Too little too late – UK revision still not making the grade.

Today, O2 Learn releases the results of three new surveys, carried out with the help of Edcoms. The surveys, conducted on school teachers, pupils and their parents, show that GCSE students are falling short of teachers’ recommendations when it comes to revision.

Teachers recommend that their students should start revising around seven weeks before exams begin, and committing to around 7 hours revision per week. Instead, as many as 76% of young people put off revision until around four weeks before the exams start, and average around ten hours per week in that time. Even with the increased amount of time spent revising each week, the total revision time still falls nine hours short.

Young people today have more support from their families than ever before. Our study showed that 86% of parents take an active involvement in their kids’ revision whereas, when they themselves were young, 58% of them had no support from their families when it came to swotting up for exams.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that most of today’s pupils would use the internet to aid their revision – but you’d be wrong. Our survey found that The vast majority of students still fully rely on traditional revision methods, such as notes from class and practice papers. Just one in three young people use online study guides, and even less – only one in ten – make use of online video, like O2 Learn, to support their studies.

The teachers who took part in our survey indicated that online tools such as quizzes, podcasts and online videos. They identified the most beneficial aspects of online video as being able to watch them online, seeing things being explained and being able to pause, rewind and fast forward. The fact that they’re free to access is also a major plus.

O2 Learn is part of our Think Big program, which focuses on inspiring and empowering young people. With O2 Learn, we want to create a lasting learning resource that can help young people achieve their ambitions. Teachers are encouraged to upload and share videos of their best lessons, with the ambition of building Britain’s biggest classroom online, giving young people access to inspired teaching, regardless of their location or background.

For the full press release and survey results, visit our news centre at http://o2-news.staging.repubdev.com