During the year, it’s critical that students stay focused and on track with their studies – this will give them the best chance of success in their GCSEs or A levels, no matter how they are assessed. For many teenagers, this is easier said than done so we have prepared a short guide on how to support and motivate your child to get the best results possible in exams or teacher assessments.

1. Keep an eye on the prize

Many students do become disheartened about their ability to achieve their educational or career goals, whether that be Sixth Form College, University or a Vocational Course. As a parent, you can help by encouraging and engaging them in discussion about their goals, helping them feel that their goals are still achievable if they remain focused and keep on track with their studies. Whilst they cannot influence what’s going on around them, they do have control over the effort they put into their studies – they just might need a bit of help to fill in learning gaps and prepare for school assessments or summer exams.

2. Nurture a positive mindset

Many students can and have experienced significant disruption in their learning at school. This disruption can be very difficult for students to deal with. In addition to providing reassurance, help them stay positive by encouraging them to:

• keep in contact with other students and teachers to discuss their work, share experiences or collaborate on assignments
• trial different learning techniques to help them enjoy their learning more
• think about their own self-care and what steps they can take to maintain good mental health

3. Make study periods small(ish), regular and active

Whilst students may be able to catch up and prepare, schools are being encouraged to make their assessment processes and mock exams more rigorous. To help students that are struggling to get started or losing momentum with their studies, we suggest that they:

• start with the tasks that they think are interesting or important
• choose tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult. For example, an easy task may be to watch a video on a topic while a too difficult task may be to write an entire essay in an evening. A more optimal task might be to identify 10 key points from the video or to write the essay plan
• set realistic study goals – mastering 1 hour of study is far more motivating than totally failing to study for 8 hours. It takes time to get into a good study routine so it’s better to start with realistic goals and step up study sessions gradually, rather than being overly ambitious at the outset!
• work on tasks with friends, for example co-produce mind maps and chapter summaries or provide written feedback on each other’s work
• make it more enjoyable, eg prepare a treat you only have while you read, like hot chocolate, or ask a friend to be a study buddy so you can talk through assignments or issues on topics

4. Create structure with daily goals

Goals give direction and at their best, are both concrete and achievable. Encourage your child to write a rolling, weekly “to do” list including both school and non-school activities:

• What is essential for each class? Homework deadlines?
• What assessments are coming up?
• What subjects/topics are weak and need some extra work?
• Time/activities with friends and family?
• Time for sport or hobbies?
• Downtime to unplug and relax?

If the list is too big, then make it more doable by picking 3-5 things for each day, making sure at least one is personal and not for school. If this is too difficult, sort them from high to low priority, and from easy to difficult.

It’s also a good idea to write down when they need to be done, as this will ensure deadlines are not missed. If any tasks are too big to do in a couple of hours, then break them down into one or two steps.
By reviewing and updating the list each night before bed, students will hopefully feel more positive and focused, with a clear plan for the days ahead.

These are just a few ideas for helping your child achieve the best results possible during this incredibly difficult time. For more ideas, visit our website to read other articles and advice.

With expert yet friendly tutors and small group online classes, our classes are tailored to individual needs and help students by:

• addressing subject knowledge gaps
• providing invaluable advice to help improve key subject skills and exam technique
• sharpening up their approach to revision and preparing for assessments or exams

To help you decide, here’s some feedback about our courses. For further information, call our team on 01727 744340 or email us.

Or what to do if you feel you are struggling with a subject or keeping up with everything.

Spinning Plates

Being a student in Year 11 or Year 13 can feel at times like being the plate spinner act at the circus, trying to do everything all at once. It can be exhausting, and at some point this during this year you will feel stressed, overwhelmed, and struggling to keep up with everything.

The good news is you are not alone! Everyone goes through this experience at some point in their lives, and more importantly, we can make a plan to manage our stress or anxiety to ensure it does not take over our lives. Our expert tutor, Gareth, explains:

Evolution of Anxiety

In his excellent article “The Evolution of Anxiety”, James Clear asks you to pretend for a moment that you are a giraffe. You live on the grasslands of the African savannah. You have a neck that is 7 feet long. Every now and then, you spot a group of humans driving around on a safari taking pictures of you.

As a giraffe, every decision you make provides an immediate benefit to your life.

• When you are hungry, you walk over and munch on a tree
• When you spot a lion stalking you and your friends, you run away.

