Revision

I listen to Radio 1 a lot, every day in fact; when I’m getting ready for school, doing homework, or just on my laptop. They often have different ‘events’ or ‘themes’ for their shows, like during February it was Access All Areas, meaning listeners could watch online and see what the DJ’s and their teams get up to when they’re off air. There were all kinds of backstage cameras showing us what goes on behind the scenes.

This week, however, it has been Revision Week. DJ’s have been introducing Revision Power Hours into their shows, where they essentially shut up for an hour and play tracks for us listeners to revise to.

Greg James has also created some special ringtones for students to download, which basically tell us off for being distracted when we get a text, and warning us to not pick up the phone. We should be revising instead. BBC Bitesize has also created ‘master classes’ for each day of the week. Today, Friday, is English day.

I have a History test when we get back to school, on everything we have done since the start of the year, which means 8 or 9 months’ worth of work. I do have revision books and all my old text books, but it’s still a lot of work to go over, and a huge time span to cover too. So, I have been making the most of this Radio 1 event, taking the time to revise when the DJ’s tell me too, and taking a break when they tell me to as well; they have breaks every now and then when the DJ’s shout at you to stop what you’re doing and relax. These are very welcome breaks.

I’ve also used the shows to do my homework as well, as I have a large amount of that too. But revision is my biggest problem as it is very time consuming and pretty boring. But necessary. I know I have to do it but there are loads of other things I would rather be doing; sleeping, for example. Come on, it’s every students wish, right?

Either way, I have to do it, and I know that. I think I have gotten quite good at prioritising tasks now; I did my most important assignment first – writing out questions for my German controlled assessment, the only piece of work I’ve had over the holiday that counts towards a GCSE. The History comes next, as it is a pretty major test, but note a GCSE exam, or part of one. Plus, the revision notes I make now will hopefully save time when it comes to revising for actual exams and controlled assessments in the future.

But, I think what Radio 1 is doing is a really good idea; it motivates millions of student listeners to revise. Partly because they know they should be and the DJ’s are making them feel guilty for not doing it, and partly because it makes the revision more bearable. I hate having to sit in silence whilst I do my homework or revision, and having the radio on with supportive, relevant tracks playing and the DJ’s encouraging me helps a lot.

So, as a result, I’ve already done more revision and homework than I thought I would have within the first week of the holidays.