Revision: Student resources for all subjects

In the previous post we considered all-in-one revision sites which give students the opportunity and framework to create their own revision materials, with a place to store their revision resources. Those same tools, GoConqr, and Let's Revise also contain revision materials produced by other students which of course can vary in quality.

There are another set of sites which offer revision resources for all subjects(content) based on their own content. This ideally solves the problem of using material that is of questionable quality or authority.

These types of sites can be fine for basic fact acquisition but still don't always say exactly what you would say or precisely cover the syllabus that they say they do. 

Gojimo

Gojimo is a web site and app tool to test yourself on entrance exam or public exam questions but not your own material (so not useful for Y7-8). Additional questions are available from OUP and McGraw Hill Education but although this paid content says it exists I couldn't find a way to buy it so at the moment can deduce that this is basically free. An account is optional but worth doing if you want to record your progress.


Gojimo has a large question bank but the numbers of questions seem to vary a lot according to the topic. I have done a short video so that you can have a look at it here. 

Revision World

Again this UK based site is focussed on GCSE and A Level and like GoConqr and Lets Revise from yesterday's post, also has the facility to help you to create an exam timetable. Like S-cool it also looks forward to jobs and university which I think is interesting in terms of helping students focus on the outcomes of their exams.

You choose a subject, a topic and a sub topic and then the site presents you with reading material. From there you have several options

You can register with the site to:

  • View the entire content of the site
  • Print out revision pages, chapters and complete modules in print-friendly format
  • Download and save PowerPoint presentations, files and images
  • Ask our subject guides for help (students only)
  • Receive email updates and exclusive member competitions (students only)
  • Enter competitions (students only)
  • Take part in discussions (students only)

So I signed in with my Facebook account and accepted the terms and conditions to see what I could do. The layout and design of the content is uninspiring and whilst I am not in a position to judge the content for different subjects what I did read seemed fairly OK. I think that students would have to be pretty motivated to plough all the way through the long pages. There is a 'quick revise' page for each sub topic which presumably contains just the core content. 

Apparently written by freelance teachers, the website says:

RevisionWorld.com was launched in 2007 with the aim of providing a fun and free revision resource for GCSE and AS & A2 Levels.

RevisionWorld.com has been designed to provide you with the foundations of knowledge needed to pass each subject. Whilst not aligning itself with a particular exam board or syllabus RevisionWorld.com aims to cover the key aspects of each subject.

RevisionWorld.com is currently developing a variety of interactive modules and different ways to learn which will be online shortly.

Apart from a few videos, there is very little here that you couldn't do with paper so presumably the web is just the publishing medium, rather than offering any additional benefits apart from a little student interaction.

S-Cool

S-cool claims to be the UK's biggest revision website but again is GCSE and A Level up. There are no quick ways to sign up, you have to do it the old fashioned way. It is based on online notes with occasional exercises and animations. To be honest it is a textbook that happens to be online. There is nothing interactive, no instant feedback. Nothing! After you have (1) studied the material you can (2) answer the questions which you have to mark yourself and (3) read their revision materials. I think it might appeal to those with big gaps in their notes and knowledge but not one I would recommend and certainly not a tool that really takes advantage of technology.

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is slowly switching over to be mobile friendly so is moving from this site to this site and just had to be included here for completeness even though everybody knows it and it still continues to be extremely popular with students themselves. I would be interested to know if teachers are still recommending it as much as ever? Although the move from site to site is partly about being mobile friendly there are still some activities on the new site which require flash.

They don't fit into the category of tools that students might access by themselves, but for completeness:

Times Tutorials

This possibly shouldn't be included here in this post as it isn't for all subjects, it is just for Maths, English and Science but Times Tutorials is designed for parents to give their children a boost at all levels so it is probably worth knowing about. It offers a £1 cost 14-day trial if anyone is interested in having a look.

It also offers a schools package including a free one limited to 100 worksheets per month.

GCSE Pod

http://www.gcsepod.com This sounds quite good but is accessed via school subscription only and costs around £6.50 per year Y10/11 student.

It is interesting to think about what makes something an online learning resource and what makes something a revision resource and when one trips into being the other or not.