On any given day, most of your choices as a giraffe – eating, running away – make an immediate impact on your life. You are constantly focused on the present or the very near future. You live in what scientists call an immediate-return environment because your actions instantly deliver clear and immediate outcomes.

Unlike the giraffe, humans live in a delayed-return environment. This means that most of the choices you make today will not benefit you immediately.

• If you do a good job at work today, you’ll get paid at the end of the month.
• If you revise a topic now, you will be better prepared for your Summer exams.

Stress Environment

Unfortunately, living in a delayed return environment tends to lead to chronic stress and anxiety for humans – this is because the human brain did not evolve for life in a delayed-return environment.

Thousands of years ago, environment stress and anxiety were useful emotions because they helped us take action in the face of immediate problems.

For example:

• A lion appears across the plain > you feel stressed > you run away > your stress is relieved
• You haven’t drunk any water today > you feel stressed and dehydrated > you find water > your stress is relieved.

How to solve the issue

Today students face different problems that can rarely be solved in the present:
• Will I know how to answer the questions in my exams?
• Will my subjects at GCSE or A Level help me get a job?

One of the greatest causes of stress and anxiety in a delayed-return environment is the constant uncertainty.
So what steps can you take to ensure that you thrive in this environment?

Measure

The first thing you can do is to measure something.
When we measure something, we immediately become more certain about the situation.

Two really effective measurement strategies to help you when you are feeling stressed, or like you are struggling to keep up are:
• Create a Worry Tree
• Using the Seinfeld Strategy

Worry Tree

On a post-it, write one thing that is causing you to feel stressed or anxious.
Be as specific as possible – don’t write “Everything” or “Life” or “Maths” as these are all far too big. Break down everything causing you stress into its smallest possible component – instead of writing Maths, write ‘algebraic equations’.

Once you have written down everything on your Post-It Notes read, through them again and ask yourself two very simple questions:

• Can I change this myself?
• Do I know someone who can help me with this?

If the answer to either of these questions is yes, stick the Post-It Note on your Worry Tree.
If the answer is no, throw the Post-It Note in the bin as we don’t want to use up any emotional energy on things that we cannot control or change.

Your task every morning is to wake up, look at your Worry Tree, choose one Post-It note and ensure that by the end of the day, you have managed to deal with that one specific thing that was causing you stress

One problem at a time, one day at a time.

You will feel an immense sense of relief and satisfaction coming home and removing one Post-It Note and watch the leaves of your Worry Tree dwindle one by one.

Seinfeld Strategy

• Use a big wall calendar – one that has a whole year on a page.
• Get a big colourful pen.
• For each day you complete a task, put a big X over that day e.g. could be one of your Post-It Notes from your Worry Tree, or it might be revising for a topic.

After a few days, you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.

Not a single thing about results. All that mattered was not breaking the chain, and in that way you can trick your brain into moving from thinking it is in a delayed-return environment into thinking it is an immediate-return environment.

The key to dealing with stress

The key to dealing with stress, anxiety and that feeling that you are struggling to keep on top of things is to break down all of the causes into their smallest possible component and dealing with them one by one, day by day, week by week, month by month.

Life is unpredictable, and you will break your chain, and on more than one occasion.
The challenge then is to restart and see if you can beat your previous chain.

Give it a try, I promise you it will work for you and do wonders for your mental health and wellbeing.

Hi again – it’s Emma here – don’t worry if you haven’t read my earlier article on the trials and tribulations of being a sixth former, you can still read it here.

This time I thought you might like to know how I got on with the Justin Craig Revision Course that my mum was very keen for me to try. Well, in short …it was great and much better than expected. I was genuinely surprised at how much content we covered and how much I learnt in just three days.

So here’s a bit more about my experience with Justin Craig.

Choosing a Revision Course

After much discussion, I opted to try a Justin Craig A level biology revision course during the Easter holidays. To be honest, prior to the course, I was fairly reluctant as I really wasn’t sure if it would be that beneficial and thought my time would be better spent revising at home. I was also convinced that it would be 3 days of very intense, heavy going revision, with the result that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it.

