A practical workshop of techniques to create a whole school revision mindset for managing exam-relates anxiety and stress, including embedding memory improvement techniques into teaching and learning. Students at any level will find this engaging workshop invaluable in learning the most effective of types of revision for exams.

Learn the most effective evidence-based techniques for revision delivered by Ben Stephenson, Psychology teacher and Head of 6th Form, Queen Anne’s School & colleagues.

ben will take you through a three staged approach to helping create and embed a revision mindset.

Stage 1- Getting onside. The importance of rehearsal, organisation and eliminating distractions. Students who understand the basic theory of the working memory model and multi-store memory model (regardless of whether they are Psychology students or not) are better equipped to apply this knowledge to their own revision and will be more receptive to further revision advice given.

Effective revision is more than passive reading and re-writing notes, it involves active learners who space their revision topics, test themselves and then get others to test them.

Stage 2- Effective memory improvement strategies. One of the biggest myths about the human memory is that its ability is pretty much fixed- some people have good memories and some people have bad memories. By engaging your imagination and training yourself to actively make links between the knowledge you need to know and pre-existing knowledge you have such as the route from home to school, you give yourself a much better chance of remembering said information. Effective memory improvement strategies helps students have more fun in revising whilst building their confidence which in turn leads to better outcomes.

Stage 3- conditioning the mindset. The final stage is putting this all into practice and replicating the emotions of the real life examinations. Students' default emotions when it comes to examinations is that of fear and apprehension. By teaching relaxation techniques and positive thinking strategies, student can learn to use their negative emotions as triggers to invoke a more positive mindset.

About Ben Stephenson

Ben started his career as a Sport Psychology consultant working with a variety of athletes and teams. He quickly found that many of the techniques used to help athletes reach peak performance could also be applied in the classroom to help students. Ben has now been teaching for over ten years and has been a director of sixth form for the past four, joining QAS in September 2018. Alongside this, Ben continues to deliver workshops to staff, parents and students on how to best prepare for examinations and was a Keynote speaker at the 2018 Heads of Sixth Form Conference. He has most recently (May 2019) appeared in the Daily Telegraph article on the BrainCanDo approach to effective revision:

http://braincando.com/news/http-braincando-com-wp-content-uploads-2019-05-daily-telegraph-article-exam-rg-210519-pdf/