REVISION

HOW CAN

PARENTS HELP?

Your support, encouragement and interest can make a spectacular difference to your

child’s motivation and ability to cope with the academic and organisational demands of the

exam period.

It goes without saying all children are different, so it follows that there is no single

approach to how a parent can help out, but this booklet offers some suggestions.

Tips for revision planning

What to do when revising

Get involved

Looking for signs of stress and tackling the pressure

Examinations

REVISION : HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?

When your child is approaching their exams, resisting the temptation to “direct” their

revision—or literally wrestle them into doing it—can be difficult.

Constantly asking the questions like “Have you done any revision today?” can cause

arguments and come across as nagging, especially if they are already anxious about their

exams.

The secret to doing well is in the planning, Help your child to create revision plan and way

of studying that will make them feel in control of their work.

Here are some simple things that you can do:

Provide them with a revision toolkit: make sure they have all the tools they need to

revise successfully

Get them new highlighters and pens to make revision more interesting

Blank cards for revision notes

Post it notes

Snacks and water

Many students will access a large proportion of their revision online.

Many students will use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and educational websites to help them.

BUT… Get students to switch off their notifications and pop ups whilst they are revising.

This avoids temptation and keeps them focussed on the task.

TIPS FOR REVISION PLANNING

The best way to support your child during revision and exams is to make home life as calm

and pleasant as possible. It helps if other members of the household are aware that they

may be under pressure and that allowances are made.

Provide the environment necessary for success

Ideally they need a quiet, well-lit place to study with interruptions kept to a minimum

when they are working.

If you can, try to encourage your child to revise away from your bedroom—otherwise they

may find it hard to relax and unwind when they want to go to sleep!

The best place may well be a combination of places—school, public library, study or

kitchen. Whatever place they choose it should be arranged to give maximum benefit.

TIPS FOR REVISION PLANNING

Work with your child to create a revision schedule that is shared in a place where you can

all refer to it. If they prefer to do this alone, offer encouragement and let them know

TIPS FOR REVISION PLANNING

Quality not quantity We remember what we have learnt at the start and end of a learning episode much

better than we do remember what has happened in the middle.

Our ability to recall information declines rapidly unless re-enforced.

For these reasons, students should do the following:

Break down revision into manageable chunks (20-30 minutes) with a limited amount

of information to be covered in each chunk.

Revisit the information learnt a day or two after it is revised, and again a day or two

after that.

Avoid planning long revision sessions—all-nighters simply don’t work. It is much

better to plan shorter revision sessions over a long period of time.

Put in the key dates and deadlines into a monthly overview that takes your child up until

the exams.

Enter in any activities, music lessons, training that your child does. Exercise and taking

breaks from revision is exceptionally important. Exercise is great for improving mental

health. A brisk walk around the block can help clear the mind before the next revision

sessions.

Set aside time for their social life too. This is their reward for completing all that revision.

Revision timetables might look like this example below:

(20 min ses-sions)

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun

Session 1 Time:

Session 2 Time:

Session 3 Time:

Social

WHAT TO DO WHEN REVISING CHUNK—QUIZ—ELABORATE

CHUNK

Break the subject into sections that can be covered in

a 20-30min session. Use one card or small sheet of

paper for each one. Use as few notes as possible to

summarise the subject, concentrating on the areas

that you do not know.

QUIZ

Write questions on the back of the revision card and check

that you can answer them without looking for the answer.

Get someone to help quiz you on the facts. Once you can

recall the information, put the card away and check that

you still remember it after 2 days. Then repeat after 4

days, 6 days etc.

ELABORATE

Practise bulking the facts up into an exam answer. Do this

without looking at your notes. Once you have written your

answer, check the facts are correct using your card and then

mark the answer using an exam mark scheme. Your teachers

have given you exam questions in lessons throughout the

GCSE course, and can help you mark in lessons and after

school revision sessions.

This is the hardest part, do not skip it, it forces you recall

information and to think and so you will remember what

you have learnt

“Learning happens when you

have to think hard”

Try to do whatever you can to help you child—whether that means making endless cups of

tea or keeping others from disturbing them.

Here are some simple things you can do to support them in their actual revision.

Offer to test your child on what they’ve revised each day

Encourage them to put up revision posters, diagrams and post-it notes around the

house

Go through school notes with your child or listen whilst they revise a topic

Find out the exam boards and download exam papers and mark schemes. Offer to

time them whilst they do the exam and then go through the paper together

Encourage your child to attend the revision workshops after school. Timing of revision

workshops can be found on the website

https://www.oasisacademysholing.org/learning/year-11-intervention

Ask them to share with you the revision resources that are available to them. Use the

school links below as a prompt to get them started.

