Year 13 Making the Grade Success Strategies from

Year 13 Making the Grade Success Strategies from Departments

Adapt your MIND SET: VESPA

Attitude A Level success is 10% ability and 90% effort. We know you have the ability. You proved this at GCSE, in your Year 12 mocks. Only you can control is their effort. Only genuine effort counts. Carelessness or minimal effort is meaningless. Academic work should produce: Results notes written up flashcards complete practice papers finished

Advice for Maths

Advice for Maths

Advice for Maths

Advice for Maths

Advice for Sociology Practice all the question types Know your studies and theorists Read the examiners report from previous exams Test yourself in timed conditions Be certain of your method for the 10 mark questions Check your knowledge with your PLCs Hone your skills by submitting loads of essays to your teachers Maintain your confidence and your belief – write with passion, conviction and intelligence Read the questions incredibly carefully Don’t run out of time “You are now Sociology experts, keep practicing questions. It's the best way for you to now prepare for the exams. ”

Advice for Accounting 1. Practice answering as many of the old modular A level questions as you can. 2. Ensure you learn all the formulas. 3. Learn and practice the language of accounts. 4. Year 1 content is as important as Year 2. 5. Essays are worth 50 marks on both papers; write lots of practice timed essays and save time for these questions. “You've learnt so much in such a short space of time but remember - resilience pays off; expect the unexpected and remain calm at all times. ”

Advice for Physical Education H 555 Give a sporting example if you are asked for it, including in 10 mark questions Know the difference between vascular shunting and venus return Learn your bones and antagonistic muscle pairs!!! Angular momentum - Moment of Inertia is inversely proportional to Angular Velocity “Good luck to both Mollea & Jide. You are both capable of top grades and with your hard work ethic, we have the utmost confidence that you will undoubtedly achieve these!” - PTI

Advice for Psychology Think synoptic (bring in issues and debates/approaches where you can) Spend the biggest percentage of revision time on research methods because it threads through all three papers Aim to complete the big mark questions first Practise giving specific and precise answers that are thoroughly justified on short answer questions Remember that in stem questions, you must refer back to the scenario regularly “Year 13 Psychology, we wish you every success for the upcoming exams. Show them what you're made of!”

Advice for Health and Social Care Revise the key terms used in research methods Annotate your research articles Read model answers to help understand the structure Develop explanations for key points READ, READ! “You have put a massive amount of effort into these last 2 years and completed a mountain of coursework and finally reached the top. Prepare for the exam, you know the terms inside out, apply them and show off!”

Advice for Computing Use your copy of the PG Online book to make mind maps - add to these every week. Revisit floating point binary (mantissa / exponent) and bubble sort, merge sort, insertion sort, quick sort once every 2 weeks Make your own scenarios to practice Dijkstra's and A* ; challenge a classmate to solve them compare answers. Print out an overview of ALL of the Craig n Dave videos to put on your wall at home. Colour code / cross off / underline to help you focus on areas to revise. Print out the full specification / list of topics (ask for advice if you're not sure where to find this. Print this over several sheets and stick on wall at home. as with previous point, colour code / underline / add reminders to give you an overview of the topics you need to revise.

Advice for MFL Learn topic vocabulary and related grammar points by heart. Re-read/watch the book/film. Make sure that you have detailed revision notes on key themes. Practise translations and 90 word summaries. Listen and read authentic materials (newspapers/programmes) which are relevant to the topics studied.

Advice for Art Make sure you meet all four assessment objectives Component 2 is all about quality Meet your deadlines Be clever with your development rather than creating lots of paintings Make all work purposeful “Good luck Year 13 Art! Your work is absolutely beautiful and so clever. You've worked so hard, nearly there!”

Advice for Economics Learn and revise the subject knowledge as deeply as you can. Then you will go into the exams with greater confidence and can spend precious thinking time applying your knowledge to the context and the questions. Read as widely as you can (time permitting) to build up breadth and depth of understanding as well as knowledge of country and industry examples. Remember a lot of marks are for application! Practice your exam skills by re-attempting timed essays or exam questions we have done in class or for mock exams. Also read the mark schemes again - this will help build up your experience and ensure you know what to expect. In the exam, read the data and the questions very carefully. Failure to do so will lose you a lot of marks. e. g. Don't write about the causes of inflation if the question is asking about the effects! Plan your essays and longer answers - a few minutes spent planning will enable you to be selective about what to include and what to leave out of your answer. It will help your writing stay on track. Remember key evaluation strategies. “Remember that you haven't peaked yet but you should begin building up to that now. You have 3 months before the exams start and this is enough time to make or break the result. The earlier you start your preparations, the more confidence you'll build up and the less stressed you'll feel when the exams come around. You're a great class to teach, you're all very capable young people and I really look forward to seeing you succeed this summer. Good luck!”

