The QUIZ with the answers

1. What was the pass rate of all A level exams taken at Community College in Summer 2004? 45%

2. How many weeks teaching do you have at Community College to cover the A level syllabus 48

3. How many weeks teaching for CXC 60

4. Name a notetaking technique which uses “branches” from a central point with words on them mind map

5. How many hours per week should you spend studying for each A level? Same as in class 5 hours

6. What are SMART goals? Specific, Measureable, Achieveable or Action orientated, realistic, time limited

7. Why is an “I will” statements useful when changing habits? I won’t sets up rebellion, I will is positive and definite

8. What can you use to find out time wasting activities? Time log

9. What are Quadrant 2 activities in the 4 quadrants of time management? Important but not urgent

10. What is the first habit of “Highly Effective People” from the book by Stephen Covey? “Put first things first” – acting on principle

11. What is the second habit? Begin with the end in mind – setting goals

12. What is active listening? Listening with questions in mind, listening with a purpose

13. How many times and when should we review notes to ensure transfer into the long term memory? 3, 10 mins after, 24 hours after and 1 week after

14. What is the Jeopardy or Cornell method of notte taking? Questions down one side of the notes for test/recall purposes and a summary question a the bottom

15. What does SQ3R method of reading consist of? Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

16. Robert Ennis thought critical thinking had two main qualities beginning with “R” Reasonable and reflective

17. Richard Paul’s definition of critical thinking was “Thinking about ……….. “. Complete. Thinking about your thinking while you are thinking to make your thinking better

18. What are two elements of the 8+ elements of reasoning? Concept, consequences/implications, information, question at issue, main purpose, assumptions, conclusions, point of view (+ context and alternatives)

19. What is the central element? Alternatives

Last Lesson of Term 2 - The QUIZ

1. What was the pass rate of all A level exams taken at Community College in Summer 2004?

2. How many weeks teaching do you have at Community College to cover the A level syllabus

3. How many weeks teaching for CXC

4. Name a notetaking technique which uses “branches” from a central point with words on them

5. How many hours per week should you spend studying for each A level?

6. What are SMART goals?

7. Why is an “I will” statements useful when changing habits?

8. What can you use to find out time wasting activities?

9. What are Quadrant 2 activities in the 4 quadrants of time management?

10. What is the first habit of “Highly Effective People” from the book by Stephen Covey?

11. What is the second habit?

12. What is active listening?

13. How many times and when should we review notes to ensure transfer into the long term memory?

14. What is the Jeopardy or Cornell method of notte taking?

15. What does SQ3R method of reading consist of?

16. Robert Ennis thought critical thinking had two main qualities beginning with “R”

17. Richard Paul’s definition of critical thinking was “Thinking about ……….. “. Complete.

18. What are two elements of the 8+ elements of reasongin?

19. What is the central element?

If you had to give a new student coming into the Lower Sixth next year some advice about Community College, what would it be?

Lesson 14 Exam technique

The best thing you can do to improve your exam technique is to improve your time management and planning followed by improve your stress management.

Timing
* Think about timing in advance of the exam. You should be able to find out or base your estimate on past papers of the number of questions and time allowed. Exam anxiety can make it hard to do this in the exam room. Especially work out what time you need to be doing things e.g. if a 2 exam starts at 9.30 and there are 4 questions with equal marks then by 10.30 you will have completed or nearly completed 2 questions.

* 5 minutes spent planning your strategy and timing will be time well spent

* If you feel better just rushing in to settle yourself answer a question with a few marks. If they are all essay type questions break this habit.

* Plan all the questions before answering

* Consider doing all the plans first. If you mess up your timing then the plans will get you marks – but this does need discipline on the timing.

* Draw little clocks on a bit of paper with the times you need to start each question.

* You don’t have to answer in the order on the paper as long as they are clearly numbered and you have answered the required number of questions

* You can only get marks for questions answered. REMEMBER the first 50% of marks are the easiest to get, 25% harder, last 25% hardest – poor timing means that you miss out on easy marks.

* Think about the examiners’ marking strategy – put possible marks on the plan to help with emphasis.

* Remember question answering techniques – turn all the parts of the question into a question – use the Elements of Reasoning

Stress Management

Stress in exams is good. You should be feeling adrenaline coursing around your body in an exam. An athelete relies on adrenaline for optimum mental and physical performance and during an exam you can welcome those feelings by reminding your self a little stress improves performance.

However too much stress, especially being overwhelmed by adrenaline, has a negative effect on our bodies and minds. Deep breathing is often recommended to counter this however it can make things worse as it often hyperventilates the body and makes you feel more panicky and light headed.

What is needed is deep breathing using the diaphragm. The stomach muscles should be gently pushed out as you breath in counting about to 5 or what ever is comfortable, then drawn back in as you breath out to the count of 5. This at first is counter intuitive to what the body wants to do but it stops the adrenaline flowing and prevents hyperventilation.

Other stress control methods such as visualising before the event how the exam is going to go (well, you remain calm, you are in control etc), counselling, relaxation techniques can also be considered.