Administration & Preparation

A couple of weeks before the course, we received an email with a link to the Justin Craig online portal – this was really helpful as the questions made me think about what I needed to go over most on the course. The portal also included questions on different aspects of exam technique, for example, maths questions, longer answers, interpreting data. Whilst I could have completed this in a few minutes, I found myself looking over various end of topic tests that I had done in school and this helped me to see what I needed to work on and where I lost marks. It also helped identify that the types of question/topic where I seemed to lose more marks. Nevertheless, I still felt quite apprehensive about the course and wasn’t sure what to expect.

On Arrival

However, I had no reason to worry. On the first day they gave us an introductory talk and made me feel welcome and relaxed. The helpers handed out individual timetables for the three days with details about rooms, tutors and breaks/lunch. We then got called into our different groups with our tutors and went to our rooms. All of the groups seemed relatively small; and my group had seven students, including myself. In my opinion, I really liked being in a small group as we were able to cover everything that we had requested on the portal.

All of the other students in my class were really friendly and we all got on well, which made the course even more enjoyable. As a small group, there was time for discussion and, sometimes, we sat round the same table doing group revision. We all wanted to be productive and get as much work done as possible, which was great as there were no distractions. This made for a great learning environment; it wasn’t intense or silent as discussions were allowed and, being surrounded by others wanting to work, was really conducive to studying.

Our Justin Craig Tutor

Our tutor was excellent and very well prepared each day, bringing different sets of revision packs, practise questions and past papers. He also gave us a list identifying the different topics within the past papers, so if you were focusing on a certain topic, you were able to skip to those related questions – this has been really useful for my revision at home. It was clear that he had looked at our portal feedback, knew what we wanted to cover and how to make the best use of our time on the course.

In addition to be being well prepared, our tutor was also very friendly, approachable and flexible in his approach. If the group decided they wanted to work on a different topic, that was fine and he would try to find practise questions for us. He was also happy to go through topics/questions individually if needed. I also liked that we could suggest topics to go through as a group but could also study a different topic individually if preferred. Our tutor’s teaching methods were very engaging and varied; we often changed up the style and tried different approaches including big mindmaps, online videos, group questions on whiteboards, notetaking and practise questions.

As for the course venue, this was a local school with nice bright classrooms and all the facilities we needed. It was also nice to have the outside spaces as it was good to get a change of scene in the breaks and have a real break from studying.

My View of Justin Craig A Level Revision Courses

Overall, I found the course extremely helpful and a really good use of my time. I thought it was particularly good that it was tailored specifically to my exam board for biology (WJEC), as it’s quite an uncommon board and it’s difficult to find WJEC revision courses. I came away feeling much more confident and having a clearer understanding of what is expected in exam questions. It was much better than I had expected and although I was reluctant to go, I definitely think it was a good decision. I have been recommending Justin Craig courses to friends as I got so much focused revision done in a relatively short time and wasn’t completely bored by the end of it – which is a nice change?? Lol! After having been on the course, I feel much more prepared for my mocks and A levels. Hopefully my mum will be ok with me doing further Justin Craig courses next year.

As you sit here reading this article at the start of September it is worth focusing on the fact there are only 35 Mondays (35 weeks and 6 days ) until the start of your GCSE exams and only 37 Mondays ( 37 weeks ) until the start of your A Level exams.

Just sit there, with that thought, let it sink in…take a deep breath….are you ready to begin ?

The main theme that runs through the rest of this article is around Sean Patrick Flanery’s quote ‘Do something today that your future self will thank you for’ and how we can plan for exam success in either Year 11 or Year 13.

Timing

Your exams in the summer are a finite, fixed point in time. At some point during this next year, you will come to the realisation that you need to start revising. The key to exam success is starting this process as early as possible as next year will fly by.

When you return in September you will only have 12 weeks until the Christmas break and you will sit your mock exams within those 12 weeks. After Christmas you have another 12 weeks to Easter where you will more than likely sit another set of mock exams, and from Easter it’s just a short 4-week stint to the start of your exams. At this point, you might be starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Well, the good news is that the key to exam success is the number 900.

900 Seconds

Well, actually the key number is a little larger than that, it’s actually 86,400 – that’s the number of seconds that you have every day.
Let’s assume that you spend half of your time asleep – that leaves us with 43,200 seconds in the day. Again, let’s assume you are in school from 8.30am to 3pm in the afternoon – that’s another 23,400 seconds of your day accounted for. That leaves you with 19,800 seconds in the day.

