According to research there are two revision techniques that every student needs to know: repeated practice testing and distributed practice.
Practice testing is any form of testing for learning which a student can do on their own, eg practising recall through flash cards, or completing practice problems or tests.
Distributed practice refers to spreading the learning over time, as gaps between learning episodes boost learning. Cramming doesn’t work; but starting early and revisiting and reviewing material already revised does.
Collins has taken these insights and placed them at the very heart of revision materials to support effective exam preparation.
The publisher’s All-in-One resources for GCSE combine a revision guide, workbook and practice paper with an ebook included, and they represent quite remarkable value – all subjects are £3.99 apart from combined science, which is £9.
These are books that cleverly synthesise a number of important elements such as revising, practising, reviewing, mixed recall and testing, and feature further topic-based questions.
The revise sections tell students what they need to know and are clearly structured with plenty of bullet-pointed information, facts and explanations. These contain key points, key words and some short and snappy low-stakes self-quizzing tests for testing recall.
After the revision pages come the practise questions for testing whether students have understood the topics.
Further into the book students will find review topic-based questions which help students to further assess what they know and how well they know it. Mix it up pages feature a mixed bag of exam style questions that aren’t explicitly linked to specific topics, thus testing students’ overall recall.
Completing the books are workbook sections which provide those crucial, true-to-life, mock exam papers.
Further ebook resources can be easily accessed, too, through following clear, step-by-step instructions.
These are smart books, in that they bring together a number of useful bits and pieces and place them all into one super-convenient and dynamic resource.
An All-in-One approach clearly structures the revision experience, makes clever links along the way, and orchestrates a learning journey with repeated retrieval for deep and lasting understanding.
The resources help students to avoid inefficient ways of learning and revising by focusing on what really works. They take as their sine qua non the idea that learning is an iterative process that requires plenty of revisits, continual updates and making connections.
At a glance
- Tried and tested revision method gives students 3x more practice
- Clear and concise revision notes
- Ebooks with free downloads
- Very accessible price points to fit all pockets
Verdict
- Revision resources for masterful retrieval practice and sticky learning
- Gives students a better grasp of their progress
- Enables students to evaluate, synthesise and apply concepts at a higher level
- Very detailed and cleverly written content
Upgrade if
You are looking for a finely-tuned revision system informed by the latest research.
Find out more at collins.co.uk/revisionthatsticks.
Review by John Dabell
