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159036044979Effective RevisionEffective Revision546389951054000-19870049477600-381663399553Walton-le-Dale Arts College and High SchoolEnglish and Maths DepartmentsSupporting your child through 9-1 GCSE in Mathematics, English Language and LiteratureWalton-le-Dale Arts College and High SchoolEnglish and Maths DepartmentsSupporting your child through 9-1 GCSE in Mathematics, English Language and LiteratureThe following document aims to provide you with information about assessment changes in GCSE Mathematics, English Language and English Literature. We also aim to provide you with some useful techniques to help students revise effectively for their GCSEs. Students have approximately 8 months left to prepare for their examinations and changes to assessment system mean that it is imperative that students know how to revise effectively and are proactive and independent in their studies. Targeted and early revision is extremely important in order to ensure that students are able to recall all of the information they will need in their GCSE examinations. What are the changes to GCSE in English Language and English Literature?left52705MAJOR CHANGES:All students will take both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature. These are two separate GCSE qualifications. Both subjects are assessed by examination only. There is no coursework.There are no Higher and Foundation tiers so students of all abilities will sit the same examination.Grades will no longer be awarded at A*- G. They will now be awarded at 9 – 1, with 9 being the highest grade.GCSE English Language also has a Spoken Language component which will be graded at Pass, Merit or Distinction and does not count towards the 9-1 grade awarded for the exam components.00MAJOR CHANGES:All students will take both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature. These are two separate GCSE qualifications. Both subjects are assessed by examination only. There is no coursework.There are no Higher and Foundation tiers so students of all abilities will sit the same examination.Grades will no longer be awarded at A*- G. They will now be awarded at 9 – 1, with 9 being the highest grade.GCSE English Language also has a Spoken Language component which will be graded at Pass, Merit or Distinction and does not count towards the 9-1 grade awarded for the exam components.What are the changes to GCSE in Mathematics?046355The volume of subject content has increasedThe demand of that content is increasing too, with harder topics being introduced at both Foundation and Higher tiersThe total time for the examinations is increasing, from 3 ? hours to 4 ? hours.There are fewer marks at the lower grades and more marks at the higher grades on both tiers.A new grading structure with grades 9 to 1, to replace the familiar A*-G grading scale.In the assessments there’s a greater emphasis on problem solving and mathematical reasoning, with more marks now being allocated to these higher-order skills.Students will be required to memorise formulae – fewer formulae will be provided in examinations.The volume of subject content has increasedThe demand of that content is increasing too, with harder topics being introduced at both Foundation and Higher tiersThe total time for the examinations is increasing, from 3 ? hours to 4 ? hours.There are fewer marks at the lower grades and more marks at the higher grades on both tiers.A new grading structure with grades 9 to 1, to replace the familiar A*-G grading scale.In the assessments there’s a greater emphasis on problem solving and mathematical reasoning, with more marks now being allocated to these higher-order skills.Students will be required to memorise formulae – fewer formulae will be provided in examinations.How do we actually revise?In order to understand how we revise, we need to understand a little about how memory works. If we understand how and why memories are retained we can go some way towards understanding how we can boost memory and help our students to be able to recall the information or skills they will need in their GCSE examinations. MemoryThere are two different types of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory.Short-term memory only lasts between 15-30 seconds. It holds the information we’re currently working with or using for thinking. Long-term memory is the type of memory we need to be successful in exams. It has a physical presence in the brain. When we receive information or practise a skill, neurons make new physical connections and synapses, a bit like a pathway. The brain stores that pathway and a new long-term memory is formed. The more times we repeat the skill or receive the information we need, the stronger the pathway gets. This means that we can recall that information more easily-something that is vital for success in examinations. Unfortunately our brain cannot store every piece of information in our long-term memory and if we have not used the information our brain will “supplant” existing