(Exam Success and well- being) Exam Success Context Change curve - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Post 16 Study Skills (Exam Success and well- being)

Exam Success

• Context
• Change curve
• Key dates
• Uncontrollables
• Sixth Form learning environment
• Staff said (practical tips)
• Students said
• Emotional Well-being

Practical Advice

• Key resources
• Ongoing support

Context

• Pastoral preparation up to this point
• Fighting ground
• Why do we have January mocks, Year 13 mocks and Summer

Assessments?

• What do we learn from mocks and how do we use info?
• What do students learn from mocks?
• Study – where is it taking place, when , how?
• Year 12 – how do I make sure I have a place in Year 13?

Be confident

Average Intelligence + Ineffective work technique High Intelligence + Ineffective work technique Average Intelligence + Effective work technique High Intelligence + Effective work technique

By being accepted on your courses, you have enough intelligence to do well in your A-levels. The grades you get will depend on your work techniques, not your intelligence.

Step 3 – Create your Revision Timetable. Now you know what you will be revising in which order, the next step is to add your topics into a Revision schedule or timetable. We would suggest with 12 weeks until the AS exams and a little longer until the A2s you should be thinking of spending at least 2 hours revising / reviewing each day, and spreading your subjects evenly throughout the week. For each Subject topic you revise, be realistic about the time you think it will take. Some areas are bigger than others and build this into your schedule. Don’t be too hard on yourself !!! You will work much better if not tired, so try not to revise past 9 pm and have some proper me time / relaxation. Revision takes much longer if you Multi – task, (or as sometimes known as Multi-Fail), you can get through the topics faster and with a better focus without those Social Network Distractions. Save them for later for when you have finished.

What went badly in mocks?

The new 2 year A Levels – how did students respond emotionally last year?

• The boys tended to cope better with the back to back exams – they

rose to the challenge at the end of a two year course

• The girls became very fragile and self-critical. They had done the

training, but didn’t cope so well with the high stakes at the end. However, results from both were excellent!

What works well

• You tell us…

We’ll share these ideas back with you

Key Dates

• Exams Start

15th May – AS 23rd May – A Level

• Results Day – Year 12

16th August – 11 am

• Results Day – Year 13

16th August – 9 am

The mostly uncontrollables

• Exam Dates
• Access Arrangements
• Special Consideration

Sixth Form Learning environment

Staff said…

• Quite simple, and I know not always possible, but trying to dedicate a space in the house

for revision to happen, and setting up this space so that it is distraction free, organised and a nice place to be!

• Keeping modern communication a major distraction away
• Many nice students, revise by taking lots of notes. This makes it look like they have done

lots of work – but haven’t actually learnt anything. Once they are presented with an exam question they struggle.

• My tip – after every section of revision find as many past paper questions on that topic and

to test your knowledge.

• Not trying to be their BFF but being prepared to be unpopular in the short term for the

long term gain

• From personal experience – a walk or fresh air during the day or to divide up 2 parts of the

day when revising, it helped me stay balanced!

• Rewards I used to give myself were edible, something to watch or something to eat.

Keep it in perspective

• Lots of people will tell you this, because it's true - exams aren't
• everything. Whatever happens in your exams, you can still be

successful in life afterwards.

• Employers don't just look at your exam scores. They're just as

interested in your attitude, your transferable skills and how well you'll get on with other people.

• Exam success doesn't define you as a person. There's so much more

to you and your personality than how well you can tackle a highly specific exercise that is in any case almost never a perfect gauge of your ability in that subject.

• Think about how far you've come already. You've already done

incredibly well to get to year 13 and stopping or failing exams at this point isn't 'throwing away' your past success.

• Once you've done an exam, try to forget about it. There's nothing you

can do about it, and worrying won't change your mark.

Get support

• Don't be put off by peers saying they're doing huge amounts of

revision.

• One of the key reasons we feel exam stress is from comparing
• urselves to others. It's important not to forget that your exam

results are just a small part of who you are.

