The Most Underused Revision Technique: How to Effectively Use Past Papers and Markschemes

Summary

UnJaded Jade shares insights into effectively using past papers and mark schemes, a revision technique often overlooked but immensely beneficial for exam preparation. She emphasizes the importance of analyzing mistakes to improve, and introduces the 'MARKS' method: M for Maths errors, A for Application woes, R for specific question Readings, C for Communication challenges, K for Knowledge gaps, and S for Statements. Jade advises on the benefits of reattempting papers, consulting teachers for clarification, and tailoring study notes based on past mistakes. This strategic approach can significantly elevate one's exam performance.

Highlights

• Past papers mimic exam questions, making them excellent practice tools. 💪
• The MARKS method helps in analyzing why marks were lost. 🔍
• Reanalyze and retake papers to strengthen weak areas. ➡️
• Engage with teachers for better understanding of tricky topics. 👩‍🏫
• Adjust study notes based on past paper findings for a tailored learning experience. ✏️
• Consistency in practicing past papers bridges the gap between current and desired grades. 🚀

Key Takeaways

• Utilize past papers as a key revision tool for better exam performance. 📜
• The 'MARKS' method helps identify reasons for losing marks: Maths, Application, Readings, Communication, Knowledge, and Statements. 📝
• Revisiting and redoing past papers can enhance exam techniques and understanding. 🔄
• Seek teachers' help to clarify concepts and improve knowledge. 📚
• Customize study notes to align with mark schemes for optimal learning. 🎯

Overview

UnJaded Jade delves into an often underutilized revision tactic - utilizing past papers and mark schemes to their full potential. She talks about how revisiting past papers can closely mimic actual exam conditions, helping identify knowledge gaps and familiarizing students with the format of questions. Jade emphasizes that the focus should not be on what you got wrong but rather on understanding and rectifying these mistakes.

Jade introduces a novel approach to breaking down common errors with the 'MARKS' technique. This method categorizes mistakes into specific types, like Maths errors, Application challenges, and more. By systematically pinpointing these areas, students can tailor their revision strategy, concentrating on weaknesses and turning them into strengths. Jade asserts that such strategy, though often overlooked, is crucial in exam preparedness.

Furthermore, Jade encourages students to engage proactively with their teachers to clear up any lingering confusion, rather than procrastinating. She champions the idea of redoing assessments to overcome past obstacles and improve continuously. In adopting these techniques, Jade suggests that students can not only enhance their exam techniques but also gain a significant confidence boost, propelling them closer to achieving their desired grades.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Apology for Voice The chapter begins with an introduction where the speaker greets the audience, noting that it's been a while since they last made a chatty revision video. They share that they've been planning future study videos and emphasize the importance of the upcoming content. The speaker also apologizes for having a 'creaky' voice, explaining that it is due to attending a clubbing event during a visit to Oxford over the weekend.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Underused Revision Technique Introduction The chapter titled 'Underused Revision Technique Introduction' discusses the importance of utilizing past papers and mark schemes as a revision technique that is often overlooked. Despite the speaker's voice being lost, they emphasize how practicing with exam-like questions is incredibly beneficial for assessing one's preparedness for exams.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Analyzing Past Papers Technique 'MARKS' In this chapter titled 'Analyzing Past Papers Technique 'MARKS'', the focus is on mastering the technique of analyzing past papers effectively. The author shares personal experiences about using past papers efficiently to improve academic performance, emphasizing the importance of analyzing performance post-completion. The key takeaway is that making mistakes is normal and is not a reflection of one's knowledge or capabilities. Success lies in proper analysis and learning from what went wrong, rather than just focusing on what was right. This approach is integral to improving one's skills and achieving better results in future assessments.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Detailed Explanation of 'MARKS' The chapter titled 'Detailed Explanation of 'MARKS'' discusses the importance of analyzing mistakes to facilitate learning. The chapter highlights the concept that the number of mistakes, whether few or accounting for 50% of an exam, is less important than the process of analysis afterward. A key point is introduced by the author's biology teacher, described as a 'true legend,' who developed a method for examining past papers called 'MARKS.' Each letter in 'MARKS' represents a different aspect to consider. This chapter emphasizes the importance of this systematic approach to understanding errors for academic improvement.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Practical Steps for Analyzing Past Papers The chapter 'Practical Steps for Analyzing Past Papers' addresses different reasons why students might lose marks on past papers. It highlights that there are always varied reasons for incorrect answers. Some of these reasons include lack of knowledge, insufficient revision, or not understanding the process or key terms. It also points out the problem of misunderstanding the question itself, which is different from not knowing the answer. The chapter emphasizes the importance of identifying these issues to improve performance.
• 06:00 - 07:30: Seeking Help When Needed This chapter discusses common issues students face when answering questions, particularly in subjects like science and math. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the question thoroughly. Sometimes, even if students understand the knowledge, they struggle with application questions, especially in science. Common mistakes are categorized into math errors (M) and application issues (A), where students either misunderstand the math involved or misinterpret the scenario given in a science question.
• 07:30 - 09:30: Retaking Papers for Improvement This chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding not just the content but also the application of knowledge in assessments. It illustrates the common challenge students face when they understand the material but struggle with interpreting questions, particularly when key terms like 'explain' versus 'describe' are involved. Effective communication is highlighted as an essential skill, especially in scientific fields such as biology.
• 09:30 - 11:30: Identifying Common Questions and Patterns The chapter discusses the importance of understanding specific mark schemes when answering questions, emphasizing that even if one understands the question and application well, inappropriate wording can lead to lost marks. It highlights that fixing this issue requires extensive practice and deeper analysis to comprehend what mark schemes demand.
• 11:30 - 13:00: Adjusting Study Notes Based on Past Papers The chapter discusses the importance of adjusting study notes based on past papers. It emphasizes examining past paper questions to understand whether the lack of understanding was due to insufficient knowledge, not knowing the process, or not writing enough statements. The chapter points out that students often think they have addressed all points when they may have only expanded on a few points to fill space. Therefore, using past papers as a guide, students can identify areas where they need to provide more statements to match the question's mark allocation.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Conclusion and Final Tips In the 'Conclusion and Final Tips' chapter, the author shares a strategy for improving academic performance through careful review of end-of-chapter tests. The recommended approach involves thoroughly examining the marked test to identify where marks were lost and categorizing these mistakes. The author suggests marking each error with a designated letter representing the type of error: M for math errors, A for another type of common error, and RC for recall errors. By tallying these markings, students can identify specific areas needing more practice, particularly if they notice a pattern, such as frequent math errors. The author emphasizes the importance of using past papers effectively as a key aspect of preparation.

