Tag Archives: GCSE

63. How to make GCSE past papers fun

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Well folks, the end is in sight! Soon Y11 will be on study leave. Sure, there will be those conscientious few who come in for help or revision sessions, but the majority of pupils need the next month to considate their learning and be ready for their exams.

Are these teenagers buzzing with energy and keen to work? No.

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They are tired of being told about exam technique and interpreting questions. They are fed up with assessments and coursework. They are irritable with every non-teenager who mentions exams and ‘this is your future’. And most of all they are just tired because they are working late on deadlines that are suddenly tomorrow, rather than 6 months away.

How can you make yet another GCSE paper interesting?

It’s time to cut up the exam paper (see Foundation GCSE analysis for first scissor session).

Now this task will need some prep work. It is an adaptation of a Maths Relay.

Equipment
*Enough copies of a GCSE paper for 1 between 2 or 3.
(Variation: A set of themed questions, for example 15 questions on Algebra of graduated difficulty)
*Roughly three copies of the mark scheme.
*Your best 3 or 4 students to help manage the task. Alternatively,  mathematically minded sixth former or spare teacher would do. You could even put two classes together.

Optional: A spreadsheet with the pairs of students in the first column

Prep Work
You need to slice the papers into individual questions. Lay out the piles in number order across a desk.
The desks in the room need to be arranged to allow pair/group work and also movement around the room.
Your helpers need to be briefed about the activity.

Activity
Each pair is given the first question face down. When you say ‘Start’, they may write down their names on the question and answer the question.
When they have an answer, they must bring it to be checked.

Correct: it is ticked and they are issued with the next question.
Wrong: it is crossed and they try again.
Wrong twice: they are issued with the next question.

By using your most able student as checkers, you are enabling them to practise effectively checking work quickly and give hints. If they can check their own work in exams quickly, then they will have more time to answer harder questions. By giving hints they are consolidating their learning. Of course, the rest of the class can’t complain that the brightest will win as they are not taking part.

Differentiation
If you have a mixed tier/ability class you can colour code two exam papers: yellow for foundation, pink for higher. They can still race each other but at a more appropriate level.

About that optional spreadsheet
Set up a spreadsheet with the first column for names, the next 15 columns labelled 1-15 and the last column for the total.
Once a question is finished with you record correct/wrong with a 1/0 . You can then keep track of who is on which question with what success rate.

The more ICT-friendly teacher could use conditional formatting to highlight the cells and which team is winning.

Management
I have found it easiest to use helpers for checking and leave the spreadsheet recording to the class teacher. This allows the teacher to oversee and troubleshoot as required.

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Review
I’ve done this with low-ability Y11 last lesson on a Friday and was stunned at the engagement. Although that might have had something to do with the prize of first choice from a box of fondant fancies …

58. Free Revision App

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I’ve recently started using the Edexcel Past Papers revision app (Apple & Android compatible) with my GCSE and A-Level classes.
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It is basically a database of past papers for all Edexcel subjects and qualifications, even iGCSE. You search by qualification, then subject, then exam session, then paper. The papers and mark schemes are already available on the internet, but the app is much quicker than googling them. It is not a complete revision resource, but it is fairly comprehensive app. Some of the PDFs are e-versions, some are scans. You can also share papers by email, which allows you to print.

The recent material is still only available through the secure teacher area of the Edexcel website, so your mock exams won’t be compromised.

My Y11 have downloaded it for personal use when they are on study leave. They suggested that even though they don’t use Edexcel for every subject, they could use it as a source of extra questions when they run out of revision materials. I’m actually impressed that they intend doing so much revision!

My Y12 have used this app in class for checking their work and also when they have forgotten the exam paper I have copied for them. It also saves me having to print out new papers and dashing to the printer. I find it rather handy having a selection of mark schemes in my pocket, especially when students are working on a variety of papers.

Note: This app has mixed reviews on both itunes and the Google Play store. I think it depends what your expectations are and what device you have.

54. Space saving displays

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I used to teach in a corner classroom: 8 windows, lovely light quality, nice views, only one maths display board.

We had to get creative about how to display work.

Peelable glass paints were useful for making temporary stained glass effect displays on the windows. They were time-consuming and tricky to do with large groups.

Hanging displays were very useful. The longest display I’ve ever done consisted of 30 strips of A4 length card, with a transformation repeating pattern on each. The card was hole punched at either end and then attached with a piece of string to the next one (treasury tags would have been quicker). It took a lot of blu-tak to put it up, but it went nearly the whole way around the room.

My children were making Easter bunting and it got me thinking. Why don’t we use bunting to summarise key facts in class? It’s easy to make, cheap, you can colour code by topic and you can add to it all term by connecting another fact onto the end. It won’t take up precious wall display space as you can hang it above displays, around boards or even across the room.