• If you can, discuss with your parents what they're expecting you to
• achieve. Parents with steep or unrealistic expectations will just add

unnecessary pressure. It's helpful to let them know what you think you have the capacity to achieve, and to insist that the best way to get there is to have support from your parents, not pressure.

• If you're feeling really worried or anxious, chat to a good friend,

family member, or tutor. It helps to get it out of your system, and they may well be able to help think about practical strategies to deal with exam stress.

We might not say it but…

Students said. We like it when…

• Keep a conversation going –

even when we sound like we don’t want to talk.

• Help us get organised

(equipment?)

• Check we’re happy
• Note key deadlines and nudge –

get us to be early

• Let us know when a teacher has

emailed!

• Remind us that we can find

solutions

• Walk the dog, run with us, book

us something in…we may not seem grateful

• Offer to test us on revision

cards, help make up memory games, plaster house with post- it notes

Students said. We don’t like it when you…

• Nag (we prefer encouragement)
• Remind us if our last set of results were bad
• Talk about what you wish you had done in your exams/or how easy

you found study

• Dwell on things that haven’t gone well
• ‘Joke’ about just having to get A *’s now…
• Don’t try and hijack our revision schedule (if we have one) – we may

not want to visit Great Aunt Edith

• Help us remember that there will be life after exams! (we like it

when there is something in the diary to look forward to)

Get into some good habits

• Take frequent breaks. Psychologists say we can only concentrate properly for

30-45 minutes. There are lots of online services like Pomodoro that help you take regular breaks. When you're on your break, do something completely different - move away from your desk, walk about, or make some tea!

• Eat well. Keep blood sugars level to avoid highs and lows of energy, by eating

slow-release foods like bread, rice, pasta, fruit and veg.

• Drink lots of water. People often underestimate how much hydration helps!
• Think about when and where you work best. Some of us aren't morning

people, and not everybody finds themselves productive in the library. There's no one best place or time to work - it's about what works for you!

• Keep active. Even a short walk will do. Exercising is one of the quickest and

most effective ways to de-stress. Fresh air will clear your head and perk you up.

• Sleep! Try to get about 8 hours' sleep a night. If you're stressed about not

being able to sleep, there are lots of ways you can overcome sleep problems.

• Find activities that help you relax. Maybe it's a hot bath, watching a TV show,
• r a creative activity. Schedule this down-time into your timetable.

Avoid bad habits

• Don't set yourself ridiculous goals. Nobody can revise 10 topics in a

day! Avoid setting the day up to be a disappointment.

• Don't cut out all the enjoyment from your life. It's tempting to decide

you'll just knuckle down to work and "focus", but this is counterproductive - it's impossible to focus without giving your brain rest by doing other activities.

• Avoid stimulants. Caffeine, alcohol and drugs impede your energy

and concentration in the long term. It'll also make it more difficult to get that much-needed sleep.

Scribble technique

• Scribble technique
• Note taking technique:
• 1. Open book
• 2. Read 1-2 sides
• 3. Close book
• 4. Scribble down all you remember
• 5. Open the book and see what you forgot

read next 2 slides and repeat

• Will help ensure that you learn the material you are reading.

Firefly – may be even better than published revision guides…

Exam board websites

Past Paper: Test your knowledge by answering the past paper questions Mark Scheme – check your own answers. It might be that you have understood the content however have not written your response in a way to achieve full marks. Examiners’ report: This document assess how student performed in the

• paper. It gives and insight as to why

previous students did/did not do well in this paper. Learn from previous students’ mistakes.

Subject revision sessions

• Use as a surgery, not a miracle cure – arrive with some work you have

grappled with!

Self help guides

1. I’m not smart enough 2. My school is rubbish 3. There is not enough time All these were excuses to identify why I wasn’t doing well

Ongoing support

Gordano Sixth Form AS/ A Level Revision Programme 2018

Remove the scaffolding as you go along, reducing it to key prompts.

Week 1 – Get Prepared !

