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.