The Most Underused Revision Technique: How to Effectively Use Past Papers and Markschemes Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey guys are welcome back to you on Jade Jade long time no see felt like it's been a little like forever since I've sat down and just done like a chatty revision video yesterday i sat down and I just wrote out a list of all the study videos that I want to make and I started planning them I thought this is a really important one so I really do think if you find it helpful and I need to apologize for my creaky voice I went to Oxford over the weekend to visit like even everyone and I went clubbing and I
• 00:30 - 01:00 lost my voice and still not really come back so apologies but today I want to talk about one of the revision techniques that I think is most underused I feel like people don't often use pass papers and marks schemes to their full potential because in reality think about it like what is more helpful than questions almost exactly like the questions you're gonna be asked in an exam test to see where you're at and stuff like that and during my time at
• 01:00 - 01:30 school I feel like I did come to nail how to use past papers and what seems more effectively so yeah I hope you find this useful okay so the secret to pass papers and end-of-chapter tests and using them effectively is all in how you analyze them once you've done them getting things wrong is literally the most normal and okay thing ever like it is not about how much you knew how what you got right what you got wrong instead
• 01:30 - 02:00 it's how you learn from what you did get wrong so whether you got two things wrong or whether you only got 50% in the paper it doesn't really matter it's all in how you analyze it after so my biology teacher who is a true legend I see coined this way of analyzing past papers which I really want to share with the eggs I think it's really important so it's basically called marks like Mao cks each letter stands for a potential
• 02:00 - 02:30 reason that you lost mark so marks is based on the fact that they're always gonna be different reasons as to why you didn't get a question right was it because you didn't know the answer like you didn't you just didn't know it like your revision was then potentially solid enough you just didn't know the process well enough you couldn't remember the right key time did you not understand the question which is a different issue because if you look at a mark scheme and you're like ah like I literally didn't know that but you just couldn't
• 02:30 - 03:00 understand the question then that is you know another issue was it that you understood the question you you kind of knew the knowledge but it was one of these awful science application questions did your maths just go really wrong so these are some common issues you can have and so marks M stands for a maths era so you don't really understand the maths you got the maths wrong you mean like a little era a is application so this is more to do with science maybe they gave you some awful scenario which
• 03:00 - 03:30 he just kind of didn't understand you know that you do know the knowledge you do understand the knowledge but applying it to a foreign situation you struggled on ah it's very the question did you know everything understand everything you were able to apply your knowledge but you missed a key term and the questions such as explain rather than describe or just some kind of reason that you didn't get the mark because of how you've interpreted the question C is so communication and this is basically just science particularly biology where
• 03:30 - 04:00 you might know exactly what you need to say you understand the question you understood the application you did everything right but the wording that you used to communicate the thoughts that you knew didn't get the mark so this is for very specific mark schemes and it's basically just a pain because it's a lot harder to fix and this kind of comes from just doing a lot more practice and more hospice to kind of understand what the mark schemes want K
• 04:00 - 04:30 is knowledge was your knowledge just week do you need to go over this topic that the question was on about did you just not know the process and s is for statements so for example if it was a full mark question and you wrote two points maybe you thought you wrote four but in reality right to kind of waffled on to fill the space we've all done it even though you got the marks for those two points then you know that you needed more statements based on the number of marks of the question so every pass paper did an
• 04:30 - 05:00 a-level every end of chapter test I would go through the whole paper once I've done it and once it'd been marked and whenever I lost the mark I would instantly look at it and be like why the hell don't get this mark and then I would write next to it M or a or RC K as one of those and then I would go through the paper I would tally up a number of like a number of M's the number of a if I find that I've got loads of maths errors then clearly I need to do more math practice and then the most important bit of using a pass paper is
