1. GCSE Triple Award OCR GATEWAY Mr West

2. The Course Your child will study for three GCSEs – Biology in year 10 and Physics and Chemistry in year 11. Each GCSE is assessed through 2 exams and 1 piece of controlled assessment (coursework).

3. The Exams Each exam will involve either Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The first exam is worth 35% and the second is worth 40% (totalling 75%) of the whole GCSE. All exams will be sat in the summer term. There is no longer an option for resits, unless there are extreme circumstances.

4. Exam Timetable Summer 2015 – B1, B2, B3, B4,B5 and B6 1 piece of coursework submitted. Summer 2016 – P1 to P6 and also C1 to C6 A piece of coursework is submitted for Chemistry and Physics.

5. Controlled Assessment This is the chance for the students to carry out a full investigation with as much independence as possible. The assessment is split into sections and students receive marks for each part.

6. Controlled Assessment They are assessed on: –Research –Planning –Carry out the experiment –Results tables and graphs –Conclusions –Analysing and Evaluating

7. Controlled Assessment The research section will be set as a homework and students will need to make sure they find reliable sources (NOT Wikipedia!!) as they have to provide a full list of resources too. The rest of the assessment is carried out under supervision and so cannot be taken home.

8. How Can You Support Your Child? Offer help for completing homework. Check regularly how lessons are going. Can your child confidently explain what they have done? If not you can direct them to go and see their teacher, or help them by using a revision guide, their exercise book or BBC bitesize (other revision websites are available…) At exam time provide them with a supportive structure to revise well – little and often is much better than binge revision!