GCSE S CIENCE R EVISION Wednesday, 22 April 2015

S CIENCE E XAMINATIONS 2015 (1) Core Science B1 – 12/05/2015 PM C1 – 14/05/2015 AM P1 – 20/05/2015 PM Additional Science B2 – 05/06/2015 PM C2 – 09/06/2015 PM P2 – 12/06/2015 PM Further Additional Science B3 – 15/06/2015 AM C3 – 17/06/2015 AM P3 – 19/06/2015 AM

S CIENCE E XAMINATIONS 2015 (2) Additional Applied Science A191 (Science in Society) – 12/06/2015 PM A192 (Materials & Production) – 15/06/2015 AM BTEC 15/05/2015 AM

R ESOURCES Class exercise book Revision guide (CGP) Student workbook (CGP) Revision booklet of past paper questions (provided in preparation for mocks) BBC Bitesize (KS4) Edexcel website for past papers. Please stick to papers from 2011 or earlier for home revision.

C OMMON PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (1) Student don’t know how to start a question/don’t understand the question. Read questions to students. They tend to provide a better verbal response and realise that they do know the answers. Highlight key words to help focus on the relevant topic. Parent look at mark scheme to guide the initial student response.

C OMMON PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (2) Students struggle to answer 6 mark questions. Produce a bullet point list of relevant statements. Make sure there are at least as many statements as there are marks available. Place the statements in order starting with the most basic statement. Construct a paragraph from the list. There are relatively few marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Stick with bullet points in complete sentences as a compromise.

B IOLOGY TIPS It’s all about the key words – they gain marks and you will lose marks for not using them just as easily! There are a number of topics you can learn posters or diagrams with just key words, instead of having to write a lot. Some exam questions come up over and over again. Learning the mark schemes for some questions can help a lot. They often ask data questions – you do need a calculator as part of your equipment.

C HEMISTRY TIPS You need be able to balance equations. It carries a relatively high proportion of marks and nearly always comes up. You are provided with a periodic table and are expected to know how to use it, linking it to atomic structure. You should be able to highlight the metals and non-metals on the periodic table (learn the pattern). You aren’t provided with formulae for the calculations so will need to memorise them.

P HYSICS TIPS You don’t need to know many equations at all. Practice rearranging the equations that are provided on the formula sheet. There are marks for units at the end of a calculation. Interpretation questions often crop up which require students to apply knowledge to a new situation – don’t panic! Work out which part of the specification it is asking about and go from there.