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The SchoolsCompared Revision Guide 2022. Part 3. 10 Study Apps Top Students Swear By. Biggest mistakes you can make according to Top Students.
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This is the final part of our 2022 SchoolsCompared.com Revision Guide.

Part 1 of our 2022 Revision Guide can be read here. Learn about study secrets to achieve top grades and revise efficiently.

Part 2 of our 2022 Revision Guide can be read here. Learn about motivation and keeping stress in check when you revise.

In Part 3 of our Guide we cover the last two pieces of the jigsaw according to SchoolsCompared.com readers, students and schools: first, how to use technology to make revising simpler and more effective, and, second, the biggest mistakes students have made historically and how to avoid them.

Technology is your friend – the Apps that really work to make revision translate into top grades. 

You know those lucky people who ace every single exam with seemingly no effort? We’ve spoken to them – and the truth is, they do revise. They just do it as efficiently and effectively as possible – which often means harnessing the power of technology to help. Your teachers should be able to point you to websites with subject-specific curriculum information and revision aids, but here some of the UAE’s top-performing students for their tips for apps and websites to help with the revision process.

Yeolpumta (YPT)

Nikoleta Todorova, a 15-year-old student at Brighton College Abu Dhabi who achieved a Silver award in the British Physics Olympiad and has several Senior School subject prize, recommends YPT for maintaining focus and motivation:

“To track my studies, I use a mobile phone app called Yeolpumta (YPT). YPT allows you to study with friends. It stops recording your study time as soon as you exit the app. Therefore, it can be used as a way to stop yourself from going on social media when it is time to revise.” Yeolpumta has to-do lists, 10-minute planners and time tracking for each subject, which visually deepens in colour as you study for longer periods of time. It also enables you to create study groups with friends and check out their statuses and study activities, and enters you into a ranking, so that you can compete to become higher up in the ranking for your particular study category.

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Focus City


Another app Nikoleta recommends is Focus City, which is part study aid, part virtual world: “It can block various websites to help you concentrate. Focus City motivates you to study as the main point of the app is to build a city as you study – the longer you study, the bigger the city you build.” This app will block the websites you don’t want to check while working. Every time you focus successfully you will get a house. If you give up the house will be destroyed. Focus for more sessions and build beautiful city.

Flow


Students recommend Flow, which is a sleek and simple Pomodoro timer app (see information on the Pomodoro technique above), with some handy extra features – including blocking apps and websites to prevent distractions, and a visual overview of your sessions over time, so you can track your progress and achievements.

Notion

“For creating study timetables, checklists and calendars I use a website called Notion,” says Vandana Subramanian, Tutor Class Representative, Student Head of Year 11, and Member of Student Council at GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis. “It is a great website for students to use to keep up with all the tasks they have to complete. It is also a great website for note-taking, as you can store all your notes in one place, which makes it easily accessible.”

GoodNotes

Vandana also recommends GoodNotes for note-taking– an iPad app that enables you to digitally store, categorise and search handwritten notes: “GoodNotes is an extremely useful app which allows you to create notes that suit your revision style. It has features that allow you to make your own flashcards and quizzes, which help with active recall. You can also share notes with your friends and create folders for each of your subjects.”

Calm

The exam period is stressful and it’s very important to relax when you can, says Sarah Ali, A Level Student at Al Yasmina Academy: “In terms of relaxation, I love using an app called ‘Calm’. It has all sorts of meditations, short stories and positive affirmations. At night before bed, it helps calm the mind and put you to sleep, instead of stressing about work or an exam.”

Google Calendar App


Leen Shanwar, 17 years old, Head of House at Brighton College Abu Dhabi says:

“Even something simple like the Google Calendar app helped me keep organized. You don’t need anything fancy just a calendar where you can plan your revision time and which topics you want you do on which day.”

Forest

Forest is an incredible app that uses a real world incentive, replanting trees, to help you stayed focused, with the virtual coins earnt the apps charitable partner will replant trees,” says Moeed Hafeez, a student at Al Yasmina Academy who achieved nine level 9s at GCSE and A* in ICT.

Focus To-Do

Moeed also recommends the Focus To-Do app. “I used this app to keep me organised with different to do lists with an inbuilt pomodoro timer to scaffold my thoughts.”

Fiveable

Abdelmalek Elkasabi, a student at Al Bateen Academy, who received all level 9s at GCSE, swears by the website Fiveable: “It allows group and has a timer with a to do list, which helps motivate you.

 

The biggest mistakes you can make during revision. Top UAE students confess their biggest revision mistakes – and how you can avoid them.

Even the best students have regrets about the way they studied for their exams. If you’re revising for impending exams and it’s all starting to feel too much, don’t worry. Everyone gets stressed, procrastinates and makes mistakes sometimes – even those who end up absolutely acing their exams, like the students we talked to for this story. Here are the biggest revision mistakes of some of the UAE’s brightest and most successful students – and how you can avoid making them yourself.  

