Resitting?

If you're resitting any of the AS or A2 exams from January, or want to know where you went wrong in the mock, then I'd recommend having a good read of the examiner's report.

It also includes such  gems as:

"Examination Tip: The use of ‘etc’ to truncate a list rarely gains credit in any answer"
"Some inventive candidates suggested the dichotamous key was so called because it was named after its inventor “Mr Dichotomous”."
"Examination tip: Candidates should not just repeat or adjust words that are in the stem of the question for an answer – it is unlikely to be credited."
"As ever, some candidates had not read the question stem carefully and lost a mark by failing to round to a whole number."


http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/137489-examiners-reports-january.pdf

"Where am I going wrong?"

Quite often we hear student's complain that they're working hard, they think they've got in and then when they get their test and mock results back they can't work out where they went wrong.

Quite often, even if you have generally the right idea, you don't write it the level of detail required for A Level. Keywords may be missing or you didn't think of enough points to gain full marks.

So here are a couple of completed papers for you to analyse. It's based on this speciman paper which might be worth having a go at yourself first.

• A grade answers and examiner comments
• C/D grade answers and examiner comments

AS Quantitative and Evaluative dates

IMPORTANT: CHECK YOUR DIARIES and let us know asap if these clash with any of your other exams such as MFL oral exams or Art.

QUANTITATIVE DATES:

12A1 and 12A2 - RWA and VWA - Mon 22nd April (wk2) - P1+2

12C1 and 12C2 - EBE and PFO - Thurs 25th April (wk2) - P3+4

EVALUATIVE DATES:

 

12A1 and 12A2 - EBE and LED - Tues 30th Apr - P1+2

12C2 and 12C1 - PHI and VWA - Thurs 2nd May - P5+6

Examstutor revision website

Many of the Year 12s won't know about this website so here's a bit of info.
You will need a username and password which I can't publish here but it's on the student intranet in a document called examstutor website details.doc plus you can ask your teacher for it.

The examstutor website includes summarised information on all the AS and A2 topics, good quizzes, audio revision and because you create your own account, it will also keep track of your scores etc. There is also a revision planner and revision tips.

AND there are also sections for AS and A2 Chemistry and Physics.

DNA and Proteins revision (AS and A2)

25 minutes to spare? What better way to spend your time then learn about DNA structure, replication, transcription and translation :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 weeks until F212 exam and 9 weeks until F215

8 weeks is not a long time. It's 56 days.
If you're working on the basis of about 2 hours revision a day that's 112 hours.
112 hours to prepare for 3 maybe 4 exams turns into roughly 35 hours per exam.
Does that motivate you to work?

Motivation is a multi-million pound industry. There are books, posters, workshops, online tutoring, tweets and more. But what motivates one person may not motivate another. Find out more on the BBC website here.



Here are a few ideas to help you motivate yourself or your friends:

Have a goal - Have a goal or target and think about it, alot. Not to the point of dispair, but remind yourself why you're doing all this work.

Consequences - Think about the consequences if you study hard and get the grades you deserve. Some cash from a parent? Tickets to a summer festival? That feeling you get when you open the envelope with your results in? Knowing you won't have to resit? It's usually better to think of the postive consequences but some of us are more motivated by thinking about what would happen if it all goes wrong.

Rewards - Similar to consequnces. Arrange a suitably motivating reward for yourself if you make it through all this revision time in one piece. Or, keep your favourite treats nearby for small and regular rewards for completing each revision task that you set yourself.


Use the alarm function on your iphone

Share your revision schedule - Firstly, if you haven't made a revision schedule then get one. Then let someone else have a copy. If, say your parents, know what you plan to achieve each day then it's harder to put it off. Yes they will nag but you probably need to be nagged. It's much easier to convince yourself that you're working hard than it is a parent.


.Motivational messages - Sounds cheesy, but write some positive quotes and notes to your self on Post-it notes and stick them around your work area and house. It's hard to ignore a note to self whilst sitting and watching morning TV.
You could even extend this to setting up reminders or named alarms on your mobile phone (see right).


Avoid distractions - MOVE AWAY FROM THE PHONE!
Put it in another room and put it on silent. Same goes for the laptop. Once you've made the effort to actually get on with some work you need to make sure there is nothing tempting you away. No checking of facebook updates or spending ages thinking of an amusing tweet to send!

Homework for Mrs Benton's AS classes

Don't forget you have a homework to do in order to cover the notes in 2.3.16 The effects of global climate change.

