Revision Survival Guide

In this blog post my aim is to help you feel confident during your exams. It is important to remember that exams are not designed to catch you out, but to find out what you know, what you understand and what you can do. If you have prepared well, you will have nothing to fear.

Step 1.

Make a plan – It is easy to just delve straight into revision with no clear plan, and this is where the amount of work you have to do can become daunting. This can lead to students becoming overwhelmed and often leads to a lack of focus as they jump from 1 topic to another trying to make sure they cover everything.

However if you take 20 minutes to sit down and create a revision time table, you can rest assured that you have factored in enough time for each subject. This means you can be more focused when revising, as you know this is the only subject you have to revise for at this specified time.

Below is a good example of a revision time table, it doesn't have to be down to the exact minute just rough times, so you know you are keeping on track.

Step 2.

Ideas on how to revise – It is easy to say, just revise at these specified times, but you will want to know the way you are revising is effective and actually helping you.

•          Make your notes imaginative and creative. This will help you recall the information more easily. In contrast if you just make pages and pages of similar looking notes you will find it hard to pick out specific topics as it will all merge into one.
•          For really important information, make posters and stick them to your wall. That way you will see them on a regular basis and it will help the information to stick into your memory.
•      Record information and play it back when you are relaxing or doing a mundane task.
•          Study with a  group of friends. Conversation is another great way for your brain to process information. If you don’t understand something, asking a friend to help explain it to you can be much more effective than trying to teach yourself from your notes.
•          If you have time it is always a good idea to read around the topic. This will give you a deeper understanding of the topic you are trying to learn.

Step 3.

Preparing to revise – Before you start, make sure you have a nice quiet place to revise with a drink and a snack ready, as well as any other pens, pencils, books and paper you will need. This way you can avoid distractions and really focus on the task in hand.

Step 4.

Take care of yourself – During revision it is easy to get absorbed in revising as many hours as you possibly can. This isn't always the best technique, it is important to take regular breaks every 30 minutes or so, and longer breaks after a couple of hours. This isn't time wasted, your brain needs time to process the information it has absorbed. Also if you don’t take breaks you will lose your focus and won’t take anything in at all.

It is always important to eat healthily and exercise. Things like energy drinks and junk food won’t help you revise and will only make you lose focus in the long term as you have a sugar low. Exercise can also help you de-stress and take your mind off revision.

Spend time with your friends and family. You still need time to relax and enjoy yourself especially during revision. This gives your brain a rest and gives you a chance to enjoy yourself helping to get rid of stress and stay relaxed.

Step 5.

During the exam – If you are nervous before exams don’t worry this is a good thing and is completely normal. It means you are getting ready to focus and give the exam your full attention.

•         It is important to remember that the examiner wants to give you marks. Exams aren't there to catch you out they are there to give you an opportunity to show off what you can do.
•          Make sure you read the questions. This may seem obvious, but when you are eager to get started it is easy to miss read a question and give the wrong answer.
•          Make sure the examiner can read your hand writing. You don't want to lose marks because you were in a rush.
•          Make sure you answer all parts of the question, it is easy to delve in and miss one part of the question.
•       Keep answers short, simple and direct. This will help you save time and big fancy words won’t get you extra marks.

At the end of the day revision comes down to being focused and putting in the time. The key is to start early so you have plenty of time to go over what you need. Then you can go into your exams with confidence and show off what you can do, good luck!

Why choose a career involving maths?

As a student you are always told maths is one of the most important subjects and that if you do well in maths then you can go far, but is this really the case? Well in this blog post our aim is to explore where maths can take you and why it can be such a lucrative career path, as well as provide you with some seriously cool jobs!

Taking a look at the average graduate salary based on subject we can quickly start to see that maths pays off. If you look at a pure mathematics degree the average salary is £23,478 well above the average of £20,964 and ranked 13^th out of a total of 63 degrees, not bad. But if we take into account other subjects that are also heavily maths based it paints an even better picture. Civil engineering, Mechanical engineering and General engineering are ranked 10^th, 9^th and 7^th respectively earning you up to £24,937. If you take into account economics it gets even better, this is ranked 5^th best with the average salary being £25,637. (These figures are based on data taken from the Higher Education Statistics Agency report)

So the average earning potential is looking pretty good, but what kind of jobs are available for maths related degrees? Well there are some really exciting jobs out there that you may not have associated with maths. You can be an animator working a Pixar. Animators use linear algebra to show the way that an object is rotated and shifted and made larger and smaller. What about a special effects director? These involve lots of calculations making sure explosions and stunts work to perfection. If you what to work for Google or Facebook maths is key programming and creating all those algorithms takes a lot of skill. Possibly one of the coolest jobs has to be an astronaut, they use maths to make precise mathematical calculations, from how the spacecraft leaves Earth’s atmosphere to how astronauts pilot the craft. These are just a few of the jobs that are out there, with career paths in engineering, teaching and banking there is something for everyone.

