Year 11 Exam and Revision Information Evening Tuesday 16 th October - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Physics Department

BEECHEN CLIFF

Year 11 Exam and Revision Information Evening

Tuesday 16th October 2018

Physics Department

Physics Department

Outline Of This Evening

• Introductions
• Exam information & revision timetables

Mr Tim Markall (Assistant Head)

• Supporting studying at home & revision techniques
• Mr Darrell Sayers (Assistant Head)
• Using specifications, exam papers and mark schemes

Mr Dave Brewer(Head of Humanities)

Physics Department

Exam Information

• Trial Examinations 16th & 19th - 23rd November

(information letter, timetable received today – any queries please contact the Exams Officer)

• Mock Results Day Friday 7th December
• GCSE Exams likely to begin w/c 13th May

(details on study arrangements to be provided nearer the time)

Strong GCSE pass Around the top 3% nationally

Old

Standard GCSE pass

Grading

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School Reports

• Snapshot report - published tomorrow
• Progress Report – published 7th December
• Year 11 Parents Evening – 10th December
• Full Report – published in March

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Revision Support In School

• Year 11 Revision Skills Afternoon

Wednesday 24th October

• Year 11 Exam Preparation Seminars

Wednesday 13th February

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The Build-up to GCSE Exams

• Exam briefing for all pupils with the Exams Officer before the

Trial Exams and again before GCSE Exams – procedures/JCQ rules etc.

• Year 11 Prep from November onwards
• Tutor based mentoring for all pupils from January onwards

(including revision timetables)

• After-school revision classes/coursework catch-up sessions

for all subjects from Jan. onwards. Some subjects earlier (details in Wednesday Newsletter nearer the time)

• In-class subject revision and past paper practice

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Revision Information Online

• Specific guidance on subject webpages
• Exam Board and Specification Information
• Recommended revision guides and websites

(also see hand out)

Click here for subject specific revision guidance

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Revision Skills Guide

Pearson Revise GCSE – Study Skills Guide £5.99 Revise GCSE – Revision Planner £8.99 Special Offer: Both for £8 if you purchase on Parent Pay by 3pm on Friday 19th October

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Revision Timetables

Recommendations:

• Plan ahead
• Begin revision well in advance of the exams
• Put exams on the timetable first
• Work out how much time you have to spend on

revision

• Allocate subjects/topics and timings

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Revision (verb) ‘The act of eating, texting and listening to music and/or watching videos on You Tube whilst being in a room with an open textbook roughly nearby’

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Supporting At Home - Objectives

• How to help your son
• How to support the school
• Provide useful strategies

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What are the most common frustrations for parents?

‘He leaves everything to the last minute – then he gets stressed and stroppy’ ‘I didn’t even do GCSE’s – how can I help him?’ There are a million websites – how do I know which ones are any good?’ ‘Surely he shouldn’t be going out again when he’s got all this work to do’ ‘He’s always panicked in exams – when I try to help it ends in an argument and we all get stressed’

• Talk to them and ask what they would like!
• Provide the materials they need – folders,

stationery, equipment etc.

• Empty their bags at the end of the day and file

the hand outs they have received

• Help choose one good revision guide for each

subject

• Help your son plan their revision timetable

How can I help my son?

• Motivator: Talk to them and ask what they would like!
• Logistics co-ordinator: Ask your son about his exams –

when, where, what paper etc. If there are problems ask the school.

• Office manager: Provide the tools
• Attendance officer
• Study advisor – show an interest in their work and help

them/test them

• Project manager – agree rules for revision, and balance

work and ‘fun stuff’

• Information provider – source websites, apps, books,

revision guides, past papers

How can I help the school?

• Help them stick to their timetable (rewards work well

and if necessary agree to a rewards structure).

• Organise a work box
• Provide snacks and water for revision periods
• Be prepared to be flexible
• Be sensitive to the pressure your son is under
• Keep your interest in how things are going
• Keep things in perspective – it may not be your way,

but ensure they are doing the best they can in the way that works for them best at that stage.

Help ‘doing’ revision

• Revision is more effective when its active

rather than passive

• Try out some strategies
• Evaluate the most effective and use them
• Feel free to contact your son’s teachers

Help ‘doing’ revision

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Keeping revision active

More effective and less boring

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Revision by association

The brain accesses information via the senses – touch, sight, smell, taste, sound We access our memories by linking events to our experiences. We don’t remember things in isolation – we

• ften remember insignificant things when we

are exposed to other things that also happened at the time – we associate memories with triggers In short – ‘that reminds me of…’

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RHYTHM

• How did you learn your ABC? Try reciting

it monotone.

