The TutorExtra Guide to Revision Study

Whether you're revising for SATs, GCSEs, iGCSEs, A-Levels, BTECs, the International Baccalaureate or degrees, there are many resources available. First of all, it's useful to familiarise yourself with the exam boards. If you visit their websites, you'll find up-to-date information on exams, with past papers to download. AQA has past papers for practice. CCEA is the exam board for GCSEs and vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland, with revision tips and past papers. OCR have past papers and study resources. 

Pearson Education includes Edexcel GCSE and A-Levels, BTECs, NVQs and LCCI qualifications, while WJEC offers a range of qualifications, including Welsh, and has past papers and exam information. It might be worth considering Dance Mat Typing, as this will teach you to touch type — very useful for those extended essays. Once ready and relaxed, check these websites, as they offer help with a wide range of subjects to help you from primary school onwards.

So, generally:

BBC Bitesize has user-friendly, interactive revision material for a wide range of KS1, KS2, KS3, GCSE, A-level, Scottish Standard Grade and Highers, and Welsh TGAU subjects. Primary Homework Help is for everything studied in UK primary schools, including history and geography, as well as maths and literacy. Homework High from Channel 4 Education is aimed at eleven to sixteen-year-olds. Maths, English, geography, history, languages and sciences — this is a forum where you interact with other students. Get Revising offers help with GCSE, A-Level, IB, BTECs, Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers, plus university-level courses. As well as the usual subjects, there's revision material for certain areas of specialist subjects like Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Italian, Politics, History of Art and Media Studies. 

RevisionWorld covers GCSE and A-Level subjects in the most popular subjects and has lots of help to develop study skills, such as how to write a revision timetable. There's also advice on apprenticeships and how to apply for university. S-Cool.co.uk has revision and teaching materials for GCSE and A-Level, plus the Mojo Memory which, they claim, is a unique, image-based memory tool that's proven to help memorise information up to twice as quickly. GCSE subjects include Biology, Chemistry, English, Food Technology, French, Geography, German, Maths, Physical Education and Physics. For A-Level, there are learning aids for Art, Business Studies, Psychology and Sociology. 

There are also US-based websites, like GoConqr, that allow you to create your own learning resources with Mind Maps, Notes, Flashcards, Slides and Quiz-Making Tools. Then there are specialist sites like Cyberphysics, which has physics revision help for those aged eleven years to GCSE and A-Level. The History Learning Site is self-explanatory, but also covers A-Level Government and Politics subjects, wjile MrMcMillanRevis is a YouTube channel with Religious Education GCSE and A-Level Philosophy and Ethics videos. 

SATs-papers.co.uk has past QCA SATs papers and mental maths tests to download, with information about SATs levels and grade boundaries for KS1, KS2 and KS3. The Year 6 SATs Revision Site contains revision help and is essential for the study of maths and English basics. There's a subscription site, SATs Tests Online, to which your school may have free access. Parents can subscribe for a small fee. 

ElevenPlusExams has free materials, including practice papers, mock exams and study suggestions. Key Stages Online has a good collection of free 11+ practice papers, plus videos. 

GCSE.com is the first port of call for tips about English, French, German, ICT, Physics and Maths for GCSE and iGCSE study. EnglishBiz sets out to give the skills you need to analyse texts and write effective essays and is written by an experienced teacher of English. Study Maths Explanatory sections include useful worksheets with practise questions and an essential glossary of maths terms. GCSE Geography is for those studying for the Edexcel Geography B Course, but will help those who are studying exam boards like AQA, WJEC and OCR. For history, we recommend Greenfield History and School History, with its sizeable revision notes and help. 

To some, mathematics can be daunting, so these sites utilise fun elements to make the subject accessible to many younger students. Some are more for GCSE and A-Level: A Maths Dictionary for Kids is an animated, interactive online maths dictionary for students, which explains over 600 common mathematical terms and maths words in a plain-speaking manner. Some sections require Flash, as they display mad, psychedelic graphics. Count On includes memory games, logic problems and sudoku. Gamequarium is a fun online game to practice maths tables. 

Murderous Maths is the official website of the Murderous Maths series of books. They have great maths-based tricks and puzzles. RevisionMaths give students free GCSE and A-Level maths revision resources and maths exam advice, along with revision videos and an online tool to help you create your revision timetable. Coolmath is great for those who need a quick fix while concentrating on other subjects, but also for those who love maths and games. Great for brain-training! 

Math.com has modular courses that cover key maths concepts, with expert answers to maths questions 24/7 online, mainly aimed at getting the basic concepts thoroughly understood. 

Exam Solutions offer A-Level, GCSE, and International maths tests, with past Edexcel papers from Edexcel, OCR, AQA, MEI and many international exams, too. The site was created by a retired maths teacher and includes videos, as well as having worked solutions for past papers. Subscription sites include Pixl Maths, which is used by many schools in the UK. It includes an app that you can download to your phone and MyMaths, which many schools use for revision homework. 

For A-Level specifically, Revision Guru covers Economics and Business Studies revision. A-Level Biology has free revision guides and past papers for the AQA, OCR and Edexcel exam boards. Biology Guide has revision notes for AS and A-Level Biology, mostly for AQA specifications. 

A-Level Chemistry has AQA, OCR and Edexcel revision material, and Economics Online covers the basics of economics for OCR, Edexcel and AQA board A-Level economics exams. 

If it’s languages you're after, Duolingo is good for revising GCSE and A-Level French, German, Spanish and Italian, as well as many other interesting languages. The more popular languages have listening and speaking exercises. Languages Online has a fun approach, with learning and revision games for French, German, Spanish Italian and Latin. 

French Revision offers interactive A-Level French exercises in listening, reading and writing, where the tests mark themselves. Spanish Revision A-Level Spanish revision with reading and listening exercises and past papers. Memrise has free flashcard resources for learning language vocabulary, including amongst other subjects classical Greek and Latin). 

Different revision methods work for different people, and these websites can give solid advice on study skills, how to plan your revision timetable and how to work effectively in a way that suits you. Some techniques have been shown to be more effective than others — e.g. some people find mind-maps work for them, others like to use revision cards to test their knowledge — but ultimately it's clear that the most important revision technique is to start early. So GCP Books have a list of 21 succinct revision tips. Mindmapping by Tony Buzan, inventor of Mindmaps, and his website gives you a free online course on how to create a mind map with pen and paper. Old school. 

Some schools subscribe to XMind, allowing all pupils to use it, while Success at School has lots of articles on revision planning, techniques and study. 

Lastly, it's a world of apps now, so you may want to consider Get Cold Turkey, which can be set to block anything from a specific webpage to the entire Internet, so you can concentrate. You can also block applications, or even use it to lock yourself out of your computer. Self-control is an app for Mac users to block distracting websites, too.

Be brave!