Top Tips : Effective Revision
March 17, 2025
Mr Pearce, Deputy Head of UCAS, Politics Teacher and our Apply Plus programme lead, offers some top tips for the art of revising well.
As we approach Trinity Term and public examinations loom on the horizon, remember that lots of the keys to success are surprisingly simple and manageable. The top tips below come from a wide range of previous pupils who are now off doing brilliant things at university, the workplace, and beyond, but who were once nervously staring at fast-approaching exams just like you are now. Here are their pearls of wisdom on revision …
- Don’t wait until you feel like it: if you wait until you ‘feel like’ revising, it will likely never happen. Set yourself a start time, and then get cracking. As someone once said, “Just do it”. You’ll feel much more like it when you’ve made a start, and the sense of satisfaction and progress kick-starts an upwards progression. More often than not, positive emotions follow positive actions rather than the other way around.
- Make a plan: having all your topics planned out and assigned to particular revision slots on particular days is really useful. This is the only way you can be sure that you have enough time to get through everything, so make a plan and do your best to stick to it. Be kind to yourself too – “no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy”, and precious few pupils stick perfectly to their revision aims: but the very act of making a plan helps you take control and measure your progress as you go along.
- Revise actively! My old biology teacher at school always use to say his number one, most magical, most sophisticated and most earth-shattering revision tip was… “use a pen”. Underwhelmed? So was I. But it’s fundamental: simply ‘reading over’ information is not an effective way to get it to stick in your brain. So use a pen – or whatever other format you’ll use in the real exam – and revise actively! One of the most effective ways to do this is to make a great set of notes on each topic, then make notes on your notes, then condense them down until the whole topic is summarised on a single side of A4. Other great active revision tools include the highly recommended “write, learn, cover, test, check, repeat as required" method, as well as good old flash cards, mind maps, posters and mnemonics. Find what works for you, but always revise actively.
- Sit at a proper desk: I once tried ‘revising’ in the sunshine because it was a nice day. It didn’t work. The temptation to revise on your bed or on the sofa can be strong too, but the only place for really focused work is a proper table or desk. After all, it also replicates the real exam situation better, so it’s a win-win.
- Use a countdown clock: at the start of a work session, set a countdown timer for the amount you intend to do. Start the timer and start working, but STOP the timer whenever you do anything that is not actually revision… making drinks, organising your folder, going to the toilet, and so on. This will focus your work time on productive work more effectively, which, in turn, will also ensure you get better time off; work should be work, rest should be rest, play should be play. The more effectively and efficiently you work, the better your time off will feel too.
- Avoid distractions: we all know the dangers of procrastination, where we put off work until we’ve tidied our room or decorated our revision timetable. Outright distraction is even more dangerous, so you need to be ruthless: turn the music off (unless it truly helps you learn), leave your phone in another room entirely, and bring a supply of snacks and drinks to your desk so you don’t have to make that lengthy trip to the kitchen. And remember, if you find yourself getting distracted, stop the clock, because you’ve stopped working!
- Take short breaks: your brain can’t focus on difficult revision for any more than an hour in one go, possibly even less. Find out what works for you, but 30 minutes solid revision followed by a 5-minute break is often a good pattern.
- Practice papers / questions: this is crucial! You’re spending all this time gaining knowledge, but we all know the painful truth that your beautiful hard-earned knowledge isn’t worth very much if you can’t apply it to the exam questions. Like any great sportsperson, you don’t just need power: you need technique to enable you to get the most out of that power. In exams, knowledge is power, but we need to know exactly what the examiners want us to do with it in the exam. So: practise lots of timed exam questions, and use mark schemes to help you assess how well you did. Ask your teachers to mark them too – it’s the sort of thing we really like because it shows you’re doing all the right things!
