Examination Success Can Be Yours Year 11

Top ten tips for parents 1. Attendance – every day counts. 2. Homework - Check their planner and SMHW, if you have any concerns e.g. No homework then contact their form tutor. 3. Create a revision timetable with your daughter (we will look at doing this in form time at school also) and ensure they stick to it. The mocks are after half term. They should be revising now.

4. Help your daughter to organise a work area, ensure they have all the stationery they need. 5. Have clear expectations of how much work they should be doing each night/week. 6. Discuss with your daughter if the TV/music helps or hinders them. There are some good revision apps available but unless you definitely know they need their phone/I-pad/laptop etc, they should probably not be working with them.

7. Put key dates/exams in your own diary/ calendar so you can support before the ‘panic stage’. 8. Time your daughter answering questions; timings in examinations can be key to success. 9. Choose one good revision guide for each subject. Ask your daughter to check with their teachers one they recommend. 10. Ensure they eat a good breakfast before their examinations and have a bottle of water with them.

What your daughter needs to do now 1. Catch up on any missed work. 2. Organise her old books, notes etc so they are in one place 3. Start revising – little and often 4. Ask their teachers what they need to do to improve their grade. 5. Ask for past papers/examination questions. 6. Know how many minutes per mark are needed for each examination. 7. Be positive; it is not too late. They need to talk to their parents and teachers if they are worried. 8. Have a healthy balance between work, sleep and a social life.

Organisation

Weekends Essential to plan breaks, time off and leave room for other activities especially exercise

Revision technique 1: Flash Cards Choose a topic / word (use your text books or revision guides for cues) and write this on one side of the card Read the relevant part of your textbook or notes. Come back to your cards and try to write keywords, notes or definitions on them (this tests your memory) Why? Summarising your knowledge is a really good way to test what you know You can then flick through the cards to help you remember or use them to get friends to test you.

Why? The process of summarising will help fix the ideas in your mind. One sheet / card is much easier to revise from and memorise than lots of notes. You can carry cards around with you to read. Use your cards or post-it notes for bullet points, key phrases, important dates. Put them somewhere you will see them lots to jog your memory – visualise them.

Revision technique 2: Mind Maps Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Mind maps can help you become more creative and remember more. A mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject. The combination of words and pictures is 6 times better than words alone.

Follow the steps below Start in the CENTRE of a blank page turned sideways. Why? Because starting in the centre gives your Brain freedom to spread out in all directions and to express itself more freely and naturally. Use an IMAGE or PICTURE for your central idea. Why? Because an image is worth a thousand words and helps you use your Imagination. A central image is more interesting, keeps you focussed, helps you concentrate, and gives your Brain more of a buzz!

Use COLOURS throughout. Why Use COLOURS throughout. Why? Because colours are as exciting to your Brain as are images. CONNECT your MAIN BRANCHES to the central image and connect your second- and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. Why? Because your Brain works by association. It likes to link two (or three, or four) things together. If you connect the branches, you will understand and remember a lot more easily. Make your branches CURVED rather than straight-lined. Why? Because having nothing but straight lines is boring to your Brain.

Use ONE KEY WORD PER LINE. Why Use ONE KEY WORD PER LINE. Why ? Because single key words give your Mind Map more power and flexibility. Use IMAGES throughout. Why Because each image, like the central image, is also worth a thousand words. So if you have only 10 images in your Mind Map, it’s already the equal of 10,000 words of notes!

Revision technique 3: Pod Casts If you love listening to your I pod this might be the best way to revise for you. Record yourself speaking your work. You will be amazed how quickly it will go in. Think about how quickly you remember song lyrics.

Revision technique 4: Song Lyrics If you love singing or listening to music this is a great way to revise. Think of catchy songs, or songs you listen to a lot and change the lyrics to fit different topics. Every time you hear the song you will remember the lyrics you have changed. It really does work.

Kill You to the tune of Cee Lo Green: Forget You Listen to the example that a year 12 group did for revision on Stalin’s Russia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my0lhGToX WA

Revision technique 5: Q and A Instead of just reading your notes, read in order to find out. The best way to do this is to look for answers to previous exam answers. Time yourself writing answers to various questions without looking at your notes. Why? You’ll find out which areas need more work. This will also help with making sure you have the timings correct for the exam, as well as helping to increase your handwriting speed and your ability to think and write under pressure.

WHY? If you have a partner you can divide the work up and take it in turns to explain different topics This helps you to cover more ground more quickly and if you get stuck on something, there is more chance that your partner will be able to help you If you are working with someone else there is less chance of missing out something really important. Getting someone else to test you will help you to see where you need to focus more attention -  sometimes your partner can explain something in a way that's easy for you to understand.

Revision technique 5:Past Papers and questions Ask your teachers for past examination papers/questions. A lot of examiners do not bother with inventing new questions, once you have done three or four past papers chances are that some of questions that come on the day will look familiar. Find out how many minutes you need to spend on each question and time yourself. Even better get someone to time you. Hand in to your teachers to mark.

Revision technique 6: Storyboard For those of you who are artistic and creative. Draw storyboards of key events/sequences. In the exam you will be able to visualise this.

Revision technique 7:Post it notes This works really well when revising languages. Put the French/German word on objects at home. Das Wohnzimmer La chambre Der Wasserhahn Le robinet Der Mülleimer La poubelle

Revision technique 8: Revision Websites There are lots of good revision websites available. If you are someone who is likely to check Twitter/ Facebook etc. instead then this might not be the best method for you. Ask your teachers if there are any websites they can suggest. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize www.mymaths.co.uk