Copy - Science Exam practice revision for Maths GCSE

Exam practice revision for GCSE Science

A guide of some top revision tips

Basic principles of Science revision

Basic principles of Science revision

We'll break these down further across the next few slides and give some advice for parents at the end

Core Knowledge

Targeted Practice

Full Paper Practice

Core Knowledge

Before tackling exam questions, you need a good memory of the core knowledge of that topic. Without this knowledge, you will not be successful on the questions.

How do I do this?

• Use the knowledge organisers and core question packs provided to quiz yourself on a chosen topic by doing look, cover, write, check, or ask a friend or a parent to quiz you.
• Use your online resources (these might be Carousel, Seneca, Century or Sparx) to practice your knowledge of a chosen topic.

Top tip

Reading the information is not enough – you need to be actively quizzing yourself to help you remember it.

Targeted Practice

Once you’ve got a good memory of the core knowledge of the topic, you can start applying this to exam questions. It is best to do this topic by topic, rather than tackling a whole exam paper. This way you get an understanding of the types of questions that get asked, and how to answer them.

How do I do this?

• Complete questions from the topic by topic question packs available on SpArk. Once you have completed a question, mark it using the mark scheme, thinking about anything you have missed. This will help you complete the next one better.
• Other resources that can help include Sparx Science, and the CGP Exam Practice Workbooks. Check with your teacher to make sure you have the correct one for your course.

Top tip

Marking your questions as accurately as possible using the mark scheme is essential to help you learn how to answer correctly in the future!

Core Knowledge

Before tackling exam questions, you need a good memory of the core knowledge of that topic. Without this knowledge, you will not be successful on the questions.

How do I do this?

• Use the knowledge organisers and core question packs provided to quiz yourself on a chosen topic by doing look, cover, write, check, or ask a friend or a parent to quiz you.
• Use your online resources (these might be Carousel, Seneca, Century or Sparx) to practice your knowledge of a chosen topic.

Top tip

Reading the information is not enough – you need to be actively quizzing yourself to help you remember it.

Full Paper Practice

Once you’ve practiced all the topics from a paper, you can test yourself by completing the full paper under exam conditions.

How do I do this?

• Print out a full past paper (your teacher can help with this), set a timer for the allowed time, and complete the paper without support, as if you were in the exam.
• Mark the paper using the mark scheme, and see if there were any questions you did less well on compared to others – you may need to go back to stage 2 on these topics to improve further.

Top tip

This stage should only be done at the very end of your revision journey, when you feel like you are ready to sit the real exam.

Advice for parents/carers

Advice for parents/carers

What to look for as your child is revising

• Your child should be doing something active for the majority of the time they are revising. It’s ok to watch short videos or read information to better understand a topic, but progress will be made through practicing.
• They should be focused on one topic at a time to help them build their understanding – they should be able to tell you which topic this is e.g. ‘Infection & Response’ rather than just ‘Biology’
• Your child should have a quiet space to work in, and should not have their mobile phone nearby. They will need a calculator, but should not be using their phone for this.

Advice for parents/carers

What to look for as your child is revising

• If your child is completing Stage 1, you should see them covering the answers and trying to write them from memory, or verbally quizzing themselves. You can help them by quizzing them.
• If your child is completing Stage 2, you should see them answering exam questions without the mark scheme visible, then marking them afterwards. These should be focused on one topic at a time. You can help them by supporting them to mark their work using the mark scheme.
• If your child is completing Stage 3, you should see them answering an exam paper with a timer set to the time listed on the front of the paper. Support them by making sure they are working in exam conditions.

Final tips

Final things to remember as you revise

• Practice is key – the more practice questions you can complete, the better.
• Be clear on when you are sitting each paper and make sure you are preparing for the right one – the content is different for each paper.
• Focus on one topic at a time. This way you will get to know the types of question that are asked on this topic, and this will help you learn how to answer them correctly.
• Take breaks – smaller chunks of work done regularly will be much more effective than one whole day of work followed by nothing.

Thank you!