- Stay healthy – sleep well, eat well and exercise: it can be tempting to go ‘revision crazy’ around exam time… “I’ll sleep when exams are over!” But revision is a very brain-hungry activity, and your brain is an energy-hungry machine: it needs servicing and maintenance to keep it in tip-top shape. The reality is that the right balance of sleep, healthy eating, exercise, connecting with friends and having some fun become more rather than less important during exams. Did you know that doing exercise makes the knowledge you’ve revised stick in your brain better, even if the exercise comes after the revision session rather than before it? Make these good things happen. You’ll be infinitely more effective at revising if you’re keeping yourself well.
- Balance is key: here’s the equation: rest without work is less fulfilling, less rewarding and less fun. Work without rest is less productive, less effective, and more stressful. All performers, from Olympic athletes on the track to world-class musicians on the stage, know that no success comes without serious hard work, but also that appropriate rest is essential for growth and strength. If it’s good enough for them…
- Not all of these suggestions will suit everyone, but the most important thing for everyone to remember is that you need to be organised, balanced and disciplined when it comes to revision. After all, revision lasts just a little while – but the qualifications you stand to achieve last a lifetime. Make the most of revision time, and we look forward to seeing your smile on results day. And if you need us before then, reach out – to your tutor, your teachers, your Head of House, or the Wellbeing Team: we’re all here to help!
In October half term, Freddie and Arthur Dannatt travelled to Sierra Leone to take part in the marathon for Street Child, as well as seeing some of the charity's brilliant work. Arthur and Freddie commented; "Of course we expected to be impressed by the work of Street Child but we were blown away by the scale and spirit of it. The day we spent visiting families receiving enterprise support from Street Child in the Kroo Bay-a slum of Freetown; and our day visiting ‘first ever’ schools Street Child had built in remote villages outside Kenema - will stay with us for a very long time. The marathon will also stay with us a long-time! It was so beautiful, totally shattering and great fun! Finally, although we came primarily to run the Sierra Leone marathon and to visit the work of Street Child - we also want to say how beautiful Sierra Leone is! Tokeh fishing beach is incredible. The landscape everywhere is stunning. We also visited the former slave fort at Bunce Island which was both fascinating, and horrifying . You don’t need a marathon to justify a visit to Sierra Leone - it is amazing!!" To find out more or donate click here
No one is perfect; making mistakes is part of our growth. Instead of crumbling under the weight of regret, as difficult as it might sometimes seem, we should try to learn from every experience. So often we slip up, do things that get us in trouble or make us feel silly and we see it as a massive error, and can even spiral into dark and dreadful mental places. Today I want to convince you that mistakes are not just normal – they are essential. In fact, some of the best things in life started off with someone doing something wrong. The Bible encourages us to turn our failures into stepping stones for improvement. This transformation requires a willingness to reflect, ask for guidance, and lean on God for wisdom through our struggles. We can all develop greater strength and character when we commit to learning from the errors we all make. Illustrating this point is not too difficult as things go wrong all the time. Just the other day I walked into the packed common room at breaktime, only for a colleague to point out that I was wearing my jumper inside out. It turned out to be back to front as well. There are of course several personal anecdotes I could use, but instead let’s look at some other examples… My favourite piece of stationery came about in the world due to a mistake. You've probably all used these items at one point or another, for revision or making lists. In the 1960s, a scientist called Dr Spencer Silver was working on creating a super-strong adhesive glue. What he actually made was... the exact opposite; a glue so weak it could barely hold paper together. His colleagues initially laughed at him and dismissed his efforts, and probably went onto invent something ostensibly much better….But then someone had the genius idea of using this pathetic looking non sticky glue for bookmarks, and the Post-It note was born. In 1999, NASA lost its Mars Climate Orbiter because one engineering team made their calculations using imperial units (inches/pounds) while another team used metric units (centimetres/kilograms). This was very silly. The spacecraft entered Mars’ atmosphere too low and disintegrated. This maths mistake cost a whopping $125 million. But it led to better communication protocols in space engineering. In 1928, Dr Alexander Fleming – a Scottish surgeon who was famously untidy, went on holiday and left a dirty petri dish out by mistake. Many of you know what happened next. This was pretty normal for him – his experiments took place in a tiny little turret room in St Mary’s hospital, London. He had around 30-40 plates of bacteria on his bench, sourced from infected hospital patients, and when he returned from his trip, he noticed, as he