Studies show that the key to exam success can be found in just 15 minutes of revision, or 900 seconds of revision. But, as with all things, there is a catch. It’s 900 seconds every day for every one of those 35 or 37 weeks to your exams depending on whether you are in Year 11 or Year 13.

I’m going to challenge you now, in the same way that I challenge my own Year 11 and Year 13 students by making the statement ‘You can’t tell me that you don’t have a spare 900 seconds in your day somewhere’.

Every year I hear students saying that they don’t have time to revise or to study. I’m here to tell you that this simply isn’t true. As human beings we make time for the things we love and the things we enjoy doing. The key to exam success this year is allocating just 900 seconds of your day, every day, to revision.

Given that the longest TikTok videos are 180 seconds long, you can find those 900 seconds by watching 5 fewer videos on TikTok a day. The next time you find yourself endlessly scrolling through TikTok, think about how you could be better using that time – and also focus on the fact that you have a 13 week summer holiday on the horizon as a reward.

Time Allocation

So, now that you have found that 900 seconds in your day that you need for revision, the next step is to make a plan. You need to create a 24 hour, 7 day a week revision plan. This is nowhere near as scary as it sounds.

The problem we face with revision is we can always find an excuse to avoid doing it. The key here is to be as honest as possible with yourself.
Block out all of the times in the day where you cannot revise:

• The time you are asleep
• The time between leaving for school and getting back
• Time commitments that you have that cannot be moved – football training, the gym, church
• The 30 minutes you need to watch Love Island, socialising or playing Xbox etc.

Once you have done this, you’ll be able to see that you have pockets of 900 seconds three, four, five times a day. Each of these 900 seconds is time where you could revise an aspect of a topic, plan or answer an exam question. The beauty of this is that all of those 900 seconds soon add up and you’ll see that you can remember more, recall more, do more and that will impact your grades in each of your subjects.

Revision Planning

The next step is to plan your revision, making a revision calendar for each month. y

Use the unit / topic lists your teachers have given you for each of your subjects and add one task in each box for the month.

The key is to ensure that each task can be completed within 900 seconds and involves you doing something with your planned revision.

• Use flashcards with a Leitner’s Box
• Utilise ‘Blank Paper Revision’
• Plan and answer responses to exam questions
• Try the Pomodoro or Cornell Notes revision methods
• Use dual coding

There are a whole raft of revision techniques and strategies out there which I outline in the article ‘Tips & Techniques for exams / study’.

You have the tools to succeed

Don’t be an ‘I wish’ student on the second or third week of August on results day, or the student who says ‘I wish I revised earlier, I wish I revised harder’.

You already have all the tools and all of the information that you need to be successful in your upcoming exams. The key is to make sure that you make time to revise.

The grade you receive in each of your subjects is not a result of how you performed on the day of the exam, but on how you performed each and every day in the lead up to your exams.

Preparation is everything. Usain Bolt trained for 3 hours a day, every day in preparation for a race that would take less than 10 seconds. Preparation is the key to success, and the good news is it only takes 900 seconds!

These tips have served both my Year 11 and Year 13 students well over the course of the last 23 years and if embrace them fully. They will work for you as well. Over to you, and good luck!

A Level Science / Chemistry for aspiring medical students

As a Chemistry teacher and tutor with over 20 years’ experience, I am often asked particular questions in Year 11. To help students and parents, I have put together the topics most frequently needing explanation or advice – and useful answers.

Why should we take Chemistry A-Level to study medicine?

Surely Biology would be the favoured qualification as it’s the study of living systems, and after all, we will eventually be looking after living systems.
But the answer on why aspiring medical students should take Chemistry A Level is quite simple….
Medical schools are looking for transferable skills in their applicants, such as being able to:

• apply knowledge to unfamiliar concepts
• make decisions based upon data & be able to make exact calculations
• make decisions based upon the information presented
• and working under pressure…… (the list is almost endless).

It also needs to be considered that studying Chemistry for medicine helps us to, not only understand what medication and drugs will do, it also allows us to predict how they will interact with our systems, which is vital in giving post diagnosis treatment.

