Learning and revision guide

In order to be a successful learner, you need to fully understand all the work you have been doing in class with your teacher. Do not leave it until too near the examination day to realise that you do not really understand a topic or concept, or that you have failed to master a particular practical skill. You need to be organised in all that you do during the whole two-year course. Remember that a positive attitude to study will help you learn better and faster. You must be absolutely sure you know the course requirements and which examination you are taking. You can find full details of the course requirements on the Cambridge International Examinations website (www.cie.org.uk); follow the links for Middle Secondary Cambridge IGCSE and finally scroll down to Information and Communication Technology. If you have the facilities it would be helpful to print off the specification. You can use this as a checklist during your revision process.

Motivation
In order to motivate yourself then you need to identify an overall long-term aim: this might be to pursue a particular career or to travel the world. If ever you begin to lose interest or stray off target then by reminding yourself of this long-term aim you should be able to bring your mind back to the task in hand. However, this long-term aim may be many years away, so it is vital that you set mediumand short-term targets as stepping stones on the way. Assume that you want a particular career in the information technology (IT) industry then it is probable that you will need to go to university. In order to get to university you will need qualifications at level 3 (GCE/International AS/A2 level or equivalent), but before this you will need qualifications at level 2 (IGCSE/GCSE level). These are the qualification for which you are now working towards, with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) being just one of these subjects. Now all the hard work will seem worthwhile.
IT professional?

Degree

AS/A2 level qualifications

GCSE / IGCSE qualifications

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 1

Within all of your subjects you can set yourself short-term targets for the next one or two weeks. It will also enable you to practise some of your practical ICT skills if you design a grid containing your targets. (Which software do you think would be most suitable?) As you achieve each of these targets you can tick them off the list. If you need an incentive, why not promise yourself a treat when you have completed your list? You can use this grid, based on the specification you have printed and the work you are currently doing in class, to assess your own knowledge and determine which topic(s) you know well and which topic(s)/skills you need to practise. You need to set yourself learning targets based on what you have learnt rather than spending a certain number of hours studying. What you have learnt is more important than how long or short a period of time it took you to improve your learning. It is often better to spend two shorter periods of time working than one longer period of the same total time. You are able to concentrate much better in short time periods. To decide if you have met a particular target you could use some of the questions on this CD or those in the textbook as a test to see what you have learnt. Remember, it will be necessary to go back at a later date to re-test yourself to ensure that you really did learn the work and are still able to answer the test questions or perform the practical skills. Do not try to be too ambitious. Set yourself smaller targets and in this way you should be more successful and not lose motivation or interest. Remember to stay positive, and if you are struggling then think of your long-term aim which will bring back your positive attitude. The final thing to remember is that this work is all for you you will be the one person who will gain from the time invested in your education.

Activity
Think about what you really want to achieve. Write down your long-term aim. In order to achieve this long-term aim what do you need to do? What qualications do you need to get? Which subjects, if any, are essential? Write down the qualications you need; remember to include the subject name and level. Arrange this list by the level of qualication. Taking ICT as a single example, think about what you need to do in the next two weeks. Keep repeating this task until you have a set of targets to take through to the end of the current term.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 2

Planning
Activity
What do you do with your time when you are not at school? Write down how long you spend on each activity during a typical week. Sort this list of activities into an order of importance. Which of these activities are essential to achieving your long-term aim? Which of these activities are not really important? Now add learning time to your list and decide how important it is. Does your list include some time for relaxation, sport or other activities? Remember, it is important not to neglect other aspects of your life. In the long term this will help you reach your goal.

As soon as you start your level 2 courses you should be sure of the assessment requirements for each course. If you are not sure, then ask your teacher or use the Internet to look at each subject specification. You will be able to determine how much coursework, if any, that you will have to do. The examination board will specify a deadline date for your coursework marks to be sent to them, but each school/college will set their own internal deadline date. You need to make sure that you know these dates for all your subjects so that you can plan your time accordingly. During the entire two-year course after each topic, or after every two weeks, use the textbook and this CD to revise the topic. As soon as you have revised the topic in this way, write down the main points of the topic and then compare these with your own notes and/or the textbook. Repeat this exercise the following week and compare the two sets of notes. Where there are any differences you will need to go back to your notes and make sure you learn these facts/interpretations again. If you did have differences then repeat the exercise again the following week until you have no differences. It is likely then you have fully learnt this topic and should not need to repeat this exercise. However, it would be a good idea to repeat this exercise at some time in the future just to check. When you are happy with your learning in each topic, you can cross it off your checklist which you prepared earlier.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 3

Activity
List all your subjects and the coursework for each. For each subject divide the coursework into sections, if appropriate, and set a target for the completion of each section. Your teacher should tell you if they have any intermediate target dates for completion of coursework. It might be a good idea to use a time chart to remind you of these important dates. Work out which are your strong subjects the ones you nd easiest. Sort your subjects into order, with the most difcult in rst place. This will enable you to decide how to divide your time when you are revising.