inspected the staphylococcus bacteria, that something had changed – mould was now growing on it. Noticing that the mould seemed to be preventing the bacteria around it from growing, he started experimenting, and soon identified that this mould produced a self-defence chemical that could kill bacteria. There is a far more technical word for this but I will refer to it as mould juice. He'd discovered penicillin - the first antibiotic. Well, this mistake has saved lives – an estimated 500 million lives in fact. You'll make mistakes - we all do. In your studies, in your singing, in your tests and in class; (maybe even before class) in your relationships; in your hairstyle choices even. They won’t feel good at the time, especially when made in public. Think about how embarrassing and inconvenient it is when you leave your lanyard at home. But it's important not to fear them. Most are solvable and most lead to learning opportunities. They’re brain gold. They’re how you grow. Because mistakes don’t mean “stop”. They mean you’re exploring, you’re trying. Mistakes are indeed lessons. The Bible provides a robust framework for understanding the human experience. Through its various books and verses, it offers insights into the nature and consequences of making mistakes, and urges us to push on and to ensure that we live life to its fullest, despite our imperfections. I also think that trusting in God allows us to learn valuable lessons from our mistakes – in the book of Proverbs (chapter 3, verses 5-6) which is a collection of brilliant little pockets of wisdom and advice, the writer tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”. Instead of relying on our flawed and human understanding, we can seek His wisdom and grace which guides us towards better choices in the future.
Lower 3 pupil, Max Wright, has been selected for the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. We hear from Max about this exciting new adventure for him... "I was really happy to find out in October that I’ve been selected to play cello for the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain in 2026. I’ll be in the Projects Orchestra for children aged 8-14, and will take part in two weekends in Birmingham in the Spring and Summer, with additional online activities and webinars, which I’m sure will be a great experience. I’ve only played in string orchestras before, so this is going to be a bit of a change playing in a full orchestra and I can’t wait to meet the other players. I’ll have to learn quite a bit of new music too and new compositions but I’m excited for the challenge! The auditions for NCO are by video and you have to record two contrasting pieces without stopping – I found this harder to do than it sounds. It’s quite difficult to get a good video without too many mistakes! I also had to talk about the music I like playing. There will be lots to learn but I’m really looking forward to it!"
Our cultural programme of lectures held with partner organisations carries on apace this autumn. On 6th November 2025 we welcomed back the illustrious Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to the Blake Studio for a fascinating evening of exploration. Billed as an ‘conversation with a traveller into unknown lands’ we were delighted to host Hilary Bradt MBE. She is the founder of Bradt Travel Guides, a publisher of respected travel guidebooks. She ran the company for 35 years until retirement in 2007. In her long career, she has travelled extensively and garnered multiple accolades for her travel writing and charity work, especially in Madagascar, a country which has long fascinated her. See: Hilary Bradt - Wikipedia . The evening comprised her being interviewed by FRGS and ON parent Sara White, herself a well-travelled conservationist and Trustee of Explorers Against Extinction . With humour and many fine tales of her adventures, the interview covered Hilary’s experiences travelling to lesser-known locations – by hitch-hiking and bus – long before the days of mass travel, and more recently her escapades as a fearless octogenarian. She also reflected on her business ‘adventure’ starting her successful guidebook series introducing travellers to remote places. It was also illuminating to hear her take on sustainable travel and the impact of tourism on vulnerable, remote peoples and places. Hilary also shared her perceptions of the palpable benefits travel can give to local communities when done respectfully and sensitively. A large audience of alumni, staff, parents, Fellows of the RGS and friends enjoyed an informative Q&A over refreshments afterwards. Our next RGS event happens shortly. It sees the welcome return for the fourth year in succession of our Youth Microlectures Series held in partnership with the RGS. On Tuesday 18 th November at 17:00 in the Blake Studio a hand-picked selection of sixth formers from schools across Norfolk will each present a 10-minute talk followed by 5 minutes of Q&A. Our programme of lectures covers a wide range of topical interests relating to our fragile planet and its ecosystems. Mouthwatering prospects include talks on extreme weather, the monarch butterfly, the Antarctic economy, and the human cost of our clothing amongst others. The evening will be led by our own Dr Anthony Speca FRGS FRSA and by the highly acclaimed Tim O'Riordan OBE DL FBA , Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the UEA, both prominent environmental educationalists and advocates. Entry is free, so do come to support our young geographers.
