REVIEWS: Study Skills Workshop makes a big impact on Key Stage 4 Students

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A Positively Mad Revision Workshop

"In order to motivate and prepare students for their ongoing and final exams, a 2 hour revision workshop was organised at East Bridgwater Community School.  The event was sponsored by Aim Higher, a government partnership between schools and university to boost attainment and aspiration in young people who would not normally consider university education.

 When Nick from Positively Mad (Making a Difference) arrived at East Bridgwater, the students didn’t know what to expect.  Telling silly stories, wriggling fingers and gymnastic tumbling are not something they often see during a revision session. 

 However, in 2 hours Year 10 and 11 students were taken on a tour of the brain, understood how Mind Mapping worked and taught all sorts of other techniques to make revision easier.  The students remained engaged for the whole 2 hour session; they participated in answering quick fire questions and were encouraged to devise their own ways of remembering facts.  There is no doubt about it; the 2 hour session was anything but boring.

 From humorous comments, some gymnastic tumbling to baffling brain teasers.  Nick had us all engaged and involved from start to finish.

 In a recapping session at the end the students found, to their amazement that they could easily remember over 30 facts about Marco Polo, name every Nato country and an obscure shopping list of 30 completely random words.  A pretty impressive result which spoke volumes about the quality of the course.

 A review session was held the next day with a selection of Year 11 students; here are a few of their comments: 

•  The information was very useful and I will be using the revision techniques whilst at home revising.’
• ‘The workshop was very interesting and helpful; I learnt several new techniques and how to use them effectively.  It made revision easier to do and how to use it well’. 
• ‘I found it very useful especially when we are a few months away from our real exams.’

 A big thank you to Nick, Positively MAD and Aimhigher.  Year 10 and 11 are now motivated and fully prepared for any exams that head their way."