My student is not revising topics covered in previous sessions. I have stressed the importance of consistent revision but I’m not sure the best way to make him revise.
Here are some ideas:
- Typically students won’t revise on their own. This is true for a variety of reasons.
- Some students have never revised before and really don’t know how. Revision itself is a skill that they may not have developed. Maybe they just don’t know what to do, or, think that they are revising when really they are doing something else.
- Generally, only the students who have experienced the benefits of revision first hand will be willing to revise without being pushed. Understandably, other students can feel that since they have already covered the content and they have a supportive tutor to help prepare for tests that revision isn’t really necessary, besides before exams perhaps.
- Some students are just lazy around revision because it can be boring.
- Revision should be a part of students’ regular study schedule, not something they do before exams. If you want to make this happen for your student you will have to make revision a formality.
- Set them revision for homework.
- Tell them EXACTLY what to do, don’t leave it up to them.
- Some great revision exercises to give students:
- Chapter reviews
- First 2-3 questions (or last 2-3 questions if they’re advanced) from each exercise in a chapter.
- Redo a class test on that topic.
- Create notes – a chapter summary complete with graphs, example questions and explanations.
- test them on the content they supposedly revised. Prove to them that they didn’t do it properly if they haven’t properly put in the effort.
- After a while of discussing the importance of revision and setting revision homework, it should become accepted within the student’s mind that revision is a constant and permanent part of their maths career. Make sure that you always listen to the student and allow them to express how they feel about all this extra work which they are probably not even sure is necessary. Always be working on developing their appreciation and understanding of revision.
- You should get them to do a review of your tutoring session after you leave EVERY time. It should only take them 5-10 minutes and is guaranteed to make a big difference.
