A First Year Guide

2012

NAME:_____________________________________________

Preparing For Examinations

Make sure you are organised in advance of the time you need to start

your revision.

Plan ahead so that you know how much time you have to spend on

revision.

It is not unusual to have started revising before half term in the

summer term. Students should use their time wisely and they should be

prepared to do a little more work than usual. However, students should

be careful not to burn themselves out!

Over half term pupils should aim to spend about 10 – 15 hours in total

revising. If you break this into small chunks this amounts to about an

hour and a half each day. You should definitely not spend all of half term

working – you need a break and a rest! However, doing a little bit each

day can really help you feel that you are on top of your work.

After half term much of the homework set should be revision based and

so this should be very helpful. You may also find that you have time in

Group Period to do some revision.

Before you plan your revision you need to gather information from your

teachers.

Use the sheet on the next page to gather some of the information that

you will need.

At the same time you should answer the questions on the sheet headed

‘Preparing for Examinations: At Home’

Once you have done this you can start to prepare your revision

timetable. There is a timetable that you can use later in the booklet.

The booklet also contains further advice about preparing for exams, as

well as important information such as the examination timetable and the

conduct of examinations.

Preparing For Examinations: In School

Over the next two weeks, you should find out about your end of year exam in each subject, so that you

know how to start preparing for the exams.

Use the table below to collect the information. This table should be completed by 18th May

Subject Topics to be covered in the exam What will the structure of

the exam paper be like?

Revision that will be covered in lesson time

English

Maths

Junior Science

Modern Language

History

Geography

R.E.

Latin

D & T

Preparing For Examinations: At Home

To help you to plan your revision sensibly it is important that you find out about times when you will not be

able to revise. For example, if you are going away for a few days at half term.

Ask:

Do you have any commitments in the week before half term?

Are you going away for any holidays or day trips over the half term break? What dates?

Do you have any regular commitments in the evenings or at weekends (e.g. music lessons, sports

etc.)?

FIRST YEAR INTERNAL EXAMINATIONS TIMETABLE

Summer 2012

AWAITING

UPDATE

Please Note:

Wait quietly outside the examination room until instructed to take your place.

Mobile Phones are NOT allowed in Examination Rooms. Leave your phone in your locker before each exam.

If revision or private reading has been authorised, all books and papers must be moved well away from your desk for the examination.

Use black ink for all written answers

When your Examination has finished, please remember that External Examinations will still be taking place around the School. Please move around in silence as other pupils will be working under examination conditions.

Observe the SILENCE signs throughout the School AT ALL TIMES.

All incidents of malpractice will be reported to the HOY

Conduct of Examinations 2012 All School Rules, including Dress Regulations, are to be strictly obeyed during the examination period Acquaint yourself with the dates, times and places of your exams as shown on the timetables

Read and take note of the ‘Notice to Candidates’ & ‘Warning to Candidates’ posters and all other examination Rules & Regulations.

Arrive at your examination room ten minutes before your exam is due to begin. You must use black ink / pen for all your written answers.

If revision material or private reading is allowed in the examination room, all books and papers must be moved well away from the examination

desks before the exam begins. Mobile phones are NOT allowed in the examination room. Please leave your ‘phone in your locker. Seating for all examinations will be in alphabetical order.

Check beforehand if you are allowed to use calculators in your exams You must stay in the examination room until the end of the time allowed for your paper. At the end of your exam paper, you will be asked to leave quickly & quietly. Move well away from the exam room before speaking. Visits to lockers must be kept to a minimum. Observe the SILENCE signs throughout the School at all times All incidents of malpractice will be reported to the HOY.

Completing your revision timetable

It is best to break up your revision into small chunks – there are more

beginnings and endings and that is when you learn most effectively.

Remember that after about half an hour, your attention span flags and

concentration drops off SO plan

your study time in 30 – 40

minute sessions.

Build sensible breaks into your

revision plan.

Make sure you have nice things

to look forward to e.g. if you are

revising for the morning during

half term make sure you have

something interesting planned for the afternoon that has nothing to do with

work!

Try to make sure you take exercise each day. Exercise is a good way to relax as

well as helping you to feel more positive about things.

Don’t just concentrate on your favourite subjects. It can be easy to put off the

less appealing jobs so try to divide your time up fairly and stick to your plan.