Maths has the power to unlock many doors offering you well paid and more importantly interesting and fulfilling jobs. The key is to start early as the basics in maths are the foundations for future learning. So make sure you do you pay attention in school and do your homework and you will be well on your way to landing your dream job.

Free Easter Maths Worksheets

10ticks Easter Maths Worksheets are now available to download for free, for both teachers and parents. Theses Easter Maths Worksheets are great fun, and are fantastic for consolidating basic maths skills. The worksheets contain lots of games and puzzles, perfect for entertaining the class at the end of term or kids over the Easter Holidays. If you are already signed up to 10ticks you can download the worksheets from your User Area.

If you haven't signed up to 10ticks before, it is completely free. Not only will you gain access to our free Easter Maths worksheets but you will also gain access to lot's of other free Maths Worksheets as well. It only takes two minutes to sign up, just click on the link below to get started.

http://www.10ticks.co.uk/login/user_register.aspx

Happy Easter,

The 10ticks Team

Shortage of primary school spaces in the UK, a ticking time Bomb!

In recent years you may have heard in the news that there is a shortage of primary school places in many parts of the UK. A lot of people thought this would be a just a short term blip (including the government!) and that we would revert to the long term trend of a decreasing number of primary students year on year from as far back as the 1970's. This however is no longer the case! The UK’s population is expanding at it fastest pace in decades due to a higher birth rate and higher immigration. This means there are going to be an additional 799000 pupils in primary education by 2020, bringing us back to a similar level as in peak the 1970’s.

Although this rise in the primary student population may sound scarily high, there is actually a lot of spare capacity in UK Primary schools, with only 20% saying they were oversubscribed. The rest have over 440000 spare places so at least in the short to medium turn we will have enough spaces. The only problem is the spare capacity is in the wrong places. There is a clear shortage of spaces in London and the south east where the population is growing at a rapid pace. There is also a shortage of spaces in other major cities like Manchester and Bristol as well, which also have rising populations. You can’t just transfer spare capacity from area to another though, so the UK will need to build more schools where the capacity is needed.

What’s the plan for the future then you may be asking. Well the current government cut the school capital budget by 60% over the course of the 5 year parliament. This money was meant for expanding and upgrading schools, so in a time when pupil numbers are expanding rapidly the government is cutting back on much needed infrastructure expansion, this was all part of the deficit reduction plan. However the government last year recognised that more needed to be done and made an extra £500 million available from efficiency savings elsewhere, for new building projects with a focus on primary schools.

In the short term we are likely to see an increase in bigger schools, with 300+ pupils and bigger classes with 30+ becoming the norm. There will also be an increase in the number of schools having to use temporary classrooms to cope with the immediate influx of primary aged students. These issues will take time to address, as new schools are not normally built over night and need to go through a lot of planning and approval before they can even start to be built.

Tour of the 10ticks Online Maths Home Learning System

Can you solve this brain teaser?

For parents who struggle with maths

In a recent study of more than 2000 mothers and fathers, found that more than half lacked the confidence to help children with the simple sums in the home. Not only that, but just one in twenty correctly answered a full list of questions suitable for pupils aged 11 and under. One of the biggest concerns is that parents wear this inability to do maths as a badge of honour. At 10Ticks we have mentioned this before as a key area that can affect your child’s attitude towards maths. The reason for this is that if your child see’s that you don’t like maths and never did it immediately gives them an excuse to not like it as well. This means they will drag their feet when it comes to homework especially when they can say to the parent “you never liked maths so why should I”. It also means in class they may not pay as much attention and won’t mind not doing as well as they could.

Positive reinforcement for all education is really important. Looking specifically at maths, if you emphasise the positive aspects like how it is used in nearly every aspect of life, how problem solving can be fun and that doing well in maths can lead to better jobs. Your children will see maths as an opportunity rather than a hindrance on their lives. This is something we always try and emphasis to parent because it is really important, as a positive attitude towards anything is always going to produce better results than a negative one. This is especially true with children as they look up to their parents for advice and guidance.

In the 10Ticks Online Maths System we try and incorporate as much positive reinforcement as possible. That is why we created our built in Merit System which rewards students where ever possible. These merits then lead to printable certificates which they can print out and take home and display them with pride. Not only that, parents and teachers can also award merits where they see fit along with a message of encouragement as well.

So if you are a parent who doesn't like maths don’t worry you don’t have to be an expert, just have a positive attitude towards maths and your kids will be none the wiser.