Challenges moving from GCSE to A Level

In my experience, most Year 11 students find GCSE Chemistry straight forward and reasonably easy to explain the theory. This, coupled with some intensive work from March to their exam, is usually enough to get them the grades required to access the appropriate A-levels for the study of medicine.
However, this notion soon unravels during the early part of Year 12. In my opinion, it is because of these reasons:

• GCSE science is science at a basic level – the level where people can understand and take their knowledge forward into everyday life.
• The models soon become more complex in Year 12 e.g. “A-level Chemistry starts off hard and gets harder.”
• The cognitive demand increases by a large amount. Meaning that A-level builds on GCSE knowledge, expecting students to understand that knowledge and be able to apply it to an unfamiliar context
• The level of learning increases and so the amount of understanding, literacy and numeracy also increases.

What can I do to overcome these issues?

• Start your consolidation and revision very early on in Year 12.
• Spend time fully understanding the concepts deeply (my advice is 1 hour extra for every hour spent in lessons).
• Start practising past paper questions early on. Familiarise yourself with the format of your particular exam boards’ style of questioning.
• Enrol on revision courses with experts, such as those offered by Justin Craig, to improve your weaker areas.
• Do not bury your head in the sand. Year 13 builds on the knowledge you have acquired in Year 12. If this is not fully understood, Year 13 soon becomes overwhelming.
• Year 13 interviews, UCAS applications and the UKCAT / BMAT tests will add to the pressure of your studies. This can soon become a mountain to overcome if your Year 12 preparation is lacking.

Medical Aptitude Tests

These are a key part to most universities’ selection process and need as much preparation as any other test does. A few weeks of work beforehand will not work! Here are some ideas to help you prepare:

• Read up as much as you can about the process.
• Access as many past questions as you can. Good bookshops will have these in stock, check online too.
• Practice doing logic problems from the time you finish your GCSEs.
• Practice the past questions and learn from your mistakes, particularly your weaker areas.
• Most importantly, practice these under time constraints. The tests are designed to see how well you work under pressure and can think clearly in those circumstances – all skills needed in the medical profession.

Remember the key to all of this is preparation, preparation, preparation and in this case, the earlier the better!!!

We are seeing a surge in demand for our courses in May, for both GCSE and A Level students. While we believe this is partly due to students needing more help with exam techniques and grade challenges this year, here are the most common reasons mentioned by customers – do any of these sound familiar to you?

CUSTOMERS’ TOP 10 REASONS FOR BOOKING COURSES IN MAY

• Son/daughter stressing that he/she is not going to be ready in time
• Covered all the syllabus but struggling with past papers and exam technique
• Not making much progress on own and worried that subject “X” taking up too much time
• Attended fantastic Easter course and wants more!
• Had nightmare with first exam paper and need to boost performance in second paper
• Working hard but starting to lose momentum and needs a boost
• Studying at home much harder than expected and needs help before its too late!
• Needs more help but school not running any further revision courses/sessions
• Starting to give up /lose confidence but needs good grades for Uni
• Was sceptical about cost/benefit & time commitment – friends’ experience has changed our minds!

If you would like to benefit from a May Revision Course, do call our team on 01727 744340 or email [email protected]

A Level Business – all specifications

Our expert tutor, Chris, explains how students can improve their study, revision, and, ultimately, exam grades with the approaches below. In this case, A Level Business, but the approaches remain the same for most subjects.

The choice of A Level Business requires students to have an active interest in the world surrounding business and the economy. Having chosen this subject, students should consider what is needed to ensure a successful and enjoyable two years of study.

A Good Textbook

• This is likely to be provided or recommended by the school and is a key component in study.
• This book will be used for introducing new topics, as a source for note taking and to use for exercises to test knowledge and understanding.

Making Study Notes

• Work on an approximate ratio of one side of notes for every four pages of the textbook.
• Use colours to highlight specific areas e.g. facts, theories etc and use numbers or letters to help remember the quantity of key points.
• At the end of each section, add current examples linked to the area of study e.g. the energy price cap as an example of Government intervention.
• Examples can be readily obtained from such sites as Tutor for You and City AM (free to sign up).
• National news broadcasts also provide regular updates on key events e.g. drought and the wider implications of climate change.

Ideally, notes should be prepared in advance of your next classes. Ask your teachers to tell you what will be studied next week so that you have a foundation of knowledge and can more easily move to the higher order skills of analysis and evaluation (which are critical for achieving an A/A*).

Additional Study Resources

Students may also consider the purchase of a revision guide as they progress through the course. These texts are very useful but are not a substitute for thorough preparation and the regular use of the primary source (textbook) – they are an additional resource at best.

