DoinDubai Magazine

An Honest Guide to Life in Dubai

Home | GCSE Matters | Page 2

GCSE Matters

by 4 Comments

ENGLISH GCSE WHAT’S INVOLVED?

UPDATED APRIL 2014

OUR SCHOOL HAS SWITCHED TO ENGLISH IGCSE, READ THE POST BELOW TO FIND OUT WHY!

AQA  4705, new this year.

The Year 10 English Language GCSE external exam is taking place on June 9th 2011. It counts for 40% of the total English Language GCSE, the other 60 % has already been completed during the year in the form of coursework. The coursework you may remember from an earlier post was split into written and verbal work so similar to French where you have Writing and Speaking tasks. The Written tasks featured

  • a film review,
  • a rant/opinionated piece of writing,
  • an essay on the impact of multi modal talk on the English language
  • and a detailed Shakespeare analysis of what made a more effective tragic hero.

The verbal work was a

  • presentation on what you would do if you were Prime Minister for a day
  • and a video of a self written monologue based on a character from one of the Shakespeare plays studied for the analytical essay.

I understand English Departments in schools do have some choice over the exact elements of coursework studied.

The externally marked 40 % is also split into 2 sections over a 2 hour 15 minute exam. The first section revolves around analyzing linguistic features and presentational devices as used in non fiction texts, while the second section requires students to continue writing  a couple of pieces of non fiction texts I’m guessing demonstrating an appropriate range of linguistic features.

I think they do English Literature in Year 11 despite having studied elements of Shakespeare in Year 10 for the Language exam.

Some tips that may help with English Language GCSE

  • At the beginning of Year 10 (or end of Year 9) ask your teachers what elements of coursework they will be choosing to study, specifically split up the writing and speaking tasks
  • Try and join or practice some kind of debating or discussion group to help with the speaking tasks
  • Similarly try and do some drama of any kind (even if it’s at home to your parents about how it is impossible for any teenager to live a normal life without a Blackberry)
  • Every time you read a book or see a film, write a review, even if it’s short and get someone to read them and give feedback
  • Keep a diary for writing about really good days out or parties or special events throughout the year.
  • Next time your parents need to complain about anything, try writing the complaint letter on their behalf, ask them how it could be improved
  • Work out how best to organize your work, perhaps have an A4 folder with dividers for all the handouts and keep notes in your exercise books
  • Don’t be tempted to type too much, you still need to be able to write quite a lot with a pen
  • Get into the habit of timing how long it takes you to write something neatly and accurately
  • ALWAYS REREAD WHAT YOU WRITE to improve your grammar, spelling etc
  • It sounds really boring and no one can force you but read whatever and whenever you can. If you don’t read then writing any exam will be like pushing a car instead of putting petrol in it !  Get your parents to subscribe to your favourite magazines in return for reading 2 books a term of their choice

GOOD LUCK Year 10s !

by Leave a Comment

STUDY TIPS AND TARGET SETTING

It’s not that children (and many parents) don’t know about the following study tips, it’s good to be reminded and get significant influencers of your children (friends, teachers, grandparents to reinforce these ideas) often hearing them from mum (again) is like water off a duck’s back ! You could try to get your school to incorporate some or all of them into targets that can be followed up at a later date.

  • Improved handwriting, most of the gcse coursework, exams and internal school tests still require students to write with a pen and not type. Make it easier for the  examiner by having legible, neat  handwriting that’s not too big or too small.
  • Have a fully equipped and clean pencil-case at all times, include basic things like sharp pencils, pens that work, rubbers that are more than just a stump! But also have the appropriate calculator (a scientific one that does sines, cosines and tangents for gcse) at home and a spare one in a locker at school. Also have at home a tin of coloured pencils and pens, great for mind maps and revision notes. Glue, reinforcements (for hole punched paper), scissors, hole puncher, stapler and spare paper to hand are all very useful in helping keep everything organized.

  • Tight time management is essential especially from when children return from school. Set mini goals of what needs to get done that night in the form of outputs, eg completed maths worksheet, completed English script etc. Also to start homework  work during the week earlier after getting home from school rather than having a long break, starting work and then having a long break for dinner again and then going to bed too late.

  • If your child doesn’t  understand any aspect of a lesson then remind them to ask the teacher either in the lesson, or make a time so the teacher can explain it later, or understand it from a friend, ideally the same day or week, not to wait till revision time as there is no time to learn things from scratch.

  • Make revision sheets on topics as they go along for each subject during the term. Put them in separate folders from school ones to refer to (especially useful for science) but do it smartly so time is not wasted. ie read whole topic (could be as little as 2 pages) read the questions required on it, and then figure out how to do the revision sheet, often for science it’s just getting a lot of information down in a table or a really detailed diagram so you can talk through exactly what’s going on.
  • Be consistent with reading, firstly of quality newspapers on-line and choose a book and ensure the children finish it, if it’s an English coursework book or even one by the same author, then so much the better.

  • Don’t underestimate the benefit of exercise, try to incorporate it into weekends and holidays, even if it’s walking (while it’s not too hot) to the shops and getting a taxi back with the shopping and even if your teen insists on walking behind you, in front of you or with their ipod in, it’s still doing you both good !

by Leave a Comment

TO GCSE OR IGCSE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

GCSE’s (or General Certificate of Secondary Education) is what my older daughter is studying for in Year 10 at school. But I thought I had till the end of Year 11 for the BIG EXAMS, but no GCSE’s are done in meaty chunks now with a major part of each subject marked as a controlled assessment. Each assessment (and there are many for each subject) contribute a percentage to the overall exam mark, so for example 60 % of the English Literature exam is in the form of a number of controlled assessments.

During this month alone (March) she has :

  • completed a science exam/controlled assessment, (3 separate multiple choice papers for biology, chemistry and physics for the first 2 units of work)
  • written a  2000 + word essay (over 4 sessions) on a complex Shakespeare question for English
  • done a spoken French controlled assessment (6 topics have to be spoken about confidently in French)
  • Written and performed a 5 minute monologue in a Shakespeare setting

While many people say they would prefer their children to sit their GCSE’s in modules or chunks like this, there are some salient points to bear in mind

Yes , it’s great that if your child has a bad day on the final exam all is not lost, but on the other hand, it does feel like a permanent exam in our house at the moment. The pressure is quite relentless and organisation, focus and  steadfastness in study technique is necessary all the time.

These qualities don’t come naturally to all children (or adults!) so while questions are given in advance for preparation they are obviously harder than if they were unseen.

Prepare your children in the summer of Year 9 for the gruelling GCSE schedule that starts in Year 10 !

  • It would be helpful to log on to the exam board sites of each subject druing the summer and look at what % of each exam is via controlled assessment. (Maths there is hardly any as opposed to English which has a high percentage)
  • Next liaise closely with your school to find out exact dates of when these assessments are and make a revision timetable working backwards from these dates.
  • Trying to stick to it is another matter, but at least you’re on the right lines !
  • Ask your school if there are past papers for all subjects that students can have access to and keep them on a memory stick for quick access at revision time (which seems to be most of the time)
  • Bookmark favourite websites linked to each subject.

As a general point, encourage your children to read whatever and whenever they can around their subjects, easier said than done, I know, but this will be invaluable at all stages.

Subscribe to my website for (free)  more detailed updates on this topic in the future.

error: Content is protected !!