Equipment
Card (size and color of your choice)
Scissors
Ruler
Hole punch
Tape (optional)
String or treasury tags

Decision time
Decide on your theme:
– one colour for all?
– one colour per topic?
– one colour per grade?
– traffic light for difficulty?

Decide on your shape:
– classic isosceles triangle?
– rectangles for more writing area?
– different shapes for different shape facts?

Isosceles triangle instructions
The instructions were made using A5 card.
Measure roughly 2-3cm down from the narrow end of your card.

Mark the midpoint of the bottom of the card.
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Join up these three points and cut out.
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Wrap a small piece of tape around either side of the top of the shape. This strip across the top reinforces the flag. The holes won’t be too close to a point, nor will they tear easily.

Hole punch the tape.
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Repeat for as many flags as you need.
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Connect them together by threading onto a long piece of string, if you want a fixed length display.
Connect them by treasury tag or knotted string, if you want an extendable display.

If you made one of these for each unit, you could store them away and get them out for test revision or recaps.

47. Light bulb moment

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Here is a ridiculously simple classroom tip that was thought up by one of my pupils today.

 

Situation

The class were using past GCSE questions, compiled in a Word document, photocopied back to back and stapled.

 

Problem

After completing a table of values, the question said ‘Use the graph paper below…’, except the graph paper had ended up three sides of A4 away due to a crazy quirk of Testbase (GCSE exam question software) and Word. Cue much mumbling and enough paper shuffling to make me think a hamster was rearranging his bedding!

 

Solution

One pupil simply asked if she could take a picture of the table of values, so she wouldn’t have to keep flipping pages.

 

So simple … pure genius!

 

Within 5 minutes, the class were quietly doing very accurate cumulative frequency diagrams, without silly mistakes and rustling.

41. Revision traffic lights

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Visual revision aid today!

I asked my GCSE students to ‘traffic light’ all the learning objectives from the course. The categories were:
Red – I really need help with this.
Amber – I’m okay with this, but I will need to revise before trying exam questions.
Green – I’m fine to try GCSE questions on this.

They worked together to write up their top responses on coloured paper. There are two of each colour so they didn’t get too crammed.

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Now I know where they need help/ a confidence boost and the class can see their concerns addressed as we work through their lists. Of course, I’ll add in topics they missed.

This activity gives them a sense of ownership of their learning.

24. Foundation GCSE student review

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This idea came about after a Departmental INSET on teaching the C3 unit run by my HoD.

Students never believe you when you tell them they must understand this topic as it’s an essential skill for their exam. So get them to tell you what is important…

Before you start
You will need a different GCSE paper for each student (I used Foundation non-calc). It is possible to use one between two.
You will also need pens, scissors, glue & display paper in four colours.

Cut and label
Each student cuts out the individual questions and labels them with the month & year eg Jan 12.

Sort 1
Each student sorts their questions into Number, Algebra, Data, Shape.

Sort 2
Assign each area of study to one of the sheets of display paper. The students pile their Number questions onto the Number sheet etc.

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Categorise
Split the class into four groups and give each group one area of study to look at. They must sort the questions into common themes eg BIDMAS, sequences, pictograms.

Review
Ask each group what they notice eg in most exams there is a question related to drawing/reading a bar-chart.

Display
Each group sticks the questions down and labels the common themes.

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The class spotted all of the common themes and key skills, without me turning into a nag. As you can see from my wall display, we needed an extra sheet for number questions. The foundation GCSE paper has 40% number questions, which equates to 2/5 of the exam – our work was spot on. During the revision sessions I have referred to this wall display frequently. It has also been a talking point for other classes.

Update
Mark Greenaway (@suffolkmaths) has made an instructional to go with this idea. Go to his website www.suffolkmaths.co.uk and select ‘Exam Advice – Supporting powerpoint’ to see it.

10. No more boring test reviews

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Tests!

They are part of the education system, but how much notice do students take when you go through the paper? If you did well, a lot of a review lesson is wasted. If you did really badly you either are struggling and don’t want to be reminded of your weaknesses or you didn’t revise and don’t care. That means you have a fair few disengaged students that lesson.

One solution that a colleague and myself developed for use with a C/B grade KS4 class is the independent open-book review.

Open-book
Give the marked test papers back and allow the students half the lesson to try the questions with their books. This addresses whether the issue is memory or understanding.

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Independent study
Make the answer scheme available to students. I put it on our school website. The students could download it onto classroom laptops or their mobile phones (paper copies could be an option). The students re-marked the new work at their own pace and reviewed their tests.

The high fliers looked at the difficult questions, the strugglers identified where they had lost easy marks. The class were engaged with their learning and asking astute questions.

And of course, letting them use smartphones in class was an instant hit. There was a lot of positive feedback from students and I’ll be doing this again.