Start to use examination past papers as soon as possible. Your school is likely to have them available on an intranet – also look at mark schemes and examiner reports to gain an understanding of what examiners want. You are also likely to find a scheme of work and other useful documents on the intranet and resources are likely to be updated regularly.

How to learn & study actively

Go back over answers which have been marked and add additional points if there have been gaps in your answers.

Do engage actively in class discussions and investigate what constitutes a ‘model’ answer – the structure of answers is critical to communicating the correct responses to examiners. Both your teachers and fellow student will contribute to this process and learning from your fellow students is a valuable activity.

If you are struggling with a particular area, ask for additional exercises – the practice of applying knowledge to specific problems will often overcome subject area difficulties.

It is also worth remarking that excellent attendance and punctuality are a key component of success in many aspects of life and particularly in A Level study where time is of a premium.

The Year-Round Study Plan

As part of the study regime, it is important to set adequate time aside. For every hour ‘in class’, consider a minimum of two hours as being necessary for ‘homework, which will consist of reading, note taking, set questions etc. This amount will increase as examinations become imminent.

It is also good practice to go over the topics studied at the end of each week as a mini revision exercise. This will enable students (and your teachers) to deal promptly with any difficulties/areas of concern – this is critical to ensure regular and sustained progress and helps avoid the likelihood of struggling with your studies.

Finance and Accounting are often viewed as ‘difficult’ areas, therefore it is important to be well prepared, be willing to ask questions and if necessary, devote extra time to master topics which are a little harder.

The Study of Business

Business requires the study of a number of areas eg Finance, Human Resources and the ability to integrate areas in longer answers is a key skill.

Consider financial and human consequences of actions by a business and also which of the factors is likely to be regarded as the most important by management. This is particularly important in the higher marked essay questions (20/25).

The Exam Specification & Progression

Most schools will teach the specification in the order in which it is written as this represents a logical approach to building knowledge and understanding. This will help students to see progression and will help to develop the all-important subject knowledge links.

As you progress and your confidence builds, you may find yourself questioning certain theories or approaches by management for example. A critical approach sits well with examiners. However, such criticism must be well founded:

• What are the specific weaknesses in a theory or management style and what could be done better?
• Would a specific approach be better suited to a particular situation but not another?
• Has the short term versus long term time period been considered?
• What is the power structure in a business e.g. are shareholders seen as more important than customers?

There is no perfect or indeed absolutely correct answer – the ability to see opposite arguments and deconstruct them whilst recognising their validity is key for examination success.

Onto The Future

The study of A Level Business will open up a number of areas such as University, Apprenticeships and employment. Achieving well is obviously self-interest since good grades will unlock future opportunities.

It is important however that the two years of study are enjoyable and stimulating; taking a positive and pro-active attitude will reap dividends in the weekly study of Business as well as in final examination success.

Worrying about the lack of GCSE/ A Level revision so far? Don’t panic, it’s not too late for students to kick start their revision over the Easter Holidays and ace their summer exams.

As a parent, it’s often a tricky area to broach revision with students. Procrastination on how and when to start revising is a common problem, with students stressing about the fact that they are not revising and anxiety building as the days tick by. The Easter Holidays provide the time and space for students to gear up their revision efforts – getting into a good study routine over the Easter holidays can make the difference between success and disappointment when it come to results day.

Here are our top tips to help ease students into revising so that they can make the most of their Easter Holidays.

Do a list. The first step is to make a list of all exam dates as this will help students plan their time. Next, take each subject and break it down into topics, using the specification or text book to create a useful list of everything that needs to be learnt. Also note down any specific skills/areas that need greater work.

Make a plan. Creating a day-by-day plan can be really motivational for students and makes revision feel more manageable by breaking revision into chunks. By helping students prioritise, it also reduces the risk of them running out of revision time. Plans can be as simple as a list of what needs to be done each week up to hour-by-hour colour coded works of art. Don’t expect students to stick 100% to their plan – things change and the plan will need to adapt. Its also good to leave some” blank” time close to each exam in case they need to revisit anything.

Organise/complete notes. If their notes are the starting point for revision, make sure they are complete and in the right order. If they are not sure, encourage them to talk to their teacher and ask for the teacher to check their notes. If their notes are in a really bad state, try using a revision guide as the basis for revision – just make sure that the guide is for the right exam board and specification.