• Ask a fan of Jay Zed to sing his greatest

hits – he’ll know all the words but struggle with the first 2 lines of a Shakespeare sonnet!

• Try to remember facts by assigning

rhymes to them

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MNEMONICS AND ACRONYMS

• sound

Get your son to make things into a mnemonic

• r an acronym e.g.

Guilt Armed Forces reduction Reparations German land loss League of Nations Everyone suffered = Terms of Versailles

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POST IT PLACES - sight

Write important facts or key phrases on post-it notes Stick them around the house You will picture the location and associate it with what is written on the post-it This will act as a prompt to what needs to be remembered

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REVISION APPS

Use time on your phone productively. Learn without realising it. e.g. Seneca Learning – free App https://senecalearning.com/

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Note Taking

Make notes of key words and definitions using:

• Underlining/highlighting/colours
• Pictures and symbols
• Spider diagrams or mind maps

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And finally from me Persistence and support is crucial Remember their way may not be your way – let it go Support and help rather than be accused of ‘interfering’ or confronting Put on a happy face!

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Using Specifications & Exam

Papers

• Course specifications and past papers

(specimen/practice papers)- useful resource when carrying out revision.

• Gauge your subject knowledge and uncover your

strengths and weaknesses.

• Understand what areas you need to devote more

time to and conversely, what areas you can devote less time to.

• Understand the format and style of exam questions

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Traffic light the spec

This stops revision of entire specifications, especially the stuff you know! Revision can be more tailored and targeted as a result.

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Mind map the spec

Use the specification as a start point for your mind maps.

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The Spec and exam questions are linked!

AQA Chemistry – For example

All they have done here is add a command word - Describe

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The Spec and exam questions are linked!

AQA Chemistry – For example

All they have done here is add a command word - Explain

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Where to look

Usually it is straight forward finding the links from the exam board websites ….usually.

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Finding Spec & Exam Papers

AQA: www.aqa.org.uk WJEC(EDUQAS): www.wjec.co.uk OCR: www.ocr.org.uk PEARSON(EDEXCEL): http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/home.html CAMBRIDGE NATIONAL: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/by-type/cambridge- nationals/ Exam board details are on the hand-out you have this evening

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Striking gold!

Here you can access questions to answer for the various different papers for your subject. Then you can cross reference with the mark scheme to see how you fare.

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Print out some papers!

What about working through questions against a time limit, keep things real!

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And then mark them!

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Why is this useful?

Its not just about the subject knowledge. From this process you gain the following:

• An understanding of exam rubric, the structure of the paper and question types. This makes the

paper more familiar in the actual exam.

• A sense of how the paper is marked, eg. Is it best fit, by levels or are simple statements good

enough? What is the examiner looking for!

• An understanding of the required expectation and standard. This can be a little bit frightening! Eg.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar, wot is really proper like impartent.

• It is a process that parents and friends can support. Check answers. Teachers also love receiving

answers done by pupils off their own initiative.

• It isolates gaps in your knowledge as well as weakness on certain command words or instructions.

WARNING: Often we are our own worst critics. Your answer may be credited more by an examiner than yourself!! Mark schemes can also be very wordy with additional superfluous language and technical connotations that can divert from, and indeed distort or confound succinct interpretations, exacerbating or inhibiting a candidates ability to surmise and clarify coherent conclusions.

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Other items

Some exam boards provide sample answers with mark schemes and more usefully a commentary from the examiners! Again informative, especially if you have answered the same question and what to see how it may be graded.

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Learn from the mistakes of

• thers?

For all past exams there will be an examiners report for each exam. This states the common mistakes and errors on that years paper. It is a useful reference point which is also used to inform teaching. For our current 11s this will be fed back after trial exams. Take heed.

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Everything in moderation

• Do not use exam questions and papers as your only ‘revision

diet’. Variation is the key to successful revision.

• Use them to test/assess knowledge
• Do not stress over questions you cannot answer. Use them as

a pointer to what you have to revise or seek clarification from your teacher.

• When you attempt past questions revise first and then TIME
• YOURSELF. Put some pressure on. It varies between subjects

but work off a mark a minute.

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Using Exam Papers

EXAM PAPER MARK SCHEME EXAMINER REPORT EXAM PAPER PARENTAL HELP REVISION GUIDE TEACHER GUIDANCE FURTHER REVISION (ADJUST TIMETABLE)

• 1. REVISION TIMETABLE
• 2. REVISION OF CONTENT

(USE SPEC.)

• 3. USING EXAM PAPERS

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Questions or Queries?

• Presentation and hand out will be
• n the school website tomorrow
• Please stay behind to ask
• Contact us at school if required