GET INVOLVED

It is important to reinforce to your child that nerves are a good thing. It demonstrates they

want to be successful. Pressure is good too. It’s motivating, inspires you to work hard and

focuses attention.

However, it is important to recognise some of the signs of stress. Stressed children may be

irritable, not sleep well, lose interest in food, worry a lot and appear depressed or nega-

tive .

Below are some websites offering guidance on how to support your child if they are

suffering from pre-exam nerves:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/childhealth6-15/Pages/Examstress.aspx

https://www.childline.org.uk/Explore/SchoolCollege/Pages/exam-stress.aspx

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/14-ways-to-beat-exam-stress/

EXAMS ARE STRESSFUL

Below is the information relevant to each subject:

EXAMINATION BOARDS

Subject Exam Board Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4

English Language AQA 1h45min (50%)

Explorations in

creative reading

and writing

1h45min (50%)

Writers view-

points and

perspectives

English Literature AQA 1h45min (40%)

Shakespere and

the 19th

Century Novel

2h15min (60%)

Modern Texts

and Poetry

Mathematics Edexcel 1h30min (33%)

Non calculator

1h30min (33%)

Calculator

1h30min (33%)

Calculator

Science: Double Award AQA 1h15min (33%)

Biology

(2 papers)

1h15min (33%)

Physics

(2 papers)

1h15min (33%)

Chemistry

(2 papers)

Science: Triple Award

Physics

AQA 1h45min (50%)

Physics

1h45min (50%)

Physics

Science: Triple Award

Chemistry

AQA 1h45min (50%)

Chemistry

1h45min (50%)

Chemistry

Science: Triple Award

Biology

AQA 1h45min (50%)

Biology

1h45min (50%)

Chemistry

French EdExcel Listening (25%) Speaking (25%) Reading (25%) Writing (25%)

Spanish EdExcel Listening (25%) Speaking (25%) Reading (25%) Writing (25%)

Religious Studies AQA 1h45min (50%)

Beliefs, teach-

ings, practises

of Christianity

and Hinduism

1h45min (50%)

Thematic

Studies

Geography AQA 1h45 Min (35%)

Living with the

Physical Envi-

ronment

1h45min (35%)

Challenges in

the Human

Environment

1h30min (30%)

Geographical

Applications

History AQA 1h45min (50%)

Understanding

the Modern

World

1h45min (50%)

Shaping the

Nation

EXAMINATION BOARDS

Subject Exam Board Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4

Computer Science OCR 1h30min

(100%)

Media Studies Eduqas 1h30min (40%)

Set Product

Study

1h30min (30%)

Set Product

Study

The remaining

30% comes

from a

controlled

assessment

Design and Technology

Timbers

EdExcel 1h45min (50%)

(50% controlled

assessment)

Design and Technology

Textiles

EdExcel 1h45min (50%)

(50% controlled

assessment)

Food Preparation and

Nutrition

AQA 1h45min

(100%)

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION English Language

The exams for AQA English require students to use their writing skills to confidently write

both fiction and non-fiction texts for a number of audiences and purposes. There will be

a clear focus on accuracy, skills and techniques. A wide variety of texts will be read,

analysed, compared and responded to.

English Literature

The exams for OCR English Literature require students to study texts and poetry from

pre-20th Century and more contemporary pieces. They have been given an anthology

which includes poetry on the theme of ‘conflict’.

Texts studied are An Inspector Calls by JB Priestly, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr

Hyde by RL Stevenson and Romeo and Juliet By Shakespeare. All three texts are

downloadable on-line.

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Mathematics

The course for Edexcel Maths comprises of 3 exams: 2 calculator papers and 1 non calculator paper. Each paper is worth one third of their final grade.

The content requires students to have knowledge of: algebra, shape, numbers and data.

More information is available from your child’s Maths teacher.

For the calculator papers, a scientific calculator is needed. The recommended calculator is available from the finance office for £5.00.

Combined Science

For Combined science, students will be required to sit six exams in total - two exam each for: Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Students will receive a double award qualification, equivalent to two GCSE’s. Students will be selected to sit either Foundation tier (Grade 1-5) or Higher tier (Grade 4-9).

All students must have a Combined revision guide, which is available to purchase from the Science department. On the inside cover there is a list of topics for each exam. Revision materials are available on Show My Homework and from your child's science teacher.