• 05:00 - 05:30 to then write yourself a little note of what you're gonna do now so based off of this you know what you've done wrong you know what you need to improve on you know we need to revise write yourself that note and be super specific on what you want to go over what you need to revise better the kind of questions that you need to practice more it's just basically gives you this little game plan and it's so specific because the papers that she telling you what you've
• 05:30 - 06:00 done wrong and obviously cuz I did mainly science subjects this is kind of more science focused like oh yeah I need to consolidate this process I need to try and revise this bit again but this is applicable to any subject if it's an English essay like what did you not include enough of was it your terminology was it not specific to the question enough you need to go over key terms and literary devices try and be as specific as possible in writing yourself this note or what you're gonna do next and then whenever I would analyze pass paper I'd always come home and put it
• 06:00 - 06:30 straight on my to do list to actually do whatever I had said that I would do because it's so easy to write yourself like oh yeah I'm gonna do this and I just never do it okay my third point is now that you've analyzed your paper if you don't understand something go and see your teacher particularly at a-level your teachers literally just are your friends like go and see the make use of it's not embarrassing it's not shameful if you don't understand something yes I
• 06:30 - 07:00 somehow came out of a level with three stars but that's not because I understood everything there and then is because I didn't understand a lot of things but I went and asked until I did understand so yeah I go see your teacher help ask a friend just basically make sure that you understand the things you didn't don't you dare do that classic thing where you're like oh yeah yeah I'll add it to my list of things I don't understand that I'll go revise later like oh yeah when the exam comes then I'll revise it like that is really not
• 07:00 - 07:30 very wise and if you don't get it now you're not gonna get it then unless you actually put in the grind effort now saves future you even more effort number four if you did really badly in a paper or an end of chapter test ask to do it again go through analyze it we revise whatever and then just do the paper again almost certainly you're gonna do better even if you're remembering the answers or if it's an essay and you've already kind of got all the thoughts in your head of what you want to write just
• 07:30 - 08:00 do it again like you're not losing anything it's not like cheating if anything is just developing better exam technique get your teacher to market again for improvements sake if anything they'll probably really appreciate that you're putting in the effort to do it again as well so yes number five this is something particularly good for Sciences but make a list of common questions based on paper so you can definitely callate some common questions and they're common answers for example in
• 08:00 - 08:30 biology they're always gonna have to somehow ask you to recall the names of like a bond or list the advantages of this adaptation and whether it's a new spec or not you can spot these patterns and pay attention to the specific wording of those marks schemes just so the next time you do paper you're actually likely to say what's gonna be all masking finally number six all these things that you've learned all these specific things you got wrong the wording marks cubes etc reword those things into the notes
• 08:30 - 09:00 that you are going to learn if this whole time you've been saying the word narrow but all know the biology actually Mark's team wants you to say thin go back and change narrow to thin and that sounds really stupid but welcome to AQA biology the specificity of mark schemes yeah just make sure that whatever you are learning is based off of past papers because that is the thing that is most likely to get you marks and I hate this whole thing which is just like oh yes I
• 09:00 - 09:30 need to memorize this say that I can just get a tick of a mark scheme but unfortunately that is the nature of our exam system in the UK and most places around the world right now so I do hope this helps in some way to you as many passed papers as possible write as many English essays where as many history s-phase do maths papers do you pass paper questions from your textbook print them off print them off go back to 2007 and just do all the papers up until now
• 09:30 - 10:00 this truly is a secret between getting an A or an E star at a level for example don't you know if this helped in some way I'm sorry if my voice is also kruky also you should have seen me before us on this video I was just chucking all the rubbish out of the background I have so many manky clothes everywhere here now out of shop but I am actually going to winter wonderland now which is really exciting with my friend I also combed up my eyebrows today I think it looks fancy I
• 10:00 - 10:30 [Music]