Revision Tips

Revision tips vary according to the subject studied, although the general rule of thumb is to be persistent and to maintain self-belief. Over the coming weeks, some pointers will be outlined for the main subjects, which are compiled by our present tutors and are succinct and to the point. Each week a different subject area and level will be in the spotlight, so please do come back and check our site for updates.

GCSE Modern Languages:

  • French, German and Spanish are what are termed accumulative knowledge based subjects. It is only through building up confidence over a period of time through sustained practice that success is normally achieved.

  • Practise reading through acquiring vocabulary books such as the Malvern Language Guides. Learning vocabulary out of context can have some surprising rewards when attempting reading and even listening comprehensions. It can also help build up a stock of expressions which can be used in writing examinations.

  • Practise past papers which can readily be found on websites run by the main examination boards: AQA, OCR and Edexcel. Many have sound files and you can also find mark schemes to see how you fared in the question papers.

  • Buy simple study guides, such as the Letts Study Guides. These deal with the different examination style questions and provide useful grammar tips as well as past paper style questions to practise.

  • Listening exercises are the hardest area to make significant improvements in, but with regular practice at home, considerable progress can be made in a relatively short period of time.

  • With writing examinations, ensure you keep your answers to the point. Use a range of tenses (present, future and past) and always aim to develop your ideas in response to the questions asked. Some examination boards will only award the highest marks if you express two or more responses to each question asked for higher level questions - however make sure you do not exceed the word limit, as your work will not be marked much beyond the maximum number of words you are permitted to write.