The Best Revision Resources for GCSE Students

The time leading up to GCSE exams can be hugely stressful for both students and parents and anything that can be done to alleviate this can only be a positive move. The key to success at exams rests on two main elements. First, early planning and organisation to ensure students have enough time to cover all the necessary subjects to the required depth before exam day. Second, continual testing throughout the revision period to help reinforce learning, this can be a combination of self-testing, testing by peers and undertaking past papers.

If you feel your child needs additional help to organise their revision, or assistance in one of more particular subjects, then a revision course such as those offered by Justin Craig Education can be the most effective resource. Revision courses give a clear advantage as not only are they run by experts in their field, but the students are working alongside peers and this can be a highly motivating environment when they have been used to revising alone.

There are also a number of online resources which can help with revision planning, tips and even educational materials to help students learn key facts in a concise manner.

Three Online GCSE Revision Resources

1. Get Revising is a site jam packed with information on virtually every GCSE subject and it’s delivered in a fresh, appealing way. Included are ways to create study planners and varying approaches to study methods including: flash cards, mindmaps, quizzes, crosswords and revision notes and cards. All of these methods will appeal to different students depending on what their style of learning is, some people learn better through visual methods, some through text and others through audio. There is even a shared resources section where students can upload notes, videos or podcasts which have helped them in their revision.

For a low monthly cost, which gives you access to all the materials, this one is definitely worth checking out. If your child enjoys it there is also an A level section so they can continue on with their learning.

2. The Student Room is a free website which focuses on important subjects for teenagers and young adults. As well as covering life issues such as relationships, spirituality, health and politics it also has a wide range of study materials for GCSE, A Levels and information on getting into university.

This site, like the first, also allows students to create all kinds of mediums to aid study and includes revision notes for almost every GCSE subject. The vibe of this website however is much more peer-led and there are forums where every subject imaginable is discussed. Therefore, it could also offer support with other issues going on in students’ lives outside of their studies.

3. The last GCSE revision resource, and it might be a slightly unexpected one, is YouTube. There is a wealth of videos on this site in almost every subject, so if you are struggling to understand a concept, this is the place to head. You need to be quite disce ing in your search and enter exactly what topic you want covered and at what level, otherwise you might end up looking at postgraduate videos.

Because of the visual element, YouTube can be particularly good at putting across science in an accessible and fun way. Seeing an experiment carried out, which explains a principle you might have been grappling with in theory for months, makes it far more memorable when exam time comes round.

All of these resources have in common the two areas discussed earlier which are so important to exam success, namely early planning and continual testing. This has been found to be the key to success by many who carry out research on the subject, and it is also the method that a British memory champion recommends, just who you want in your corner as revision season arrives.