5 Ps of Succes ccess: s: Perfect fect Preparation paration Prevent ents Poor

• r

Performa formance nce

This week’s focus is all about taking the steps you need to get prepared before you begin to revise. Revision is so much easier if you have everything you need to hand, all in one place.

Step 1: Find or print off the Syllabus (sometimes called the specification) for each of your units for your Subjects. To do this you will need to make sure you have the correct Exam Board and the specific Unit Content – this details exactly what the exam board wants you to have covered in the Unit. Here is an example via a link to OCR A level Biology specification:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/81028-specification.pdf

It might be that you already have a Subject Course Handbook with these statements in,

• r perhaps a Subject Checklist; all are a great start to creating your own bespoke

Revision File. It’s really worth getting familiar with the different Exam Boards’ websites. Each allows you to search for Past Papers, mark schemes, examiners reports and more, but they can be quite different from each other.

Step 2 – Past Papers and Mark schemes – Paper Copies Study smarter by using the Exam Boards’ previous unit papers from the last 5 years. This will test your understanding and gain a good insight into how the questions are asked and how marked are scored. You will need to create a Past Paper resource file for each of your subjects: Question Paper, Mark scheme and Examiner’s Report for previous exams. Organise them in order in your own bespoke Revision Folder, ready to use.

Step 3 – Get your own notes organised Spend some time on each Subject Folder,

• getting all your notes in the correct order,
• dividing up different sections,
• adding in Home works
• adding in a ‘Post it’ or two

if you know there are areas of missing work. Step 4 – Additional Revision Materials – Sourced and Included Set aside time to explore the Subject area on Firefly or on Talmos , where you will find revision material that has been added there by the Subject Staff. Studies show that physically writing something down (especially repeatedly) you are much more likely to remember it, as it moves from your Short Term to Long Term Memory. http://www.onbeyondz.net/learning-to-learn-note-taking-and-study-tips.html

Revision Task

Subject Subject Subject Subject

• 1. Find and Print off Syllabus /

Checklist

• 2. Get Past Paper Printed

Copies.

• 3. Locate and print the Mark

scheme for each Question Paper.

• 4. Organise your subject folder

– notes in correct order

• 5. Identify any missing work or

gaps in your notes.

• 6. Locate and add in extra

Revision material from Talmos etc.

• 7. Organise your own bespoke

Revision Folder 8.Traffic Light code your Syllabus / check list

• 9. Create your Top Priority To

Do List

• 10. Devise your individual

Revision Timetable

Week 2 2 – Revis ision Plan lannin ing an and Tim imetable les 5 5 Ps s of

• f Su

Success: Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

For week 2 using the checklist and syllabus to identify your priorities and create a realistic & useful Revision Timetable to see you through to the Exams in May / June.

Step 1: Traffic Lights for your Syllabus / Checklist.

Now you have a printed copy for of the Syllabus Subject content,

• r maybe a specific check list for each Unit, you will need to go

through and highlight the statements / learning outcomes with your own bespoke Traffic light system. Red Highlights = Found difficult / not confident Amber Highlights = Ok at the time, not so sure now. Green Highlights = Very confident if asked to recall or answer questions.

Great Website and App for Apple and Android for helping

• rganise workload / prioritising, creating a to do list and task

management is: TO DOIST

https://en.todoist.com

give it a try on your phone or pc. Step 2: Top Priority to Do List Now you have identified your worst to best areas, it’s time to create a Top Priority to Do List, for each Subject and Unit. Starting with the Red Areas you have decided have proved the knottiest, add these to the top of your list and then onto to the Amber Ones, then Green. As you are aiming to get a great grade in your subject, you will need to access questions from the entire syllabus, so your Red Areas will really need addressing first. As you go through them and get stronger in these, you should hopefully feel your confidence building about the rest of your course.

There are two ways of creating your timetable: 1 . The Old Fashioned Paper and Pen Way

• Print of a blank calendar
• Add a to do list on the bottom
• Schedule in what you will be revising when.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/create.html 2 . Sign up to one of the fantastic free Revision Websites, click on create your own e- copy revision timetable.