REVISION TIMETABLE

Mon 21 May Tues 22 May Wed 23 May Thurs 24 May Fri 25 May Group Base

Group Base Group Base Group Base Group Base

Evening Evening Evening Evening Evening

Sat 26 May Sun 27 May Morning Morning

Afternoon Afternoon

Evening Evening

Mon 28 May Tues 29 May Wed 30 May Thurs 31 May Fri 1 June Group Base Group Base Group Base Group Base Group Base

Evening Evening Evening Evening Evening

HALF TERM

Sat 2 June Sun 3 June Mon 4 June Tues 5 June Wed 6 June Morning Morning Morning Morning Morning

Afternoon Afternoon Afternoon Afternoon Afternoon

Evening Evening Evening Evening Evening

Thurs 7 June Fri 8 June Sat 9 June Sun 10 June Morning Morning Morning Morning

Afternoon Afternoon Afternoon Afternoon

Evening Evening Evening Evening

RETURN TO SCHOOL

Mon 11 June Tues 12 June Wed 13 June Thurs 14 June Fri 15 June Group Base Group Base Group Base Group Base Group Base

Evening Evening Evening Evening Evening

Sat 16 June Sun 17 June Mon 18 June

Group Base

Using your time effectively

Read about Dippy Dave’s day and Triffic Tim’s day.

Dippy Dave’s Day:

10.00 a.m. Got up. (I didn’t get to bed until 2 as I was distracted playing games on my playstation)

11.00 a.m. Watched TV while I had breakfast – thought about doing some work

Noon Started History revision

12.01 p.m. Nipped to the shops for some sweets

12.30 p.m. Got home and had lunch

1.00 p.m. Watched news

1.30 p.m. Watched Australian Soap

2.00 p.m. Went to my room to revise, listened to my new CD first.

3.00 p.m. Began to revise History

3.02 p.m. Remembered that I’d left the history book that I needed at John’s

3.04 p.m. Went to John’s. Chatted and listened to the latest Red Hot Chilli Peppers CD. Then played

Alley Fighter computer game and lost!

5.14 p.m. Left John’s

6.00 p.m. Dinner

6.30 p.m. Football practice at sports centre

9.00 p.m. Finished football and went to John’s to collect history book

9.15 p.m. Played computer game again and this time I won!

10.00 p.m. Got back home. In trouble with parents about being late and not doing any work for my exams

10.15 p.m. Remembered that I had forgotten book

11.00 p.m. Started to revise Geography. Too tired….

11.10 p.m. Watched a DVD

1.30 a.m. Decided to go to sleep. Need to remember to collect the book tomorrow…..

Triffic Tim’s Day:

4.30 a.m. Woke up. Quick shower

4.32 a.m. Down to work! Revising History. Read history book from cover to cover

5.30 a.m. Finished history book. Started French revision (Had to be quiet so as not to wake Mum and

Dad). Read French book and looked through my notes

6.30 a.m. Had cup of coffee

6.33 a.m. Continued with French

7.33 a.m. Read geography book

11.00 a.m. Time for a coffee and a biscuit

11.05 a.m. Read geography book again

12.30 p.m. Lunch

12.45 p.m. Read geography notes

3.00 p.m. Took a break for a cup of tea

3.05 p.m. Back to geography book

5.00 p.m. Made some notes on geography

6.00 p.m. Dinner

6.30 p.m. Read science notes

9.00 p.m. Learnt Latin vocab.

11.00 p.m. Got ready for bed. Tested myself on the Latin vocab.

12.00 Set alarm for 4.30 a.m. and went to sleep

Who is the ideal student? Think about this, jotting down some of your

thoughts and then look on the next page to see if you agree with us.

Dippy Dave vs Triffic Tim?

Neither Tim nor Dave is ideal. Why?

Dave: Gets up late

Never gets down to work

Is disorganised

Is easily distracted

Doesn’t plan his time

Goes to bed late

Doesn’t actually do any revision

Tim: Doesn’t have enough sleep

Works ALL the time – no time for exercise, relaxation, etc.

Spends far too long working on one subject

Doesn’t take enough breaks

Hardly uses active learning techniques, he simply reads

Doesn’t have breakfast (it is important to get fuel into the body)

Doesn’t test himself on what he is reading – how does he know if he

has learnt anything?

It is important to have a balanced view towards studying.

Have you thought about how you are going to revise?

