Repetition and revision are important components to effective learning, especially in tutoring as it can promote understanding, reinforce memory and boost students confidence. It is shown across the research that when students engage with new ideas or concepts, they need to rehearse it or learn it multiple times before mastering them. For students, repetition allows the foundational knowledge that has been acquired to be consolidated, while revision provides an avenue to affirm and build upon that foundation.
Repetition can create strong neural pathways for recall, allowing information to transition from short-term to long-term memory. For example, a primary aged student practising their times tables regularly will find it much easier recall them during problem-solving questions. Likewise, a high school student regularly reviewing themes along with quotes for a text they are studying at school will help them deepen their understanding of the given text. This continuous process is particularly important in school when students move across year levels, as each year group heavily relies on a solid foundational knowledge.
Revision complements repetition by establishing refinement, knowledge building and reflection. It enables students to assess their understanding and identify any gaps in their learning. Revision activities that I myself have used in tutoring can include summarising content, creating mind maps or exam style questions. In addition, tailoring revision to the needs of a student is super important as it allows them to focus on weaker areas to maximise benefit for improvement.
As a tutor, showing the importance of repetition and revision to students can help them improve greatly and in fact allow them to see the value of tutoring. This can involve bringing sessions from the end of term forward and setting up one of the sessions as a revision session, testing the student on their knowledge for an upcoming assessment through either verbal recall or through practice revision tests. As well as this, presenting the content to students in different ways will help reinforce concepts to students and cater to the different learning styles for students such as visual aids, practical examples or verbal discussions. In todays world, students may undervalue repetition and revision. Hence, tutors should emphasise revision and repetition techniques as students will learn to implement them.
Annie Bulkeley