Write full notes using the textbook plus some of your own research (supply references).

For example:

• WWF - Impacts of global warming and climate change
• Guardian News - UK poorly prepared for impact of global warming, climate watchdog warns
• NASA - The current and future consequences of global change

Hand in on 16th April (first day back).

Revision Tips

Have a look at these revision tips from Cambridge Uni:

• Turn your notes into revision tools;
  • write ideas and facts on to cards to use as ‘prompts’
  • create memory aids such as diagrams or mnemonics (e.g. initial letters to make a word you need to remember or SMART objectives: Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Realistic; Targets). These will help you remember key facts
  • write key facts/notes out and display these around the house where you will see them
  • record yourself reading notes to listen to
• Study with a friend and test each other’s knowledge, but remember you are meeting to revise rather than to chat!
• Work through past question papers – and use a watch to time them so that you can practise timing your answers.
• Choose study and revision guides sensibly. It’s not hard to find help with revision – as well as established published revision guides, there are hundreds of websites offering help and advice. The problem is not how to find such help, but how to judge which is the best source for your needs. Save valuable time and get recommendations from your teachers
• Remember lesson notes are also a valuable source of extra help
• Keep yourself more alert by changing revision methods during a session. For instance, try switching from note taking to memorising; from reading to asking someone to test you
• Attend any revision classes that your teachers may be running at school and get their advice on revision methods
• Look after yourself – The more tired you are the less efficiently you’ll work. You need to rest as well as study, eat well, drink lots of water and make sure you pace yourself. Don’t rush, and equally don’t over-revise by doing too much too soon.

Getting inside the examiner's head - Examiner Reports

Examiner Tip:
Read The Flippin Question

As frustrating as the OCR website can be at times, there are some useful documents on there if you can find them. An example is the Examiner Reports.

They help explain the subtle differences between correct and incorrect descriptions and explanations in answers.

For example, in the June 2012 F212 paper, the examiners reported that many students "failed to score because of the omission of key terms such as ‘optimum’ and ‘kinetic energy’. Stating that enzymes ‘work better’ is really not a suitable AS level response. "

They frequently note that "Centres are making use of previous mark schemes to inform candidates of the level of precision required in answers. Candidates need to realise, however, that they cannot use a ‘one answer fits all’ approach to questions. Care is taken in the phrasing of questions and it was evident in a number of cases this session that the context and approach of the question had not been appreciated and that a generic answer would not be applicable. Highlighting or underlining key words or phrases in the question can help provide focus for the answer."

The Examiners also advise that in the June 2012 paper only 42 out of 100 marks were allocated to recall of learning objectives. Almost half of the available marks test using knowledge in context. So it is really important that you don't just 'learn the textbook' and that you read other sources such as Biological Sciences Review, news articles and watch science programmes on TV.

Water - Liquid Awesome

Struggling to get your head around the biochemistry of water and its importance to life on Earth? Then watch these videos:

 

Year 12 Biology trip - ideas?

Last year we organised our first post-exam celebration Biology trip. About 15 of us jumped on the train and headed to the Animal Inside Out exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
It's something I'd like to do it again this year, so leave a comment below if you have any ideas (has to be Biology-related!).

Easter Revision

This is an important time to prepare for your Summer examinations.
It would be wise to fill in a calendar for the next few months with details of exam dates and other events so you get an overview of how much work you have to do and how relatively little time you have to do it in!
You can use Word to create a blank monthly calendar or go to Calendarlabs.com

One of the best ways to prepare is to do lots and lots of past papers and do them more than once - first time using your notes and then again on a later date under exam conditions.

Science on TV and Radio this week

Don't miss another science programme on TV and Radio - visit the weekly listings here: http://scienceteachinglibrary.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/tv-and-radio-guide-wc-25th-march-2013/

(RSS Feed also on the right)

Access to student intranet outside of school

You should soon receive details of how to access your storage area and the school intranet from home. If you can't wait then just go to...

https://uag.arthurmellows.peterborough.sch.uk

It will ask you a few questions the first time you log on (pretty much just agree to everything) and then you log in using your school username and password.

You should then be able to see the files you can normally see in the Science folder.

It's worth doing this before we break up for the holidays so that you can access all the lesson powerpoints and useful resources for your Easter revision.

Now that we have lost Kaleidos, this blog will be used to post messages etc to Year 12 and 13. If you have any ideas for how you would like us to develop this blog then please speak to Mrs Benton in S5.