memories with new ones. This is why revision is so important. Revision vs Massed RevisionMassed Revision (cramming)Spaced Revision (revisiting topics and spacing out learning over a period of time)ProsGood for remembering information over a short period of time. It allows you to retrieve information stored in your brain more easily. It means you can remember more of the information you will needIt is less tiringConsIf you need to learn more than one topic you can often get confused or forget important information.It can be very tiring.It is time consumingThe Forgetting CurveAfter we receive information, scientists have shown that we forget a large proportion of the information even 10 minutes after we have received the information. This loss of information can be plotted on a graph and is known as the Forgetting Curve. The only way to overcome the forgetting curve is to practise/revise/revisit the learning at regular intervals, e.g. immediately after the learning has taken place, a week after the learning has taken place and a month after the learning has taken place. We can use these time intervals to help plan out a revision timetable. Try to map out all of the topics you will need to study and revisit the information at regular intervals. Remember to introduce new topics and revisit those using the same time interval patterns (see the example revision timetable for more information). Some Revision StrategiesMake revision cardsDraw a mind mapMnemonicsAssociate information with pictures or storiesCreate revision posters-80645167640Space out your revision so that you have time to revisit topics, look at new information/skills and go back over the information you think you know. If you don’t know something, allow yourself time to go back over it at a later date-remember practise perfect otherwise practice makes permanent. Break your revision into manageable timescales, perhaps 20 minutes or half hour sessions can be very useful. Make sure you stick to your timetable otherwise you may not have enough time to revise all of the information you need. 00Space out your revision so that you have time to revisit topics, look at new information/skills and go back over the information you think you know. If you don’t know something, allow yourself time to go back over it at a later date-remember practise perfect otherwise practice makes permanent. Break your revision into manageable timescales, perhaps 20 minutes or half hour sessions can be very useful. Make sure you stick to your timetable otherwise you may not have enough time to revise all of the information you need. -76200323850If you find making revision cards useful, you may want to use the Leitner system. This is a widely used method of efficiently using flashcards that was proposed by the German science journalist Sebastian Leitner in the 1970s. It is a simple implementation of the principle of spaced repetition, where cards are reviewed at increasing intervals.00If you find making revision cards useful, you may want to use the Leitner system. This is a widely used method of efficiently using flashcards that was proposed by the German science journalist Sebastian Leitner in the 1970s. It is a simple implementation of the principle of spaced repetition, where cards are reviewed at increasing intervals.Revision CardsLeitner SystemIn this method flashcards are sorted into groups according to how well the learner knows each one in the Leitner's learning box. The learners try to recall the solution written on a flashcard. If they succeed, they send the card to the next group. If they fail, they send it back to the first group. Each succeeding group has a longer period of time before the learner is required to revisit the cards.Example-Three boxesSuppose there are 3 boxes of cards called "Box 1", "Box 2" and "Box 3". The cards in Box 1 are the ones that the learner often makes mistakes with, and Box 3 contains the cards that they know very well. They might choose to study the Box 1 cards once a day, Box 2 every 3 days, and the Box 3 cards every 5 days. If they look at a card in Box 1 and get the correct answer, they "promote" it to Box 2. A correct answer with a card in Box 2 "promotes" that card to Box 3. If they make a mistake with a card in Box 2 or Box 3, it gets "demoted" to the first box, which forces the learner to study that card more often.The advantage of this method is that the learner can focus on the most difficult flashcards, which remain in the first few groups. The result is, ideally, a reduction in the amount of study time needed.Memory TricksRepetition, repetition, repetition: the more you go back over something the better you’ll remember it.Write things out: this helps you get your head around it.Read things out to yourself: the more you say it the better.Learn key words and phrases: if you have these you can build around them.Use acronyms: take the first letter of a set of words you need to learn and form a word with them. This will help you recall the words later.Use acrostics: the same as acronyms, only this