How to revise for Psychology ( ........OR ANY OTHER SUBJECT!) Make it Active! Any learning you do needs to involve you in 'doing' if it is to be most effective. You cannot hope to just attend lessons or just read your folder and to then remember everything. You must do something with the lesson notes if the ideas covered are to stick in your brain and not drift away again. Revision is not something to be left until a few weeks before the exam season; it is something you should do on an on-going basis in study sessions at BIC or at home. Continuous revision will help you retain the things you learnt despite the fast pace of the course.
Link your revision requirements to the key words and topic headings from the specification (see the ‘Specification’ page under ‘Course Info’ on this website).
As the exams approach, the most successful students make their own revision timetables and they stick to them as far as they can.
‘Doing’ in A Level Psychology will require the following basic equipment:
Small note book: To turn into a Psychology Dictionary: Have a few pages for 'A', 'B', 'C' etc. Write in the key term correctly and a simple definition. You can use this for revision.... on your own or with a friend or family member. You will need to know correct spellings and definitions of all the terms listed in the specification (and on the module web-pages on this site.
Highlighters/Coloured pens: To add learning 'codes' to your work or just to 'lift' key words or phrases. Also, the more attractive your notes, the keener you (and your brain) will be to go back to them for revision purposes.
Post-its: For coding notes
Coloured paper: Sometimes having paper other than white helps your eyes and brain focus more on the contents of the page (ie, your notes)
A ring-folder for storing your notes: Ring-folders allow you the flexibility to add in extra notes as you get them or make them.
Revise in Psychology: Use a range of strategies, such as:
Psychological Dictionary: Keep this up to date and go through the key words/definitions every so often. This is essential as there are so many definition based questions; they will be easy marks for you if you have done this.
Mind mapping: Good preparation for essay questions, as well as a good way of planning). Note the use of words, colours and pictures. Keep it simple. Get used to simplifying notes in landscape form. (See the diagram above and/or the video below)
Revision Cards: Good for remembering key words and definitions. You could have the key word, spelled correctly, on one side and an accurate definition on the other side. You can then use them to test yourself or someone else could do it with you. See video below; the topic of the revision cards in this case is biological, but the general issues are the same
Songs, raps or poems: Turning the themes, eg, ethics or cross-cultural psychology, might make the ideas more memorable.
Making summary cartoons: Try representing theories and studies in a summary cartoon form; if you can do this, you can be more sure you understand it. You are also more likely to remember it, especially if it is funny.
Making board games: Making a snakes and ladders or other style game that involves answering Psychological questions correctly in order to move on might make learning fun if it helps you to learn with other people. However, you need to stay disciplined and remember the underlying purpose of the game is to learn!
Make bullet-point lists: If you can summarise a theory or a study in, say, 10 sentences or APFCCs, you can be more sure that you know it. It will also make the condensed theory or study easier to learn.
Mnemonics: Try identifying one key word in each point of a bullet-point list into an alternative word. Try to ensure the words link into a phrase or statement that is funny or triggers images in your mind. Write out the key letters and remember your psychological words. Most British people never forget the order of the points on the compass or the order of the colours of the rainbow because of the Mnemonics they learned in primary school: Naughty Elephants Squirt Water and Richard of York gave battle in vain. Can this strategy work for you?
Writing your own exam style questionsand then answering them or exchanging these questions with a friend. Answering sample or past questions also helps (see the page on Past Questions)
Learn to think like an examiner: Use mark schemes or just reference to the Assessment Objectives for Psychology to assess your work or the work of a friend. Ask JB or RF for help/support if you are not sure.
Apply your Psychological knowledge:
Operant Conditioning: Give yourself rewards
Social Learning Theory: Learn from successful friends
CBT: Change the way you think. Be positive! Go get it and bring it home!!
Memory storage: Think about what you know about effective LTM storage and retrieval. What would A & S or B & H say?
Nature/Nurture: Your exam outcome will be affected not only by your biological 'gifts' but by the way you respond to school, your A Levels and Exams. You can do it!!
Sleep: Essential for physical and mental health. Make sure you get enough!
Obedience to authority: Do exactly what the examiner tells you to do!