Kampala SS advises students to adopt various revision methods to achieve maximum results and suggests the following:

Group discussions

In this method, students meet and exchange ideas, facts and views on a particular topic they have been taught in class. This is usually done in the evening hours after class and before prep time.

He however says that sometimes group discussions are associated with problems like difficulty in following well when groups are too big.

Tukesiga recommends a maximum of five people per group. He says group discussions are good for those who fear to ask teachers directly and are comfortable inquiring with their colleagues. 

Odongo says discussions are inevitable because some teachers are unapproachable as they keep asking questions such as ‘what is it you have not understood?’ or ‘this is simple, why have you not understood it?’ which push them away.

He believes group discussion brings about an appreciation of different viewpoints from students and therefore concrete understanding of the subject matter. 

Individual revision

This is where a student creates time to read what has been taught without the help of other students or a teacher.

For this kind of revision, Beatrice Kyagulanyi, the dean of students at Mengo SS, says it is important for one to develop a timetable for each day in order to balance the time slotted for each subject.

Kyagulanyi also counsels students to ask their friends or teachers whenever they haven’t understood a concept during their individual revision. 

Guided revision with a teacher

This comes in the form of one-on-one discussions with the teacher, tests and oral question and answer discussions between the teacher and students.

“This provides for greater interaction between teacher and student and also ensures that a student stays focused because the teacher may call upon him/her to answer a question at any given time,” Tukesiga says.

Teach someone

If you enjoy revising with other people you could form a small group and deliver a session on one of your topics. Follow it up by revising any gaps in your knowledge that you identified.

In a study conducted by the University of Manchester titled Revision Strategies, use of diagrammatic notes − maps and diagrams − were found to be more visually stimulating and therefore more easily remembered than a written summary.

Margaret Kafeero, the head teacher of Lohana Junior Academy, advises parents to work closely with their children to ensure they revise at home.

“Parents should make sure the house is conducive for revision, for example keeping [other household members] quiet or switching off all TVs and radios in the house.” 

Understanding the revision concept;

Fagil Mandy, the chairman of Uneb and an Education consultant highlights five key concepts to make revision worthwhile namely:

Time-There has to be enough time allocated to revision.

“There are many complaints among students these days that they have no time to revise as they are taught during prep and even on the weekend. Free time is of the essence if revision is to be effective,” he says.

Set a system-It is necessary for a student to know why he or she is revising; either to pass exams or develop a career.

Where to revise-

“Students ought to get conducive places of revision where they are able to concentrate and are not distracted,” he says.

How to revise-Students should plan what they are going to read or discuss. Mandy advises students to choose people of right thinking in their discussion groups such that they are not distracted. This means avoiding groups where one has a ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend.’

He also advises them to revise from diverse sources such as the internet, television education programmes and educative films rather than classroom work alone. Then where one has not understood, they can consult a friend, teacher, parent or community. 

Reflective thinking-Students must create time alone to think through what they have studied without looking through their notes then write down what one has reflected, later comparing it with what is in the book. This helps one to conceptualize the subject matter on his/her own.

Apart from understanding the subject matter, remembering some aspects of it constitutes an important component of revision.

Tips on memorization

According to health experts on www.careers.icaew.com, our brains can only hold up to seven items, lasting between 20-30 seconds in total, at any one time in our short-term memory.

‘Revision tips and Hints’, an article on the same website, suggests one of the following memory techniques may be employed during revision:

Rhyme

Remembering a song or rhyme may help one revise because verses often stick in one’s mind. This is known as ‘sticking power,’ where a verse is created based on the topic one is revising. For example:

‘30 days have September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, except for February alone. This has 28 days clear and 29 days in a leap year.’

Acrostic

Listing words in certain orders can be a useful aid to memorising and this is known as ‘Acrostic.’ Acrostic is where you use the first letter of each word you are memorising from the list to make up a phrase. 

For example, the planets in order of proximity to the sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

‘They can be remembered using this well-known acrostic: My Very Efficient Memory Just Stores Up Nine Planets.’ 

VICES TO AVOID

Tukesiga advices students to avoid reading while lying down as this may induce sleep. Others include:

·        Reading using torch light as this may harm the eyes.

·        Reading under stress.

·        Reading for long hours without breaking. In a study published by researchers at the University of California in the Journal of Child Development, sacrificing sleep to read extra hours comes at a cost of less concentration during day and poor performance in tests.

·        Panic.

Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), the leading professional body for the advancement of quality practices in the UK, contends that there is no ‘right way’ to revise as some people like to read their class notes from start to finish while others summarise their notes with diagrams.