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/forbidden/timetable http://www.revisionworld.co.uk/create-revision-timetable

https://getrevising.co.uk/planner

Once your bespoke timetable is done, you are ready to get really get going with Revision!

Week 3 – Revi visio ion Techniq iques 1

5 Ps of Success: Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

For week 3 - Revision Techniques that you have found successful in the past and expand on your repertoire to try out some ideas that are all about studying in depth and recall of detail. It’s all about finding a Revision Technique that works for you and allows you to answer all the Exam Questions with knowledge and precision.

Writing details down means you’re 10X MORE LIKELY TO

REMEMBER IT. Technique 1 - Reading to study or the SQ3R method This method is fantastic for the detailed study of something extensive such as a chapter of a book.

SQ3R stands for

S Survey – skim through the chapter to get an idea of what it is about. Q Question – write down a list of questions that you hope to answer as a result of reading the chapter. R Read – read the chapter slowly and carefully R Recall – close the book, write down from memory the main points, and very specific pieces of information, vocab, diagrams or formulae. R Review – go back to your questions and see how well your recall stage has answered then, fill in any gaps by further reading and note taking.

Technique 2 - Concept Maps and Spider diagrams

• A very useful way of showing connections

between different items.

• Place the topic in the centre of the page.
• Draw lines from the nucleus labelling what it

means, you can then create sub branches and connections between branches.

• Improving your understanding of how your

topic fits together.

http://imindmap.com/how-to-mind-map/ http://www.tonybuzan.com/about/mind-mapping/ http://imindmap.com/

Technique 3 – Highlighting and Bullet Points Underline in various colours (colour coding) important aspects of work, useful for chunking down work. Use the highlighted terms to form bullet points /

• r lists. It will make them easier to remember.

Put the keywords / poster / post its on your wall at home. Annotate – write key ideas in the margin to trigger your memory. Mnemonics and acronyms – can be of use for remembering specific phrases / sequences of events.

Week 4 – Revision Techniques part 2 5 Ps of Succes ccess: s: Perfect fect Preparation paration Prevent ents Poor

• r

Performa formance nce This is the 4th week – adding in Evaluative / Personal testing into your Revision Schedule.

• One of the most useful techniques of all…Past Papers
• Also try out some ideas listed below to keep your learning

fresh and yourself motivated.

• Find the Revision Technique that works for you and allows you

to answer all the Exam Questions with knowledge and precision.

Revision Technique 4 Past Papers the 3 Pen Method

This works really well if you have revised a specific topic / section and then complete as many Past t Paper Questions as you have purely on that topic. You will become so familiar with the format and wording of the questions, what you are really doing is training yourself to answer any ques estion on that Topic.

• Step 1: Find online all the relevant past papers

for your exam and print them out, along with the mark schemes and examiners report.

• Step 2 – follow the 3 pen method ;

Attempt the questions with a blue pen with what you know/ Recall/ remember. Next: Use the Course Text book or your notes to fill in any missing details with a

black pen.

Finally with the Mark Scheme add in last missing sections with red pen and check

your score.

Remember the more times you review and write about your subjects area. Your understanding and knowledge will start to move from your Short term Memory to your Long Term..

Repetition..Repetition..Repetition

And this technique does this, along with increasing your skills at accurately answering the Exam Questions.

• Condense information onto small

revision cards.

• Portable and can be carried around.
• Key words and descriptions /

diagrams.

• One set of cards per topic.
• Get others to test on the card

content.

• Questions on one side and answers
• n the other.
• Guess the answer / question

Revision Techniq ique 5 5 - Fla Flash Car ards

A great idea is to condense down large amounts of information into the Key Facts and Essential Key Trigger Words..you can also pass them around to get friends and family to test you. Another twist on this theme is to make Post It Notes Revision Aids, stick them where you are most likely to look, label your house with quotes and vocab.