Lesson 12 Are you the paragon of preparation or rubbish at revision? A quiz to look at areas to change

Answer YES OR NO
1. Do you find out from teachers what parts of the syllabus are to be covered in the exam?
2. Do you find out from teachers the form of the exam (number of questions, length of time of exam, form of questions e.g. essay, short answer, case study)?
3. Do you always attend the last class before the exam?
4. Do you prepare a list of topics that will be covered for each examination?
5. Do you organise notes from text books, class notes and tutorial notes in to topic themes?
6. Do you get examples of past papers and questions?
7 Do you set goals for what you want to do each time you sit down to revise?
8 Do you make a revision time table?
9 Do you set aside enough time to prepare for exams?
10 Do you develop a revision plan over a number of days?
11 Do you say the ways you will study such as model questions, preparing topic cards, refining notes, self testing in each of your study sessions?
12 Do you stick to your revision plan?
13 Do you change your revision plan if necessary?
14 Do you chose a quiet place in which to revise?
15 Do you revise in study groups?
16 Do you ask other people to test your knowledge e.g. study groups, parents?
17 Do you use other ways of revising as well as just reading through notes and textbooks and rewriting notes to revise for exams?
18 Do you look at your mistakes on past exams and essays and get material to correct them?
19 Do you write questions to answer while revising?
20 Do you practise writing answers to model questions or past papers?


Scores

0 – 2 You are rubbish at revision! Look at some of the ideas from your classmates and during the class. Set goals to do some of them for the next exam. Build up to all of them by the time you take your mock A levels.

2 – 10 You could be better prepared for exams. Try to put into practice two new ideas for your next exam and set a goal for yourself that you will do all of them by Year 2.

10 – 15 You prepare for exams well but may be missing a vital area such as self testing, planning or finding out what needs to be covered. Check your answers for the gaps and set a goalsl to fill those gaps and become a paragon of preparation.

16 – 19 You have nearly all the techniques for exam preparation in place, well done! Look at ways you might improve and make a plan to start doing them for the next exam.

20 You are the paragon of preparation! Make sure this is followed up with excellence in exam technique so as not to waste the hard work.

Lesson 12 Preparation for Exams

Remember building better exam performance based on

80% effort in preparation
20% effort in exam technique

We can improve our exam technique by better methods of answering questions, better time management in exams and stress control but without effective preparation methods you will not see a significant improvement.

Look at the quiz questions and see where you answered no. Improving in these areas by setting goals, saying what you will change and gradually making the changes and improvements for each set of exams leading to A level will see an improvement in your results.

Recommendations

Question Spotting

Question spotting involves checking past papers, looking at the form of questions, deciding what to study clearly based on the syllabus and the form of the exams. Short questions, essays, multiple choice and other types of exams need different types of preparation. You need to prepare sufficiently for each type of exam. Remember short answer questions call for breadth of knowledge, essay type questions call for depth.

Topic List
Preparing a list of topics you are going to revise after question spotting rather than an elaborate revision timetable ensures that you will cover enough material. Work out how much time you need to spend on each topic. This will give you an idea whether you will have enough time to complete your goals. If you will not be able to put in enough hours then reduce the topic list by further question spotting or spend less time on each topic.

Remember the first 50% marks in any exam question are the easiest to achieve so it is vital that you have enough material to make those important first 50% marks. It is pointless being able to score 80% plus on one question and not being able to adequately answer the other 4 in a 5 short essay question exam.

If you do nothing else to improve your performance, make a topic list for revision for each subject and set goals based on the topic list for each time you sit down to revise.

Celebrate your successes at revision by taking breaks and doing a short but relaxing activity such as watching a TV programme, listing to music or talking on the phone to a friend (but don't interrupt their revision!.

Study timetable

This is usually recommended as the key to successful revision. I say not necessarily if you make it too detailed. It puts you under a lot of pressure, if you don't stick to the time table you are more likely not to revise and feel a failure. This sets up a negative cycle and then is more likely to drain your motivation.

Getting down to revision is hard. It is better to make a study timetable where you identify times when you will sit down to revise but not what you revise. Use the topic list to keep an eye on your progress. Make it your goal to sit down to revise at the times you set for yourself rather than what you will revise.

Use both review and recall strategies
Review strategies involve reading through notes, making notes and other preparations. However review strategies alone create the "illusion of knowing" - that awful sensation when you know you have revised the topic but cannot call it to mind in the exam. Sometimes this is caused by anxiety however often it is caused because you have not used any recall strategies when revising.

Recall strategies include such things as covering notes and reciting, practicing previous exam questions, quizzing each other in study groups, writing down all you can recall on a certain topic, using cards with questions on them and answers on the back.

It is vital to include recall strategies in any revision session.

Start early but not too early
You need to be able to perform in the exam so too much too soon and early cramming can leave you stale and lacking the performance anxiety needed to motivate. Use your topic list to realistically see how much time you need to revise for each exam and then make a start.

Although the exams are not as serious as the real thing good preparation now in Lower Sixth will make your revision much easier when you come to the real thing.

Good luck!