Try out different learning techniques. Everyone has different ways of learning. For some students, reading and highlighting key points of their notes works – for students taking this approach, encourage them to test themselves by covering sections and seeing what they can remember. Flashcards and mindmaps are also popular tools – find out more about techniques to boost memory recall.  For many students, revision courses can make a real difference, helping to boost knowledge, motivation and exam technique.

Build in time for frequent testing. Regular testing, using different approaches, helps with memory recall as well as identifying areas which need more work. In addition to past paper questions, try revision guides and online resources, like BBC Bitesize, for quizzes and topic specific questions. When doing past papers, learn how to score maximum marks by analysing the marking schedule and the examiners report.

Take some time to talk to your child about how they are feeling about their exams and how you can help. GCSEs and A Levels can be very stressful for students so help them by staying calm and positive, providing encouragement and asking what sort of practical or emotional support they would like.

Don’t forget: No matter your child’s ability or attitude to revision, there’s still time to prepare for the summer exams.

For more advice and course information to achieve exam success, please call us on 01727 744340.

Here are a few guidelines from our expert tutor, David, to help you to avoid some of the most common pitfalls that A-Level students encounter, using the example of Geography.

Misreading exam questions.

If I had a pound for every time I have read an answer on volcanoes when the question is asking about earthquakes (or vice versa) I would be a rich man! Sadly, misreading question errors claim quite a few casualties every year among the A-Level geography candidates. So here is some advice to ensure that you don’t succumb.

1. Command words.

Learn the meanings of the examiners’ command words and practice using them correctly.

• Do you know the difference between ‘describe’ and ‘explain’?
• What does the command ‘assess’ require you to do in your response?
• ‘Study Fig 3 …’ is also a command.

It is common for students to miss important details in the data given in the map, diagram, table or photograph provided with the exam question.

When you see the command ’study’, you should interpret that as interrogate the data. Ensure that you extract every last piece of information from the resource (that is what interrogate means). Read the title of the figure carefully.

Example:

Fig. 1 shows mean wind speed and wind direction recorded in Newquay, Cornwall, UK.
Note that the data shows mean wind speed and wind direction.
You should know what a mean wind speed is, and that wind direction is expressed as the direction the wind is coming from.

Why does the examiner tell you that the data was recorded in Newquay, Cornwall, UK?
Newquay is on the north coast of a windy county in the west of England exposed to the prevailing south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean.

Remember that the examiner doesn’t like to waste ink, so every piece of information on the paper is relevant. When interrogating a map extract, ensure that you take note of:

Much the same level of scrutiny of the detail needs to be applied to tables and diagrams as well.

2. CUBE the question.

• CIRCLE the command words.
• UNDERLINE the key geographical words that give you the topic of the question.
• Draw a BOX around any figures you must refer to.
• EXPLAIN the question to yourself in your head.

Content Overwhelm

Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of content you need to learn for geography? You are not alone. Here are some tips to help you to assimilate the content:

Have a revision plan.

• • • Look up your specification content on the exam board website and print it out.
    • RAG each unit with different coloured highlighters.
      • Red = I have a poor understanding
      • Amber = I sort of get it
      • Green = I feel confident that I know this topic
    • Create a revision schedule for the weeks left before the exam and prioritise the Red topics first.
    • Once you have gained some mastery of a Red topic change it to an Amber.
    • Having revised all the Red topics then focus upon the Ambers.

Reduce the volume of case study material to learn

• • • Most textbooks and online sources provide quite detailed and extensive information on each case study and to learn all this material is a daunting prospect.
    • Familiarise yourself with the types of questions the examiners ask – it should be possible to identify the important themes to learn for each case study. Your teacher can also advise on this.
    • Edit down the material to no more than one side of A4 paper and this will be easier to learn.

Making it real

• • • Making content meaningful and relevant to your own experiences is a great way to remember it.
    • Try to relate the theory to your own experiences.
    • It is quite acceptable to incorporate your own examples and case studies into exam answers.
    • From this examiner’s perspective, to see that a candidate has written from first-hand experience often makes the answer a more interesting read.
    • Have a think about all the places you have lived in or visited and try to relate these experiences to what you are learning.

