At the British International School of Ljubljana, we take pride in the outstanding academic outcomes of our students and the University destinations that they are offered once they finish at our school. 100% of our students are offered university places after completing Year 13 at the end of their academic studies. All examinations, with the exception of foreign languages, are taken in English. At BISL, the comprehensive English provision and outstanding progress of students across the school with their literacy is well above UK and international standards. All individual successes are valued, and we hold in high regard our Secondary school examination provision that helps to support, encourage, and challenge our students to get the best exam results possible.

In the summer of 2021, as our school continues to lead the way for academic success, the grades achieved by our students were the highest in the history of the school.

We would like to share with you our approach, beliefs, and strategies at school and how we have facilitated our learners to make outstanding progress each year.

What we believe

  • Driving high standards of academic excellence for our students.
  • All students can dream big, aim high and attain the best grades.
  • This is a team effort from Students, Parents and Teachers.
  • Students need to be encouraged, supported, and challenged through inspirational teaching and high-quality feedback.
  • Systems and ‘safety nets’ should be in place to ensure we work together and communicate early if expected progress is not met.
  • We consider the evidenced-based research from the best institutes in the world along with what works best for our students in BISL.
Class of 2021 Graduation 9
At the British International School of Ljubljana, we believe that students should start their exam preparation early, focus on creating a good plan with all of the key resources needed and to learn over time with active revision strategies to embed knowledge, skills and understanding.”
BISL Advice

5 Key Areas to Support Exam Performance

1. Preparation

  • Speak to your teachers, identify areas to revise from your mock or past exams or techniques to improve (time management, misreading questions, not showing calculations or not providing evidence etc).
  • Check the most up-to-date syllabus for every subject from CAIEor the BISL curriculum plans page.
  • Find out about the exam format (structure, command words, short tasks or essay-based, multiple choice etc).

2.Organisation

  • Read the examiner's / teacher's report and check past papers.
  • Ask your teachers questions or email them if you are unsure about a topic, question or an area of study.
  • Ensure that you have an appropriate workspace in order to concentrate without distractions.
  • Replicate an exam environment whilst studying to boost confidence and increase memory retrieval.
  • Make sure you have all the correct resources, textbooks, workbooks etc.

3.Create a Plan

4.Start Early

5.Practice

  • Active retrieval is far more effective than re-reading or repeating information. Testing yourself is key.
  • To boost your memory skills during revision season, try some of these tips from the British Council.
  • Exposing yourself to 'test conditions' forces your brain to cope with time management and therefore perform better under pressure.
The best way to increase confidence and reduce anxiety is to be well prepared, so start your revision in good time. Many tutors in Oxford will build it into your course but you will need to make your own plans as well to make sure you have covered all the topics you think you need to know.”
University of Oxford

Using your phone, listening to music and other electronic devices...

At the British International School of Ljubljana, we believe that you should use revision time to focus on your exams, replicating when possible exam conditions, turning off electronic devices and using the active revision techniques.

Listening to music does not increase your ability to learn with the often misquoted ‘Mozart Effect’ used , other meta studies have shown no increase in IQ or reasoning ability in general. We often say that listening to music helps, but in fact this is something that makes people feel good and does not have a direct correlation on helping students revise. With exam revision and retaining knowledge (for exams and exam conditions), no music is preferred, however there is some research about listening to music for creativity but this is inconclusive. The same could be said about eating ice cream, tasty food/drinks or other activities that students enjoy but these again do not impact upon increasing IQ or information retention.

There are, however, somefoods that do positively affect brain function and memory in order to support the acquisition of new knowledge. The use of mobile phones can reduce cognitive capacity when students are revising.

“If you and your friends send each other messages every five minutes, you will find it very difficult to concentrate on what you are learning. So,switch off your phone and your favourite social network sites while you are studying! You can send messages to your friends during your breaks.”

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/exams/exam-study-tips/phones-and-other-distractions

"We found that listening to liked or disliked music was exactly the same, and both were worse than the quiet control condition," he says. "Both impaired performance on serial-recall tasks."