Revision boils down to personal preference. However, you may not have

thought about HOW to revise before. Consider the questions below and fill in

the boxes:

Your answer Ideal? Better to…..?

Where do you revise?

Is it noisy?

What about comfort

factors?

Do you prefer to revise

alone or with

friends/both?

What is likely to

distract you?

What time of day do you

prefer to revise/study?

Revision techniques

We remember: 20% of what we read

30% of what we hear

40% of what we see

50% of what we do

and 90% of what we see, hear, say and do.

Therefore it is best if we take an active approach to learning, not just sit

back. It is certainly not sensible to just sit and read your notes!

There are lots of different ways of trying to learn your work.

You can:

Create visual images by drawing diagrams or pictures. Highlight or underline

text. Try to make a mental picture.

Repeat work by reading aloud or explaining it to someone else

Looking and copying can be helpful, such as making notes on index cards

Linking new ideas to old knowledge by creating Brain Frames (also known as

Mindmaps)

Use rhyme and rhythm to help you remember things. I am sure you can think

of examples where you remember facts through rhyme or song.

There are many more ideas too. You must find out what works best for you

and then try to use these methods in your revision. You do not have to stick to

one way of revising. Mixing your techniques can be helpful as well as making it

more interesting.

On the next couple of pages you will find examples of different revision

techniques being used.

Distillation

Method of separating two or more substances using evaporation

When a solution has 2 substances with different boiling points,

the lower boiling point can be evaporated off into another

container

Condensing tube

Tube leading to final container

Surrounded by cold water that is constantly replaced

Distillate

Liquid you end up with

Solvent

Original liquid

Solute

What is left

Distillation = evaporation + condensation

Fractional Distillation

Method of separating 2 liquids with different boiling points in a

solution

The liquid with the lowest boiling point evaporates first

It goes through the fractionating column which isolates it

It condenses in the condenser

Distillation is a method of separating two or more substances using

evaporation. When a solution has two substances with different boiling points,

the lower boiling point can be evaporated off into another container. The

condensing tube leads to final container. It is surrounded by cold water that is

constantly replaced. The original liquid is called the solvent; the distillate is

the liquid you end up with. Whatever is left is the solute.

Fractional Distillation is the method of separating 2 liquids with

different boiling points in a solution. The liquid with the lowest boiling point

evaporates first, going through the fractionating column, which isolates it, and

condensing in the condenser.

DISTILLATION

Condensing tube:

Tube leading to

final container Method of

separating 2 (or

more) substances

using evaporation

When a solution has 2

substances with different

boiling points, the lower

boiling point can be

evaporated off into another

container

Distillate: liquid

you end up with

Solvent: Original liquid

Distillation = evaporation + condensation

Solute: What is left

Fractional

Distillation

Liquid w/ lowest bp

goes thru

fractionating column

which isolates it …

… It

condenses in

the condenser

Surrounded by cold

water that is

constantly replaced

D ISTILATE IS WHAT YOU WANT TO MAKE

I T’S DONE WITH EVAPORATION

S OLVENT IS WHAT YOU START WITH

T WO SUBSTANCES TO SEPARATE

I NTO THE CONDENSING TUBE

L OWEST BOILING POINT FIRST

L EFT WITH SOLUTE

Here are examples of Brain Frames or Mind Maps

You start by putting the topic in the middle, with main headings coming from it. You then add bullet points.

Key facts are then added to the bullet points.

Use diagrams, bright colours, headings, numbering, pictures etc. to make facts stand out.

The diagram below is a mind map showing ideas of how to mind map

Below are some tips written for you by a King Edward VI Sixth Form student:

Revision and Exam Tips

When Revising

Write it, Read it, Say it, Hear it

Use colours, lists, notecards, acrostics or diagrams to help you remember

Set yourself certain times to revise and take short breaks every 20/30 minutes

The Night Before

Glance over your notes one more time, but don’t stress; you remember things better when you are relaxed.

Get your things ready; make sure you have a sharp pencil, spare ink and any other equipment you might need.

Get a good night’s sleep; it will help more than any late revision.

On The Day

Have a good breakfast, it will help you think

Take deep breaths before you go in

Make an effort to stay calm and focused

In The Exam

Do all the questions you know first, but don’t forget to go back to the others.

If you have forgotten something, don’t know the answer or run out of time, it is best to guess. You have no chance

of being right if you leave it blank!

Don’t worry about the exam afterwards - it’s too late to change anything.