time make up a silly sentence with the first letters. Once you have the first letter you will remember the full word.Use rhyme: rhyme complicated sentences and you’ll never forget them.Use pictures: draw little pictures around words or put steps to learn into a picture. Close your eyes and you will see the picture and the words inside.Use visualisation: Visualise yourself doing the thing you are trying to remember.Use stories: put what you need to learn into a story.Use flash cards: a question on one side and the answer on the other can be a great Tipsleft130810Use revision guides and notes made in class to create flashcards that you can use to learn key quotations for each of the characters in the texts we are studying.Revision guides and class notes can be used to produce flashcards about the context and key themes presented in each of the texts studied.You should use the flashcards to test yourself regularly to ensure the information is used and encoded into your long term memory. You could make flashcards for definitions and examples of key terminology for English such as similes and metaphors etc. You should complete exam questions and practise writing in timed conditions.Perhaps you could set yourself a target for the number of words and a time limit.0Use revision guides and notes made in class to create flashcards that you can use to learn key quotations for each of the characters in the texts we are studying.Revision guides and class notes can be used to produce flashcards about the context and key themes presented in each of the texts studied.You should use the flashcards to test yourself regularly to ensure the information is used and encoded into your long term memory. You could make flashcards for definitions and examples of key terminology for English such as similes and metaphors etc. You should complete exam questions and practise writing in timed conditions.Perhaps you could set yourself a target for the number of words and a time limit.What do you need to revise for English Language and English Literature?GCSE English Language (EDUCAS/WJEC)GCSE English Literature (AQA)Paper 1 Read and respond to a 20th Century literary text.Descriptive or narrative writingPaper 2Read and respond to questions about a 21st Century non-fiction textRead and respond to questions about a 19th Century non-fiction textTransactional writing.Paper 1Great ExpectationsRomeo and JulietPaper 2A Taste of HoneyPower and Conflict poetry anthologyUnseen poetrySkills and content to practise and reviseSkills and content to practise and reviseInference and deductionHow texts are structured in different ways to engage the reader.Language techniques e.g. rhetorical questions, alliteration, similes, puns etc. How to construct different types of sentences.How texts are adapted for different audiences and purposes. Comparison skillsThe ability to make evaluative comments about a text. Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammarPEAPoetic techniques and terminologyHow to compare poemsGreat ExpectationsQuotations for key characters in ‘Great Expectations’Key themes in ‘Great Expectations’Key context information in ‘Great Expectations’Romeo and JulietQuotations for key characters in ‘Romeo and Juliet’Key themes in ‘Romeo and Juliet’Key context information in ‘Romeo and Juliet’A Taste of HoneyQuotations for key characters in ‘A Taste of Honey’Key themes in ‘A Taste of Honey’Key contextual information about the playPower and Conflict Poetry AnthologyKey quotations from each of the 15 poemsContextual information about the poems.Unseen PoetryBe able to read, analyse and understand the meaning of an unseen poemWhat do you need to revise for Maths?lefttopMaths Revision ResourcesAll students are given a unique Mathswatch login (for ) which allows them to complete their weekly homework they are set. Through this website there is access to a video clip for each of the 219 skills for the whole Maths curriculum split into Higher and Foundation. These videos along with their shorter versions, '1 minute maths', provide invaluable revision of the core topics but for these to be effective it needs to be an ongoing process between now and the exam, reviewing material covered in class and revising other topics they may have forgotten, don't fully understand or just need recapping. Teachers can provide help with what to cover and when.English Revision ResourcesStudents will be provided with a CGP revision workbook for EDUCAS GCSE English Language. However, some additional workbooks/revision guides may be useful. Some suggestions are:York Notes for ‘Great Expectations’York notes for ‘Romeo and Juliet’CGP revision guide for AQA GCSE English Literature ‘Power and Conflict’ clusterUseful Revision Websites for English Literature Revision Websites for English LanguageThe BBC Bitesize website has a variety of useful links, activities and videos that students may find useful to support their studies and revsion. The website address for this is: ................
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