Try this Website for an amazing e version of Revision Resources: create your

• wn Flash Cards and link them to mind maps – and it’s free to join up!

https://www.examtime.com/blog/snippets-and-flashcards http://www.examstutor.com/

Fab Apps for Flash cards for your Phone or PC. Quizlet – Website and App https://quizlet.com create your study set or access already created. Brainscape – Website and App https://www.brainscape.com you rank with traffic lights your flash cards to help revise your weaker areas. Memrise - Website and App http://www.memrise.com/home/ great for languages and much more

Week 5 – Avoiding Exam Slip Ups 5 P Ps of Succ ccess ess: Perfect fect Prepar parati ation

• n

Preven vents ts Poor

• r

Perfor formance mance

It’s week 5 heading towards the crucial revision period of the Easter Holidays/Spring Break Holidays. This week’s Revision topic is How to avoid Exam Slip Ups by getting to grips with the structure of the Exam Papers in terms of timings and question format.

Step 1 – Time your Answers

For most exams questions it’s pretty true to say that in terms of Time:

• Generally It’s a MARK A MINUTE.

Once you have practised at least 6 Past Paper Questions using the 3 pen method ( as suggested in Revision Techniques 2). Now is the time to do the next set of questions under-timed conditions… ..work out from the total mark score how long you should allow yourself.

Step 2 – Know your Trigger Question Words

• Remind yourself of the action words

( sometimes called TRIGGER words) that the examiners use to ask to do something.

• Read the list BELOW, then cover up the meanings

and check you can explain what the Question is looking for.

Contrast – Explain the difference between… Summarise – Sum up the main points Examine – Investigate, closely ask questions of.. Discuss – Debate the issue from different viewpoints Evaluate – Weigh up the strengths and Weaknesses Prove – demonstrate, make certain Compare –explain the similarities and differences

Define – give the meaning Distinguish – explain the difference Relate – show the connection between things Trace- show how something has developed from start to finish Outline – choose the most important aspects of the topics Interpret – explain the meaning in your own words Differentiate – explain the difference Justify – Support with facts and or figures, examples, references Describe- give a concise statement of meaning and /or identify the main characteristics Criticise – identify problems/ disadvantages

Step 3 – Use the Examiners Reports for Each Exam Series If you find there are aspects of the Exam Questions that you are continually mis-interrupting try finding and reading the Examiner’s Report that that Exam. Not as long and as dry as they sound, usually just one page of A4 it will contain comments from all the examiners of where students went right, wrong and any misconceptions. It can be very revealing in working out what are they looking for in an Answer. Find these on the Exam Board Website, next to the Past Papers and Mark schemes. EG: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-a-level-gce- geography-h083-h483/

Step 4 – Find an App that has already done this for you – Identifying Exam Slips

There are lots of great Apps (mainly with good reviews to down load for Apple or Android devices) that have already identified the areas where Students lose marks and how to avoid falling into these pit traps. Here are a few to explore / check out that might be of use to you.

The Banana Skins Series of Apps

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/physics-a-level-banana-skins/id581209114?mt=8 http://www.s-cool.co.uk/shop-category/level-banana-skins-iphone-app

Sixth Form Support

• On-line/tutor revision programme, week by week, starts now
• Assemblies
• Year Head/tutor coaching
• Subject revision sessions
• Zoned study areas – Learning Curve open (Open before and after

school) – lots of students used it over Easter holidays

• There’s even the offer of a weekly yoga class

General exam preparation tips

In Class – Learning the Material

• Be prepared by having your assignments completed on time.
• Take good notes during your lessons.
• Be an engaged student . . . Ask and answer questions…..don’t be embarrassed.

At least one other student will want to ask the same question. After Class – Learning the Material

• Give yourself enough time to study. Don't leave it until the last minute.
• Review your notes soon after class such as in Study Plus.
• Organise your study space.
• Practice old exam papers.
• Explain your answers to others.
• Organise study groups with friends.
• Attend catch up sessions.
• Take regular breaks.
• Snack on 'brain food‘ (not sugary snacks) and keep hydrated!

Please do stay behind if you have any questions