Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 3

Working individually, each student should prepare a Personal Revision Plan. Note:

• AMSWordversionoftherevisionplannertemplateisincludedontheCDROM.

• APDFprintableversionoftheRevisionPlannertemplateisincludedontheCDROM.

a) Youshouldidentifyeachofthesubjectsinwhichyouwillbetakinganexam,togetherwiththelevel.

b) Identifythedifferentexamsyouwillbesittingforthissubject,togetherwiththedatesandtimesofeachexam.

c) Recordthetypeofassessment–forexample,essay,multiplechoice,practical.

Example:

Subject Level Exam Date Time Type

Chemistry Higher Paper 1

Paper 2

25th May

25th May

9.30 – 11.30

1.00 – 2.00

Essay

M choice

Art & Design Intermediate 2

Paper 1

Paper 2

27th May

28th May

9.00 – 12.00

1.00 – 2.00

Practical

Essay

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 4

Using the blank revision calendar, students should identify those months covering theexaminationperiod.ThefollowingexampleassumesthattheexamsaretakingplaceduringthemonthsofMayandJune.ThestudentisgoingtobeginexamrevisionandpreparationatthestartofApril.

Month:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

a) Referringtoacalendarforthecurrentyear,studentsshouldnowinsertthedatesmanuallyforeachdayofthemonthinquestion.(Nodatesarecontainedwithintheblankcalendartemplatetoallowusebytheschool,yearafteryear.)

Note:

• AMSWordversionoftheblankrevisioncalendarisincludedontheCDROM.

• APDFprintableversionoftheblankrevisioncalendarisincludedontheCDROM.

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Month: April 2011

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 1

Intheexampleabove,thedateshavebeencompletedforthemonthofApril.Thisexerciseshouldalsobecarriedoutforothermonthsoftheexaminationperiod(ie,AprilandMay).

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 5

Nowentereachexaminthetimetableontheappropriatedates.Inthisillustration,thestudent’sissittingexamsin6subjectsduringthemonthofMay.

Month: May 2011

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31 1 2 3 4 5

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 6

Nowstudentsshouldbegintodevelopaplanforrevision.

Therearenorulesforthisaspectofplanning.Somestudentsmayprefertoplantheirrevisionaround theorderof theexams–beginning, forexample,with revision forEnglish (the firstexam)andthenusingthetimeaftertheEnglishexamtoreviseforthenextexam,whichisMaths.Othersmaywishtoprepareforothersubjectsbydoingatleastsomerevisionforallsubjectsthroughouttheperiod.Theimportantthingisforstudentstohaveaplanwhichensurethat theyprepareproperly forallexams. It isalso important toallowsomeleisuretimeandbreaksfromrevision.

Month: April 2011

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 1

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Month: May 2011

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31 1 2 3 4 5

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 7

Nowstudentsshouldbegintodeveloparevisionplanforeachsubject.

Studentsshoulddecidethekindsofrevisionactivitiesandactionsrequiredinordertopreparefortheexaminthatsubject.Ablanksubjectpro-formaisincludedontheCDROM,aswellasaproformaforprinting.Theaimistotrytoidentifythedifferentcomponentsoftheexaminthatsubjecttoensurethatrevisioncoversallaspects.

Studentscanalsoenterdatesandtimesforrevision.

Revision Planner

Subject English

Exam Dates Paper 1 - Wednesday 4th May - 9.00 - 11.00 am

Paper 2 - Wednesday 4th May - 1.30 - 3.30 pm

Revision Activities Making sure that English notes are up to date

Reading over course notes and highlighting key points

Writing about nonfiction texts

Writing about a play

Writing a personal account

Writing an argument

Writing to inform

Writing an article

Practising past papers from previous exams

Attending English revision classes at school on Tuesday nights

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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HereisanotherexampleforGeography.Thisshowsthetopicswithinthecourse.

Revision Planner

Subject Geography

Exam Dates Paper 1 - Tuesday 31st May - 9.00 - 11.00 am

Paper 2 - Wednesday 1st June - 1.30 - 3.30 pm

Revision Activities Making sure notes are up to date

Reading over the course notes

Physical Geography

• Atmosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Lithosphere

Human Geography

• PopulationGeography

• RuralGeography

• IndustrialGeography

• UrbanGeography

Practising past papers from previous exams

Teacher’s Guide - Preparing for Exams

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Activity 8

Students should consider the following activities and approaches to revision. They shoulddecidewhichaspectstoincludeintheirrevisionplan.

Possible Activities to Include in My Revision Plan Yes

Iknowthedatesandtimesofallmyexams

Iknowthenatureofeach(eg,essay,multiplechoice,practicaltest)

Ihavedrawnuparevisiontimetable

Ihavemadeaplanforeachofmysubjectsandsettargetsforrevision

Myplanforeachsubjectcoversallthetopicsandareasthatmakeupthecourse

Ihavebrokendownthemainareasofthesubjectintosmallerchunksortopics

Iknowwhicharethemostimportanttopicsorquestions

Iknowwhichtopicsorquestionsarecompulsory

ForeachsubjectIknowmyareasofstrengthandweakness

ForeachsubjectIhaveidentifiedthegapsinmyknowledge.

IamawareofanymaterialsorequipmentthatIneedtotakeforeachexam

Ipractiseusingexampapersfrompreviousyears

Mycoursenotesforeachsubjectareuptodate

Iplantomakenotesorsummarisethemostimportantfactsabouteachtopic

Iplantousingahighlighterpentomarkthekeypointsorideasaboutatopic

I plan to make audio recordings of my revision notes and then listen to themagain

Iplantousesymbolsanddiagramstoshowhowthingsconnect

Iplantouseflashcardscanhelpyoumemorisefactsandinformation

I plan to test my memory as I go along, thinking up possible questions andanswers

Iplantowritepracticewritinganswersagainsttheclock

Iplantotestmyknowledgeandunderstandingwithoutlookingatmynotes

Iplantogetasomeonetoaskmequestionsandtestmyknowledge

IplantogethelpfrommyteacherifIamhavingproblemsordon’tunderstand

IplantofindoutiftherearerevisionclassesatschoolwhichIcanattend

Iplantotakeregularbreaksforrelaxing,socialisingandresting