“I regret not focusing on more past papers. Going over past papers will often enable you to find a pattern in the different exam questions and the style of the questions. This will cut down your revision and content time in half and when studying and in that intense revision period TIME means GRADES!.”

– Leen Shanwar, 17, Brighton College Abu Dhabi

“I would definitely aim to control my emotions better, as coping with exam stress has never been easy. If you feel stressed during an exam, it is more likely you will make mistakes. To overcome the pressure, remember all your efforts will pay off.  I would focus on the topics I am not confident in. Last but not least, I would allocate enough time to read and answer each question on the exam; the marks for each question can be used as a guide.”

– Nikoleta Todorova, 15, Brighton College Abu Dhabi

“If I could redo my exams, I would make sure to spread my revision out in a larger time period. Leaving all the revision for the last few weeks before a big exam is not the best option and a better one would be doing gradual revision over a longer period to ensure you are properly consuming the content and not overworking your brain.”

– Ibrahim Nour Eddin from Al Yasmina Academy

“In my previous round of exams, I made the error of not recognising how close they were before I started revising. As a result, I became stressed, which had a negative impact on my revision sessions and caused me to overthink how I would perform on those tests. I had to pack a lot of information into my head at once, which is a mistake I’ll never make again. Learning from this, I’ve now already started studying a month ahead of time for the upcoming mocks so that I can cover every inch of the spec and ensure I grasp what my teachers have taught me over the last two years. Another modification I made to my schedule was the amount of time I spent on various subjects. It is clearly preferable to spend sufficient time on each topic, but as students are well aware, there will always be one or two subjects in which you struggle – and failing to dedicate additional time to revise them could negatively impact your grade.”

– Rashed Moussa, Tutor Class Representative and Member of Student Council at GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis

“Personally, I would make sure not to burn myself out. Yes – there is something known as too much studying. Imagine your academic performance as a curve; you want to be being inside the exam at your peak, not when your peak is starting to curve downwards. So make sure you are taking time for yourself and taking care of your physical and mental health. It’s all about balance.”

– Sarah Ali, A Level Student at Al Yasmina Academy

“If I could take my exams all over again I’d make sure to start earlier so that I’m not stressed a week or so before the exam because I feel that I need more time to revise.”

– Leena Safareeni, Al Yasmina Academy

“One of my regrets includes wasting time on my revision notes and not recognizing the method through which I learn best earlier (hint: practice papers and flashcards). I spent countless hours making revision notes, flashcards, mind maps, listening to science GCSE podcasts and reading my textbooks and making more notes just in case I missed out on information. In the end, I only used my flashcards as they forced me to use active recall and sat as many full-length practice length tests as possible. Finding out the way you study is absolutely crucial and makes it easier to manage your time. My other regret includes not starting earlier.”

– Deeksha Chaudhuri, Year 12 at Al Bateen Academy

“If I could take my exams again, I would maybe start my preparation earlier to alleviate any stress in the process of revision, but knowing that stress is an intrinsic part of exams, I’d maybe say trying to be less harsh on myself when not doing so well during practice past papers and during my revision.”

– Moeed Hafeez, Al Yasmina Academy (nine grade 9s at GCSE and A* in ICT)

“There are definitely certain aspects I would change, as there’s always room for improvement. There were times during my last exam period where I would study for long stretches into the night, thinking that it would get me the best results. Instead, I think a better approach now would be to study in short increments and take breaks in between to unwind. I’ve also realised that prioritising sleep, especially the night before an exam, is vital. Even though it may seem necessary to continue revising late into the night, it is important to realise that you always perform best when you’ve had enough sleep and feel fresh the next day. So if I could retake my exams again, I would ensure that I have revised sufficiently but not to the point where I’ve sacrificed my sleep.”

– Vandana Subramanian, Tutor Class Representative, Student Head of Year 11, and Member of Student Council at GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis

With the close of our Guide, all that is left to say is very good luck. Remember, examination grades do not define you, or any of us – and are an inherently imperfect medium. Many of the most extraordinarily successful people in the world have achieved lives that transform the world without them – and there is always a path to achieving your ambitions if things do not quite go as you planned, hoped for or deserved.

Roll on results day. Watch out for live reporting on this year’s GCSE, A Level and IB results – coming soon… only on SchoolsCompared.com.

© SchoolsCompared.com. 2022. All rights reserved.

About The Author
Tabitha Barda
Tabitha Barda is the Senior Editor of SchoolsCompared.com. Oxbridge educated and an award winning journalist in the UAE for more than a decade, Tabitha is one of the region's shining lights in all that is education in the emirates. A mum herself, she is passionate about helping parents - and finding the stories in education that deserve telling. She is responsible for the busy 24x7 News Desk, our Advisory Boards and Specialist Panels - and Parents United's WHICHPlaydates - a regular meeting place for UAE parents to discuss the issues that matter to them, make friends and network with others. You can often find Tabitha too on Parents United - our Facebook community board, discussing the latest schools and education issues with our parent community in the UAE - and beyond.

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