Non-exam Assessment worries

Don’t be tempted seek help beyond what is allowed in the exam board regulations.

The non-exam assessment is designed to test the student’s ability to conduct an independent geographical investigation. If you receive extra help beyond what is allowed, there is a chance that this will be considered to be malpractice, and this could affect your final grade. Students have been downgraded because they have sought extra help beyond that offered by their centre.

1.Top quality data collection

When collecting data in the field, take care with the quality of your data collection. (‘Rubbish in equals rubbish out’). So even if the weather is awful, aim to collect accurate and reliable data. (Accurate data has been measured and recorded with care, reliable data has been sampled in a sensible manner).

2.“My data is wrong”.

The real world does not fit the models precisely or may not fit them at all. This is not a disaster for your NEA. It is interesting.

3. Don’t leave the writing-up to the last minute

I wish you all the very best with your studies. Geography is a fascinating subject, so do try and enjoy your learning.

About me

Hi! I’m Jess and I went on a three day A Level Chemistry residential course during Easter. Now I’m at Leeds University studying Business Analytics; three months in and I couldn’t be happier! I studied Maths, Chemistry and Physics at A level. In Year 13, I realised I needed extra help to get the A grades I needed for my degree subject. I explored a few options – online and 1-1 tutoring, and subscriptions to online materials – before coming across Justin Craig. The reviews online were great and they ran in my local area so I decided to book myself on. I really liked the way the course is tailored to each student; we filled out a form with the topics we wanted to prioritise and had a timetable emailed back to us a few days before the course, so we knew exactly what we would be covering and when. Being able to prepare in advance made the lessons even more productive. My tutor was incredible, and really made the difference between a boring, school type environment and an atmosphere which I genuinely loved working in.

I chose Justin Craig for the immersive nature of the courses

My course was in the last holidays before my final exams, so I didn’t have much time to waste. As much as the idea terrified me, I knew three full days of revision was going to give me the best chance of improving my grade quickly. I’m also really easily distracted and struggle to commit to revising when left to my own devices, so the structure of the days really appealed to me. Everyone I spoke to worked harder than they were used to – but enjoyed it. I really got into the mindset of working hard towards all my exams; I was motivated so much more in all my subjects from then on. The revision time I’d thought I was missing out on was more than made up for by the study techniques I learned across the board.

I made huge progress in my A level chemistry

I was really worried about my chemistry grade with exam season nearing – I needed an A to study my dream course at Uni and was achieving Cs in my mock exams. My confidence was seriously lacking, and I doubted my ability to make enough progress in such a short space of time. What set my tutor apart from most teachers I’ve had was that he pushed us to believe in ourselves as much as he did academically – I genuinely think that made all the difference for me. As for the chemistry itself, it was taught in a way which not only helped me to understand more than ever before; I also started enjoying it (this was pretty much a miracle for me). I achieved an A in my A level, and I accredit that to Mike whenever anyone asks.

The course was way more informal than I thought

Immediately I was surprised at the laid-back atmosphere of the course. The tutors were so friendly and made a really relaxed environment which felt much better than school. Being an A level student, I was given a surprising amount of freedom – we were allowed off site in the evenings until 10pm. The course assistants were like friends, but also supported us with any issues we had. I really enjoyed the residential aspect because I got to know people really well – I made great friends who I still keep in touch with 9 months later!

The structure of the classes made for a great learning environment

Going into the course I wasn’t looking forward to the seven-hour days one bit… but believe it or not – once I got into it, I couldn’t get enough! The days were broken up with frequent breaks, so I never got tired or bored. My tutor was really great at knowing when to switch up the work: lessons, discussions and practice questions all helped me to really grasp the concepts and exam techniques I needed. The small class was really beneficial because our tutor got to know our individual strengths and weaknesses and the lessons were tailored to our needs.

No matter who you are, you will benefit from a Justin Craig course

I highly recommend Justin Craig to anyone looking to step up their grades! Although I improved a huge amount in just three days, it wasn’t just a quick fix. The teaching methods made everything I learned stick with me and the confidence boost saw me through exams and out the other side. I saw the same with students studying all subjects at GCSE and A level – everyone I spoke to loved their course and felt much better prepared for their exams. I even enjoyed the atmosphere so much that I’m coming back this year as a course assistant. The worthiest investment I’ve made in my education thus far – I just wish I’d known about JCE sooner!