Students are required to bring: a pen, pencil, ruler, rubber and scientific calculator.

Triple Science

For Separate Science, students are required to complete 6 exams in total: two for Biology, two for Chemistry and two for Physics. They will receive 3 separate GCSE grades, one for Biology, one for Chemistry and one for Physics.

All students must have three revision guides (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), which are

available to purchase from the Science department. On the inside cover there is a list of

topics for each exam. Revision materials are available on Show My Homework and from

your child's science teacher.

Students are required to bring: a pen, pencil, ruler, rubber and scientific calculator.

Further information can be found on the AQA website.

Art

The exam for Art is a 10 Hour practical exam, highly individualised to each student’s project work. Students will be required to complete the final piece for their current project in May.

Equipment for this project will need to be agreed in advance with the student’s art teacher.

Computing:

For this exam, students should be able to: define a computer system, describe the importance of computing systems around the world, explain the need for reliability in computer systems; explain the importance of ethical, environmental and legal considera-tion when creating computer systems. There are many key terms that students are re-quired to know and have an understanding of. These can be found with the student’s teacher or on the OCR specification (which can be found on the website). Food Preparation and Nutrition Students have developed their application of knowledge and understanding in food and nutrition, food science, food safety, food choice and food provenance. They are required to understand the use of different food groups and the nutritional vale of each of these groups.

French and Spanish

There are 5 main themes: Identity and culture; Local area, holiday, travel; School; Future aspirations, study and work; International and global dimension. In order to succeed, students should revise vocabulary on a weekly basis using the vocabulary provided by their teachers. They could also use Quizlet or Memrise. They should also use the EdExcel grammar and translation workbook that they have to practise their grammar.

Geography:

The exam is made up as follows: Paper 1: Natural Hazards, Living World, UK Physical Landscapes (Rivers and Coasts) Paper 2: Urban Issues and Economic Change, Resource Management Paper 3: Geographical Skills, Issues Evaluation, Fieldwork

In December, the students will be completing Paper 1 and Paper 2 for their mock. Students can purchase the CGP revision guide and practice paper workbook. They can access Digimap to practice their OS map skills, and should be reading newspapers/ online

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Health and Social Care

The students are required to complete one exam in Health and Social Care which is worth 40% of the overall grade. Their exam, component 3 – Health and well being

is in the week of 1st February 2019 which will be a 2 hour exam.

History

The course for AQA History comprises of two exam papers and one piece of controlled assessment. Year 11 have already completed this controlled assessment and covered the topics of Paper 2. We are currently completely the course content for Paper 1.

For paper 1, students will be assessed on: The League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles; Hitler’s Foreign Policy; and The Cold War. The content for paper 2 includes: 1920s America the Boom and Bust; Stalin’s Dictatorship; and The War in Vietnam.

Media Studies:

Exam 1: 40%, 1 hour 30 minutes (Set Product Study – Quality Street, This Girl Can, Pride, GQ, The Guardian, The Sun, Spectre, The Man with the Golden Gun, Pokemon Go, The Archers) All questions are stepped and can include any combination from the Set Products but not all will be featured. Questions will be focused around Media Language, representa-tion, audiences and industries. Exam 2: 30%, 1 hour 30 minutes (Set product study – Luther, The Sweeney, Bruno Mars –Uptown Funk Music Video, Katy Perry – Roar, Music Video, Michael Jackson –Black or White Music Video, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars websites) All questions are stepped and will require a response to an audio /visual clip during the exam.

Textiles

The course comprises two components, each worth 50% of the overall grade. Component 1 is assessed by a written exam paper and will comprise questions relating to the core technology content as well as specialised questions on Textiles. Component 2 is a non-examined assessment whereby students will undertake a project based on a contextual challenge supplied by the examining board. For this, students investigate, de-sign, make and evaluate their product.

Religious Studies AQA Religious Studies A is 100% examination, two papers are taken.

Paper 1: Beliefs, teachings and practices of Christianity and Hinduism 13th May 2019 pm. Students must answer all the questions on the paper.

Paper 2: Thematic studies 20th May am. There are six question on this paper, students are required to answer four questions. Students MUST answer the four questions that we have studied, Religion and life, Religion, peace and conflict, Religion crime and punishment and Religion, human rights and social justice.

To enable our students to practise revision and exam skills they have regular class tests and they will be sitting a two mock examination papers in January 2019.

Revision classes have already started they are on Mondays, after school in S7 with Mrs Devereux. Some homework tasks are to revise previous work. However, independent revision needs to start now.

We have given all students revision guides to support their revision.

