3. Y11 GCSE Mock Exams Early January 2019
‘I only know it because I’ve learnt it’

4. Where shall I start ? There are four main stages to effective revision
1. Preparation
2. Planning your time
3. Actively revising
4. Final preparation

5. Stage 1: Preparation This involves:
Attendance at lessons during the year
Completing class and homework to the best of your ability
Organising your subject files

6. Stage 2: Planning your revision
Number of days until the first exam:
40 week days
8 Sundays
I will revise for:
2 hours on weekdays
3 hours on Sunday
Calculations:
Weekdays: 40 (days) x 3: 120 hours
Sundays: 8 (days) x 3: 24 hours
Total: 144 hours
Allocating time across subjects
You are taking 10 subjects
This works out at approximately 15 hours
per subject

7. Allocating time across topics
Before constructing a timetable, you
need to divide up this time between
the various topics within each
subject
You have allocated 5 hours to
geography
You will have studied four topics
You therefore decide to divide up the
6 hours of revision allocated to
geography as shown:
Living World 3 hours
Rivers and Coasts 3 hours
Economic World 3 hours
Urbanisation 3 hours
Paper 3 3 hours

8. Constructing weekly timetables
You can now construct weekly timetables
You should follow one of two approaches here:
- create timetables on a week-by-week basis
- create all of the weekly timetables at the same time

9. Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Sunday
Total
Week 1
Maths (1hour)
Geography (1 hour)
English Lang. (1 hour)
French (1 hour)
Science (1 hour)
History (1hour)
Maths (1 hour)
English Lit. (1 hour)
RS (1 hour)
PE (1 hour)
Maths (2 hours)
14 hours
Week 2
Maths (1.5 hours)
Geography (1.5 hours)
English Lang. (1.5 hours)
French (1.5 hours)
Science (1.5 hours)
History (1.5hours)
English Lit. (1.5 hours)
RS (1.5 hours)
PE (1.5 hours)
English Lang. (1hour)
Science (1hour)
19 hours
Week 3
Week 4

10. Stage 3: Actively revising
Revision should take place somewhere quiet
Learning is most effective when it is active
There are a range of different strategies which you can use
Revision notes
Mind mapping
Using mnemonics
Revising with others
Practising past questions

11. Revision notes You should all produce your own set of revision notes
These should be used
alongside other revision
guides
Revision cards
Summary notes
Case study cards
Key word glossary

12. Mind maps These can be used to summaries complex text
You should start by highlighting key words and concepts in the text
A central title
2. Divide the text into several sections
3. Branching out
4. Memorise summary maps
5. Test yourself

13. Using Mnemonics
A mnemonic is something that helps you to remember information
For example
Naughty
Elephants
Squirt
Water

14. Revise with others Organise to revise the same topics
Test each other on your memory of summary sheets
Jointly create mnemonics to help memorise concepts/ facts
Split up a topic into short sections – study a section alone for a few minutes and then test each other
Make a list of questions at ask each other
Celebrate progress together

15. Exam technique You need to know: The content of each paper
Any initial structures or guidance
The number of different sections
How many questions you need to answer
The types of questions asked
Any topics/ questions that appear to crop up each year
The marking scheme
Commonly used command words (e.g. describe, explain, evaluate, assess)
You should:
Practise writing exam answers under timed conditions (using/ not using notes)
Prepare essay plans for all the past questions
Make up your own questions and practise them

16. Stage 4: Final preparation
You should:
get a good night’s sleep…do not stay up all night revising
Make sure that you have all the correct equipment for the exam
Arrive at the exam venue at least 10 minutes early
Listen to the instructions of the invigilator
You should:
Divide your time up between the questions according to the marks available
Use the number of marks for each question as a guide to the range and depth of your answer
Answer the correct number of questions
Answer every question required – do not leave any ‘blanks’
Use all the time – you do not lose marks for ‘wrong’ answers

17. What does the examiner see?

18. GCSE Pod

19. List of Course codes for GCSE Pod …which need to be selected when you access the playlist via ‘My Courses’
Subject
Course Code
Art & Design
No material currently available
Biology
OCR Twenty First Century Science: NEW: Biology B (9-1)
Business
Edexcel
Chemistry
OCR Twenty First Century Science: NEW: Chemistry B (9-1)
Computing
OCR Computing
Dance
Drama
Not exam board specific
English Language
AQA: English Language
English Literature
AQA: English Literature
Food Preparation & Nutrition
French
AQA: French
Geography
AQA: NEW: Geography (9-1)
German
AQA: German
History
Edexcel: NEW: History (9-1)
Maths
Edexcel: Mathematics PE
Physics
OCR Twenty First Century Science: NEW: Physics B (9-1)
Religious Studies
Combined Science
OCR Twenty First Century Science: NEW: Combined Science B (9-1)
Sociology
Spanish
AQA: Spanish

20. Revision resources
Amazon
Geography resources on Amazon

21. GCSE Specifications Subject Exam Board Course Code Spec Code
Art & Design
AQA
8202 _
Biology
OCR
J257
B 21st Century
Business
Edexcel
BTEC Children’s Play, Learning & Development
HDR09
Chemistry
J258
Computing
J276
Dance
8236
Drama
WJEC
3690QS
English Language
8700
English Literature
8702
Food Preparation & Nutrition
8585
French
8658
Geography
8035
German
8668
History
1HI0
Maths
1MA1 PE
J587
Physics
J259
Religious Studies
8062 A
Combined Science
J260
Sociology
8192
Spanish
8698

22. ‘The harder I practice the luckier I get’
A final reminder
‘The harder I practice the luckier I get’