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/dont-listen-music-while-studying-david-cutler

“Well, for a start, don’t listen to music! The research on cognition and memory suggests that certain types of music may be helpful, however, when it comes to examination conditions in which pupils are required to recall and retrieval information (both required for examination purpose) from their long term memory, if pupils learn in one way and are tested in another, performance will be limited.”

https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2019/05/19/music-and-revising/

Sec 9 10 sixth form

Research-based methods

Active Revision requires you to get involved, to participate and use / organise material.

Try and use paper-based or electronic active learning to support your revision. Keep rote learning to a minimum – just the formulae which are required. Revise for understanding, not just memorising. Here are various methods of Active Revision:

  1. Active Learning.
  2. Cone of Learning (Edgar Dale 1967).
  3. Testing yourself with questions + Researching over time from 1000 scientific studies (Prof Dunlovsky 2013).
  4. Mindset and Praise for Effort (Mueller and Dweck 2002).
  5. Lack of Sleep impairs reasoning and memory (Pamela Thacher 2003).
  6. Reducing novelty and stress of the exam day (Sian Beilock 2009).
  7. Using Flashcards and memory (Hermann Ebbinghaus 1970)
  8. Keywords and intervals (Bahrick, H. P. et al. 1993)
  9. Foods to boost brain power (Jo Lewin)
  10. The influence of Exercise on cognitive abilities (Fernando Gomez- Pinilla, Charles Hillman 2013)
  11. Information viewed amid distractions (Nicole Dudukovic)
  12. The Protégé Effect + Betty's Brain @ Stanford Uni (While we teach, we learn 2007)
Revising actively implies making a real effort to understand what you are learning, rather than simply memorising by rote. Even if your exams require you to remember a lot of facts, you are much more likely to retain detailed information if it is related to an underlying understanding.”
The University of Edinburgh
Učenci igrajo inštrumente v šoli

Active revision examples

  1. Diagrams/Mind maps. (https://padlet.com/, https://www.popplet.com/, https://www.mindmeister.com/)
  2. Flash cards then discussing topics with a friend. (https://quizlet.com/en-gb, https://www.memrise.com/, )
  3. Questions. (https://kahoot.it/, https://www.quiz-maker.com/, https://www.onlinequizcreator.com/)
  4. Linking problems. (https://sketchboard.io/, https://app.diagrams.net/, https://drawisland.com/)
  5. Similarities/differences/advantages+disadvantages. (https://creately.com/lp/venn-diagram-maker/, https://www.gliffy.com/)
  6. Post-it notes (https://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/post-it/ideas/app/ )
  7. Looking for points for and against an argument. http://listmoz.com/#DpqTz0BTrqP9LKYZ7w
  8. Identifying themes or principles. http://justnotepad.com/
  9. Creating questions and answers/true and false. https://quizterra.com/en/blog/how-to-create-true-false-quiz
  10. Rhythm, speech etc. https://www.mnemonicgenerator.com/
  11. Pictures, drawings, colour code work.

Ideas for active revision

Exam revision tips

Contact & Support

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Leadership Team via:

Paul WaltonPrincipalpaul.walton@britishschool.si
Stephanie AndronikosHead of Secondarystephanie.andronikos@britishschool.si
Jason BatsonHead of Sixth Formjason.batson@britishschool.si


Additional links to universities and guidance from around the world

With a track record for excellence in academic outcomes, the British International School of Ljubljana will be with you every step of the way. We will support, encourage and challenge you through your exam revision to make sure that you have the best possible chance of attaining the grades that you deserve.

At the British International School of Ljubljana, we believe that students should start their exam preparation early, focus on creating a good plan with all of the key resources needed and to learn over time with active revision strategies to embed knowledge, skills and understanding.”
Paul Walton, Principal

Start your preparation early, have a good plan and try to learn over time.

We look forward to facing this shared challenge ahead together, and are all excited about what you can achieve.

Excellence · Respect · Responsibility · Integrity · Compassion

If you would like to hear more information about the path to higher education, join our University Guidance evening on October 20 from 4pm in the Assembly Hall.