With Grade 10 zooming towards the IGCSE exams in May, we have been spending some time discussing effective revision techniques. If our students are studying at least two hours per night (as we’ve asked them to), we want to ensure that they are using the best practices.

To this end, I recently shared a fascinating article with the students. It discusses the most and least effective revision tools out there, as proven by psychologists through many tests on students and adults alike.

What did they discover? That flashcards and testing yourself is the most effective way to prepare for an exam. The least effective? Re-reading and highlighting. Check out the article for full details and a discussion of other techniques studies by the experts.

So encourage your child to make flashcards and take a turn at testing them once those cards are made. Science, History, Maths, French…almost all their subjects can be revised with flashcards.