Revision techniques
What to revise You will know from your own analysis which subjects/topics you need to revise. Your teacher will also know your strengths and weaknesses so why not ask them to advise you? It is possible for you to look at previous examination papers and see which topics appear regularly and the type of questions appearing. But remember that these topics and kinds of questions appeared in the past. Even if they regularly appear, there is no guarantee that they will be asked in your actual examination papers. So if you only revise certain topics then you are taking a risk if they dont appear, you will find yourself in difficulties. A better strategy would be to concentrate on revising those topics that you find more difficult. The reasoning is that if you have learnt and know a particular topic and do not revise it, you will still have no difficulty in answering any questions on the topic, increasing the number of questions you are able to answer.
The examination questions will often have a single word that tells you how much detail is required for each answer: State, name, list all you have to do is give the name of what is being asked for. Describe, explain you should say how something works, though this will depend on the actual question. Compare you will have to say how both things work and perhaps what are the differences between them. Evaluate say how well or poorly the object works. Justify say why the object has been chosen. Learn what each of these words is asking for in your answer.

Activity
List all your subjects and sort them into order of priority, starting with the subject you need to spend most time on. For each subject divide the list into separate topics.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 4

When to revise Your revision time will be determined by a number of factors but will mainly be at evenings and weekends. You can also arrange your revision time if you are able to work early mornings or late nights, although you should not work too late too often lack of sleep will affect your learning at school the next day. You have a choice of how much time you spend on each subject and how many and which subjects you revise each day. Activity
Write lists of subjects which you will study each day during a one-week period. For each day write down how much time you will spend on each subject. Remember: include breaks during each day and perhaps some days free of revision so that you are able to come back to your revision refreshed and enthused.

What type of learner are you? People learn in different ways and the style of learning which suits you will not necessarily work for other people and vice versa. Answering this question will help determine your learning style, though if you want an accurate assessment you will need to undertake a more thorough assessment which you can find by searching the Internet for learning styles. Activity
When learning a new skill I prefer to:

a get somebody to explain it to me; b try and work it out myself by doing it; c
watch somebody else perform the skill and then copy what they do.

There are three types of learning styles auditory (listening), kinaesthetic (doing/ movement) and visual (seeing).

Activity
Now match each answer to one of these learning styles. Which learning style suits you?

Each learning style has activities which best suit that particular learner, although there will be aspects of the other two learning styles which you will enjoy. The task is to find what works best for you. Here are some ideas for you to try.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 5

Auditory learners

Some people find it relaxing to have some background music playing while they are working. Note that it should be quiet and have a slow beat loud, fast tempo music will have the opposite effect and take your mind off the work. The quiet, slow music will help you relax and concentrate. When you are revising you could try and use your MP3 player to record key facts and then play these back to yourself. You could make up a rap or sentence that will remind you of the key facts. The best way to know if you have learnt something is to explain it to somebody else ask any of your teachers.

Activity
Try explaining what you have learnt to somebody else a classmate or even your parents. Ask them to explain it back to you. You will be able to assess what they have learnt and if they are correct then you must have taught them well.

Kinaesthetic learners

As you are reading through your notes, write down the key facts on stick-it notes. Remember to use a different coloured stick-it or different coloured pen for different topics. Then you will be able to stick these notes around your bedroom and walk around reading them, perhaps even listening to music if you find that helps you.
Visual learners

After each topic has been completed in class read through your notes and use a highlight pen to emphasise the key facts. Again use different coloured pens one for facts, another colour for advantages, a third colour for reasons why and so on. You might even draw linked diagrams to show these facts and any connections between them

Examination technique
If you have followed the suggestions in this section you should be fully prepared for your examination. A last-minute hour of revision the night before the examination is a good idea. What is not a good idea is to spend too long the night before, even staying up until the early hours of the next morning in order to try and cram in as much revision as possible. What you really need to do is get a good nights sleep and relax in order to be in that positive frame of mind and at all times remember that long-term aim. Make sure you have the correct equipment. A black pen is recommended since nowadays many examinations are scanned into a computer and marked electronically. Remember to take spare pens as well. When you get to the examination room, arrange your equipment on the desk and relax. As soon as you can start, dont. Before you write anything quickly read through all the questions on the examination paper the last question is not always the hardest! When you have identified which are your easiest questions then you should start answering the questions in increasing level of difficulty so that you leave the more difficult questions until the end.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 6

Remember to keep an eye on the time dont spend too long on any one question, even if you know everything there is to know on that particular topic. The question paper will usually tell you how many marks there are for each question and so you can use this to work out how much time to spend on each question. In multiple-choice questions it is often the case that you are penalised for incorrect answers to prevent you from guessing where you do not know the answer leave it blank. However, in cases where you have to write in the answer make sure that you answer every question. You cannot score marks if you dont give an answer. You never know you may be correct. Above all read the question. It is surprising how many candidates fail to answer the question that has been asked.

IGCSE ICT Cambridge University Press 2010

Learning and Revision Guide 7