Understanding your mocks 281019 111119 What is the

Understanding your mocks 28/10/19 – 11/11/19

What is the point of mocks? • • • Designed to help you prepare Gets you use to practicing sitting exams Get use to the environment Helps you to identify gaps in advance of your real GCSEs Gets you into the habit of revising Let you know what works and what doesn’t • Nothing to worry about! • This is a positive experience!

Understanding your Mocks: Process • Designed to give you a realistic experience of your GCSE exams • In the hall and gym • Take place over two weeks 28/10/19 – 11/11/19 • 2 slots each day • Registration, P 1 and P 2 • P 3 and P 4 • Maximum time on an exam 1: 45 minutes • Most subjects have one exam other than Maths, English and Science • You will have your own timetable and seat number

On the day of your mocks – slot 1 • Slot 1 exams – Reg, P 1 and P 2 • Go to registration as normal • Your tutor will help you to be “exam ready” • Hand in mobile phone, check equipment, discuss any issues • For whole cohort exams your tutor will escort you down from your form room in silence via the science stairs • For none whole cohort exams you will be expected to go down on your own modeling excellent behavior • You will line up in silence on the PE balcony • Enter the exam hall through the bottom entrance in silence • Bags and coats off and left at the back of hall

On the day of your mocks- slot 2 • Slot 2 exams – after break P 3 and P 4 • Go to P 3 as normal • Your teacher will help you to be “exam ready” and take register • For whole cohort exams your teacher will escort you down from your form room in silence via the closest stairs • For none whole cohort exams you will be expected to go down on your own modeling excellent behavior • You will line up in silence on the PE balcony • Enter the exam hall through the bottom entrance in silence • Bags and coats off and left at the back of hall

Mobile phone procedure • You will be expected to hand mobile phones in to tutors at the start of each day • You will place them in a plastic wallet and be provided with a raffle ticket • These will be placed in a plastic box which will be collected and stored in the main office throughout the school day • At the end of the school day mobile phones will be available for collections from the heart space where they will be distributed by a member of the admin team

During your mocks – Curriculum • You will not be completing new learning in lessons during mocks • You will be given the opportunity to revise and prepare for your mocks by your teachers in lessons • Come prepared to lessons with revision materials • You will not be allowed to walk around requesting revision from staff • If you have interventions on the day of your mock and you are not sitting an exam during this time you need to attend the intervention session

Information to support form tutors discussion • The following slides provide some support and guidance related to revision

Preparing for your challenge: Make a start

Top tips • Quality not quantity - stop kidding yourself, don't waste time on highlighting notes, re-reading, drawing pretty but meaningless pictures • Dual coding - Use of combination of visuals (meaningful not distracting) and words - effective mindmaps, labelled diagrams/symbols and flow diagrams • Practice makes perfect- Focus on retrieval - self testing, flash cards, quizzing with friends and parents - proven to have the biggest impact

Top tips • Deliberate practice- identify and focus on the bit that needs to improve instead of the whole subject or getting a high grade by scoring 70% in as many tests as possible- your teachers are your best support in this - ask them • Mix it up - You should interleave topics as it forces your brain to process and make sense of revision • Spread it out - Consider when your brain works the best and fit in your revision in small manageable chunks

How do I revise?