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How to Revise for CSEC with Past Papers

The Evolve TeamLearningCSEC

Do one timed section of a CXC past paper, then mark what you missed. Do not reread the chapter first.

This sits on top of the study techniques course. Active recall and the 1-3-7 review rule are the method. A past paper is where you practise them for CSEC.

  1. Sit one section

    Book closed. Timer set to the exam time.

  2. Write three misses

    Specific. 'Quadratic formula', not 'maths'.

  3. Review on day 3 and day 7

    From memory, before you take a new section.

One revision session

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • One official paper for the subject you are actually sitting. Your teacher is the right first source. CXC publishes syllabuses and papers. A PDF forwarded through a chat is not a source.
  • A quiet timer.
  • A pen and a blank page for the three things you missed.
  • The marking notes if your school has them. If it does not, mark from the textbook after you have finished, not while you are writing.

Leave the textbook closed until the timer stops.

One session

Section titled “One session”
  1. Choose a single section, not the whole paper. Twenty to forty minutes is enough.
  2. Set the timer to the time that section would get in the exam. Write as if you were in the hall.
  3. Stop when the timer ends, even if you are mid-sentence.
  4. Mark honestly. “I would have got that” does not count.
  5. On the blank page, write three specific misses. “Quadratic formula” is useful. “Maths” is not.
  6. Close the paper. Tomorrow, answer those three from memory before you touch a new section.

That is the session. Collecting papers, highlighting them, and never writing under time is not revision.

The next three days

Section titled “The next three days”

Use the 1-3-7 rule: you did the work on day 1. On day 3, answer the three misses again without looking. On day 7, do it once more, then take a new section.

If you missed the same point on day 3, that point is the only homework. Do not add a new topic to hide it.

What this will not do

Section titled “What this will not do”

A past paper will not teach a topic you have never seen. If the three misses are “I do not know what this chapter is”, stop and learn that chapter with the Cornell or Feynman steps in the study course. Then come back and sit the section again.

It also will not raise a grade by itself the night before the exam. Start while there are still weeks of day-3 and day-7 reviews left.

In this series

Section titled “In this series”

Discussion

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