On Thursday 6 November, we were treated to an exceptional Concordia Recital in the Lower School Hall – a delightful showcase of 3 pupils who are excelling in their chosen instrumental studies. The recital opened with Betsy Chaun presenting a thoughtfully curated piano programme that spanned eras and styles. She began her recital with Germaine Tailleferre’s Sonate alla Scarlatti, a charming neoclassical gem whose bright textures and rhythmic playfulness Betsy captured with clarity and poise. Her articulation in the quick passages showed an impressive command for a performer of her age. Next came Richard Clayderman’s A Comme Amour, offering a lyrical contrast to the opening. Betsy’s sensitive phrasing and gentle rubato conveyed a real sense of musical maturity, allowing the melody to sing beautifully above a delicate accompaniment. With Béla Bartók’s Stamping Dance, Betsy shifted gear once again, throwing herself into the percussive rhythms and bold harmonies with confidence and energy. The performance was vibrant and rhythmically assured, a testament to both her technique and her evident enjoyment of the music. Her penultimate piece, Haydn’s Sonata in F Major, Allegro, brought a return to classical elegance. Betsy’s crisp articulation and buoyant tempo captured the composer’s wit and grace, while her dynamic contrasts lent freshness to every phrase. She concluded with Alexis Ffrench’s Last Song, a modern, expressive work that allowed her to show her lyrical side once more. The quiet, reflective ending drew a gentle hush from the audience — a perfect way to close a beautifully balanced programme. Following Betsy’s virtuosic performance, Georgia Cornell du Houx brought a touch of magic to the evening with repertoire for the Harp. Beginning with an excerpt from Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years, Georgia wove familiar melodies into shimmering textures that filled the hall with warmth. Her second piece, Jeremiah Clarke’s Chaconne, was an elegant nod to the Baroque period, performed with remarkable control and poise. The clarity of her finger work and her sensitivity to phrasing demonstrated impressive technical assurance. Georgia concluded with the popular Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakmé, its graceful harmonies perfectly suited to the harp’s luminous tone. The performance was serene and lyrical — a lovely reminder of the instrument’s ethereal beauty. Our final performer, Moli Li, brought a sense of bright classical refinement to the programme. Her opening work, Clementi’s Spiritoso, sparkled with crisp precision and joyful energy. Moli’s steady tempo and poised dynamics reflected an excellent understanding of classical style. She followed with Kuhlau’s Sonatina in C Major, a piece full of youthful charm and elegant simplicity. Moli’s performance was both disciplined and expressive together with bright energy and clean articulation. The scalic and arpeggio passages flowed effortlessly while maintaining the poise and symmetry so characteristic of Kuhlau’s writing. She captured the conversational quality of the music, phrases exchanged naturally, cadences neatly shaped, and dynamics carefully graded to reveal the movement’s buoyant character. Overall, the recital was a true celebration of young musicianship. Each performer displayed not only skill and dedication but also an authentic love of music. From Baroque dances to contemporary lyricism, the programme offered a wonderful journey through sound — and the audience’s enthusiastic applause made clear that these young artists had left a lasting impression. Head of Music Mr Vine said ‘ what wonderful and spellbinding performances from all 3 of our young artists. Excellent choice of music and delivered with such professionalism and musical brilliance! Bravo to all 3 of you!’