Timbers

The course comprises two components, each worth 50% of the overall grade. Component 1 is assessed by a written exam paper and will comprise questions relating to the core technology content as well as specialised questions on Timbers. Component 2 is a non-examined assessment whereby students will undertake a project based on a contextual challenge supplied by the examining board. For this, students investigate, design, make and evaluate their product.

Physical Education:

Students have completed two units within this course: Unit 1 – Fitness Exam and Unit 2 – Practical Performance in sport. Students are currently working on unit 5 – Training Programmes and will complete Unit 6 – Leadership in the spring term.

If students need to improve their grade the exam can be retaken in the Summer term.

Each unit is worth 25% of the overall grade.

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

SUBJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Music

Music students have already completed a number of assessments throughout the course, and will sit a 1 hour exam on 10 January at 9am. The exam has 3 sections – 1 set of multi-ple choice questions on the music industry and 2 case studies of people in the music in-dustry where students will respond to resources provided in the exam.

Drama

Students will be completing the following between now and the end of the course:

September 2018 – January 2019 Preparation and rehearsal for Component 2 (40%) of the GCSE. Final examination takes place in early January. Final and completed Log Book to be handed in at the end of January.

January 2019 – March 2019 Preparation and rehearsal for Component 3 (20%) of the GCSE. Final examination takes place in March (date TBC). 3/2 lesson split. 3 lessons to be used to focus on Component 3.

January 2019 – May 2019 Preparation and revision for Component 1 (40%) of the GCSE. 3/2 lesson split. 2 lessons to be spent focusing on Component 1 until March, then all 5 les-sons will be dedicated to the Component 1 written exam.

May 17th 2019 – GCSE Component 1 – Understanding Drama Written Exam

Date Morning Afternoon

13 May 2019 BTEC Music: Unit 1 The Music Industry

GCSE Computer Science:

Paper 1 Computer science

GCSE Religious Studies: Paper 1 The study of religions:

beliefs, teachings and practices

14 May 2019 GCSE French: Paper 1 Listening and Paper 3 Reading

GCSE Combined Science Trilogy:

Biology Paper 1

GCSE Biology: Paper 1

15 May 2019 BTEC Health & Social Care: Component 3

Health & Wellbeing

English Literature: Paper 1 Exploring modern and

literary heritage texts

16 May 2019 GCSE Combined Science Trilogy:

Chemistry Paper 1

GCSE Chemistry: Paper 1

GCSE Computer Science:

Paper 2 Computational thinking, Algorithms and

Programming

17 May 2019 GCSE French: Paper 4 Writing GCSE Drama: Component 1 Understanding Drama

WEEKEND

20 May 2019 GCSE Religious Studies: Paper 2

Thematic Studies

21 May 2019 GCSE Mathematics:

Paper 1 Non Calculator

GCSE Geography:

Paper 1 Living with the physical environment

22 May 2019 GCSE Spanish: Paper 1 Listening and Paper 3 Reading

GCSE Combined Science Trilogy: Physics Paper 1

GCSE Physics: Paper 1

23 May 2019 GCSE English Literature: Paper 2

Exploring poetry and Shakespeare

24 May 2019 GCSE Design & Technology: Component 1: Textiles

Component 1: Timbers

HALF TERM

Date Morning Afternoon

3 June 2019 GCSE History: Paper 1A Period Studies and Paper 1B Wider world depth studies

GCSE Media Studies:

Component 1

4 June 2019 GCSE English Language: Paper 1 Explora-tions in creative reading and writing

5 June 2019 GCSE Spanish: Paper 4 Writing GCSE Geography: Paper 2 Challenges in the human environment

6 June 2019 GCSE Mathematics: Paper 2 Calculator

GCSE History: Paper 2A Thematic Studies and Paper 2B British depth studies

7 June 2019 GCSE English Language: Paper 2 Writers’ viewpoints and perspectives

GCSE Combined Science Trilogy:

Paper 2 Biology

GCSE Biology: Paper 2

WEEKEND

10 June 2019 GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition: Paper 1

GCSE Media Studies:

Component 2

11 June 2019 GCSE Mathematics: Paper 3 Calculator

12 June 2019 GCSE Combined Science Trilogy:

Paper 2 Chemistry

GCSE Chemistry: Paper 2

13 June 2019 GCSE Geography: Paper 3 Geographical applications

14 June 2019 GCSE Combined Science Trilogy:

Paper 2 Physics

GCSE Physics: Paper 2

Provisional Exam Timetable Summer 2019