So many students complain about the GCSE science exams.
And you know what,
They are right to complain.
Most students have a bunch of knowledge,
But when it comes to the exams,
They get less marks than they should,
As they haven’t formatted their answers in the exact way the examiner is looking for.
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The problem is,
Almost all students are treating science exams like a memory test.
And I can appreciate why they do this,
The textbooks are intimidating and due to their being so much to know,
There is no time for anything else besides memorisation and mindless past papers.
But I am here to tell you that students are misplacing their attention.
And I am going to outline the very simple change that they can make,
Which will get them more marks,
In less time.
So stay with me,
This is a worthwhile email to read in full.
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The reason why your teenager is losing more marks than they should
The way the science exams work,
Is that they are split up into anywhere between 8 and 13 sections.
Each section is predominately on one (or maybe two) topics or sub-topics.
In a section they will ask a variety of questions, some longer and some shorter, to test your teenager’s knowledge on the particular topic or sub-topic.
Simple enough right,
Unfortunately, not.
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Let’s take photosynthesis as an example.
Your teenager turns the page and sees a section on photosynthesis.
They are feeling positive as this is one of the topics that they have spent a fair amount of time revising.
One of the questions is a 2 marker,
To which they write the key words,
Water and Heat.
Unbeknownst to the student,
The examiner was looking for water vapor and warmth.
And they get 0 marks.
I told you it was stupid.
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So the skill of science GCSE is …
Knowing the exact language the examiner is looking for.
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How to get more marks in less time in GCSE Science
Step 1: Do a past paper, quickly.
Step 2: Make a list of the topics/sub-topics and corresponding questions that you got wrong.
Step 3: Pick the easiest topic(s)/sub-topic(s) that you got wrong.
Step 4: Spend some time learning these areas.
Step 5: FINAL STEP – This is how you get better at the SKILL – pull up a questions by topic paper (you can find these on google if you search for your exam board, the topic and then write questions by topic or you can find them on Cognito) and then pull up the mark scheme for that paper in a split screen format so you can see both the questions and mark scheme at the same time.
Skim through the paper,
Focusing in on any places in the mark scheme where you think you would have used slightly different wording to make the same point.
This is the jackpot.
A really easy example is in the mark scheme it will sometimes say Do Not Accept …
If you would have said the do not accept answer,
You’re off to a winner.
Because now you do the most important step …
You add to your notes in big, bold writing … DO NOT SAY whatever you would have previously said INSTEAD SAY the correct answer in the mark scheme.
It’s simple,
But it is so effective.
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To recap,
After your teenager has picked a topic they are losing marks on,
They scan the questions by topic paper and mark scheme looking for places where the wording of their answer would have differed from the actual answer.
They add the real answer to their notes – specifically focusing on the wording – and it becomes the most important part of their entire notes.
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I hope you have a great week ahead,
Best wishes,
Joel