Launched on Kickstarter today: From lived experience to national action, this film inspires action for SEND families and children harmed by education policy
We started off the trip by going to see the moulin rouge which was filled with incredible dancing and singing on Tuesday evening. The musical was fun and full of energy, with lots of classic songs to sing along to. On Wednesday, we had a day filled with dance workshops at various places around London. We began the day with an amazing jazz class with Cris Penfold at London Studio Centre, a dance university in London. The class was filled with great energy and enthusiasm from everyone and introduced a new and unique style on jazz inspired by the great Gatsby. After this, we visited Pineapple studios in which we had a commercial class with Christina Andrea. She created a fun yet challenging atmosphere, pushing us out of our comfort zones focusing on our energy and versatility as dancers. Finally, we took part in a workshop with an original cast member of the Moulin Rouge in which we were able to learn repertoire from the show we had watched the previous night. She gave us an in-site into life in the industry which was very inspiring. Overall, the trip was one to remember and definitely a highlight in the dance calendar! - Aggie Johnson, U5
On Tuesday 4 November, 13 runners from the Cross Country Club travelled to Witney in Oxfordshire for the Regional Round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup, having qualified last month in Woodbridge. The course was flat and fast, and the competition was fierce, with all runners having qualified from their county rounds to get there. In the Junior Boys race both Joshua Bevan and Jonty Croskell were racing against pupils a year older and ran strongly to finish 64 th and 85 th respectively. In the Junior Girls race, there were 80 runners from 14 schools, and our girls finished 11th, with excellent performances from Annabelle Hitchings, Iris Wells, Poppy Short and Emi Muntingh. Emi came 7 th overall. In the Senior Girls, our first finisher was Minnie Andrews in 25th place. The rest of the team were closely bunched with Bea Green, Izzy Last and Amelie Ivie all finishing in the top 35 and Olivia Allen and Bella Muntingh also finishing high in the results to secure 8 th place for the team. Well done to all those who took part.
I am very excited to announce that I have passed the audition and have been selected to be a member of the National Children’s Orchestra Of Great Britain 2026 playing my harp! The NCO is for children aged 8-14 and you can audition for either weekends or residential weeks. As this is my first national audition I decided to audition for weekends. This means I will be going to Birmingham in the Spring and Summer and also taking part in online creative activities, meet ups and webinars. Auditions for the NCO are done online. I had to play two contrasting pieces and give a small speech about why I like playing in ensembles and orchestras. The pieces I wanted to play were both too long so I had to make a few adaptions! Also, I am very grateful to have received a grant from the North Norfolk Festival of Performing Arts who have kindly paid the NCO membership fee for me. I am really looking forward to meeting other young people and harpists at the NCO weekends and learning more about playing in a large orchestra. - Timothy Madders, U4
Melissa Hawkings (U6) has become a full member of The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. To celebrate her success, Mrs Fry sat down with her and asked her some questions. Mrs Fry: Melissa, huge congratulations on becoming a full member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. You’re not completely new to this, are you? Can you tell me what your involvement has been in NYO so far? Melissa Last year I was a residency guest so I took part in the spring in the summer concerts in the full horn section, including playing The Planets and Star Wars music at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, and the year before I was an associate member, which a nice introduction to NYO. One of the best concerts I played in was as an off stage horn in the Alpine Symphony conducted by Sir Mark Elder. Mrs Fry: Wow! That’s not an opportunity that comes around too often! A whole new learning curve for playing in time. What will it mean to you now that you’re a full member? What will your annual commitment be? Melissa: I’ll do three of the courses a year including the 14 day summer residency, four days of which is the concert tour. We might do some community work too, introducing instruments and music to young people. Mrs Fry: How does a residency day look? Melissa: We rehearse from 9am until 5pm with breaks and then again in the evening until 9pm. It’s a bit of a marathon! There is a rest day though. Sometimes we have full orchestra rehearsals, sometimes, full brass and sometimes horn sectionals. Mrs Fry: Do you get to see the music in advance of the course? Melissa: Yes, we get sent the music a month in advance so everyone turns up able to play everything. Because of this we can spend time on interpretation and really playing together which is what makes NYO so good. Mrs Fry: Melissa, you don’t get to be an elite level musician playing at National level by accident. Tell me about your journey to NYO. Melissa: When I was about 10 I went to an NYM (Norfolk Youth Music, now Guildhall Young Artists) Open Day days at CNS where you could try different instruments. I don’t know why I chose the horn. It just felt fun and was the most unusual. I wanted to be different so I chose it! I remember when I got home trying for ages to play a scale. I kept playing over and over again until I could play it. Then I took part in groups at school and when I felt more confident with my playing I joined the County Youth Wind Band. A little later I joined the Norfolk County Youth Orchestra where I was a member for 3 years. I think NCYO was actually really important for me because it’s how I got I to orchestral playing. I remember the first thing we did was Beethoven 5. It was really exciting. I was so nervous I was barely playing because everyone was older than me! I just kept doing it because I really liked the music. And then after that, I started going to Junior Guildhall in London on Saturdays which pushed me to the next level, playing with people from all over the country. The highlight of that for me was lots of chamber music playing. I’m now at Junior Royal College with a new teacher on Saturdays, leaving Norwich station at 0630 and returning home by 7pm or so. Mrs Fry: Long day! We’ve spoken a lot about the orchestral side of things and the coaching that you get outside of your daily routine but what does it what’s required of you to get to your level as an individual? What do you do on a daily basis? Your fitness routine? Melissa: Early in the morning, I have a half an hour warmup routine where I do different technical exercises just to make sure every aspect of my playing stays in shape: if you don’t use it, you lose it! Not every day is the same due to school commitments, but ideally I’ll do three hours practice. That’s what I did when I was preparing for the auditions: I like to do like an hour of technique, an hour on the excerpts and then an hour on my pieces. When I’m consistently doing three hours practice I notice such a difference in my playing - it’s like an athlete, you need constantly to be playing and being mindful of how you play - efficient and good practice is so important. Mrs Fry: There must be pieces of music that is special to you or musicians that have inspired you? Melissa: Right now, my favourite composer is Stravinsky. I loved playing Firebird at 14. I thought this is the most crazy, insane thing I’ve ever heard! The horn parts are amazing! That lead me into listening to The Rite of Spring and then I played Petrushka in NYO last spring at the Roundhouse in Camden. I also like Debussy and Ravel. The horn player who has inspired me is Sarah Willis, the 4th horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic. She’s not just a classical horn player - she’s recorded the Mozart horn concertos reimagined with Latin influences. Mrs Fry: Sounds slightly different to the Norwich Baroque version coming up in March when you will perform one of the Mozart concertos in the Norwich School Choral Society concert! Melissa: Yes! I also watched a masterclass with her where she made instant differences to peoples’ playing. I also really like Ben Goldscheider, a young horn player. We share the same teacher. Mrs Fry: So, what next for Melissa Hawkings the horn player? Melissa: I’m hoping to go to conservatoire next year. My dream career is to be an orchestral player but now I just want to see where it takes me - what kind of ensembles I might play in as I go through conservatoire and beyond. Mrs Fry: Who knows, you could follow Sarah Willis’s trailblazing footsteps to the Berlin Phil. Good luck with it all. If you have been inspired by Melissa’s musical journey and want to follow in her footsteps, here are some links to the local music groups she joined: https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/children-and-young-people/guildhall-young-artists/guildhall-young-artists-norwich https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/children-and-young-people/guildhall-young-artists/guildhall-young-artists-norwich/norfolk-county-youth-orchestra And tickets to NYO concerts are free for teens! Next up ‘Shimmer’ in January. Details here: https://www.nyo.org.uk/performances/shimmer Concert tour highlights - https://youtu.be/oVDFRtvPxsE?si=QqYITRq7GpjaBMp9 Jupiter in rehearsal - https://youtu.be/Hl2iTL4tnxk?si=UeWadansnIeV_x7e