Advice for English Read over all annotations made in your core texts. Practice essays under timed conditions for each paper. Pass them onto us so we can mark them and give you feedback. Read the Examiner reports in your Subject folder. Ensure you are clear what AOs are being assessed for each paper. Create a plan before writing the essay and ensure you proofread it. “You've been a pleasure to teach! Show the examiners how far you have progressed since the start of Year 12. Remember, they want to award marks, not take them away! Best wishes from Mrs Shafi, Mr Wood, Mrs Seager and Miss Davis”

Advice for Criminology Remember, your Controlled Assessment for Unit 3 is on March 27 th. It's getting close! Use examples wherever possible in both Unit 3 and Unit 4. Examples can be real life specific criminal cases or examples of crimes more generally. "Gareth Highes" must be included in Unit 3. In Unit 4 always refer back to the scenario wherever it's relevant. It gives you marks and helps you with the answer. Make sure to use technical terminology wherever you can and define the terms you use. Make sure you know everything from the Assessment Criteria as this is where the wording of the questions comes from. Do not leave any gaps. Questions on one paper can also come from other units as the course is synoptic. Be prepared for that.

Advice for Photography Completion of all preparatory work Research/Artists research Shoot intentions/plans All Shoots/sets- minimum of 15 Basic edits Test/trial post-production ideas/techniques Don't leave things to the last minute: pace yourself through the remaining preparatory time i. e. one set completed and presented in PPt per week It is better to fully explore, develop and refine one idea/technique, than it is to jump from one thing to the next. Quality at all times: Would you be proud to share your work with people you respect/display it in a gallery, publish it in a book? Ask yourself, can I do better? if the answer is YES then figure out what could be improved and keep working on it until its the best you can do Do what it takes: If you need to give up weekends/evenings/free periods to get work completed, then you should. If you need to travel miles to find that location, then you should. If you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone and do things that make you feel scared/awkward/anxious to get that shot, then challenge yourself-it's only for a few more weeks “I want nothing more than to hear in a few years time, that you all got where you wanted to go and are the happiest you could possibly be. I feel genuinely privileged to have taught you all over the last 2 years (some 4 years). I smile every time I see I have you on my timetable next lesson. You all deserve the best future. GOOD LUCK!”

Advice for Media Studies Revise early Know all you CSP (Close Study products) media products by heart and in detail and refer to their particular key concept Remember to stick to timings READ the question carefully and a few minutes planning your answers Remember PEEA in your written answers “Good luck and I hope you all reach and even exceed your potential when you get your results in the summer. ”

Advice for Chemistry Bullet-point all answers for the sake of clarity Review your answers - have you actually answered the question asked? Underline/highlight your paper to ensure you are answering the question There is no exam success unless you practice answering exam questions Be brutal when self-marking: where could you have gained further marks? “As long as you prepare well, you should do well - your subject knowledge is strong, and now is the final push towards excellent exam technique. You won't need luck provided you have covered all bases and worked as hard as possible. ”

Advice for CTECH Musical Theatre Keep rehearsing your solo songs Make sure all your digital evidence is up to date and in the right folders. For Unit 9 and 13 check your assignment briefs so that you do are not missing any elements. Unit 32 – keep revising the keywords for the various Arts Administration elements Unit 32 – practise writing Q 9/10 18 marks answers, remember you need to be ‘clear and logical’ “To all our lovely year 13 students, we wish you the very best over the next two half terms as we approach the end of the course. We have had such fun working with you and watching you grow in confidence – we are very proud of what you have and will achieve!”

Advice for Music Keep rehearsing your solo performance work – remember to focus on achieving accuracy and technique as well as communication. Continue to work hard on your composition and the write up to accompany it – don’t forget the assessed composing task is out on April 1 st – it’s no joke! Start revising NOW for the historical/analysis extracts – all areas of study. Listen as you go – absorb the pieces so you are not surprised in the exam Practise writing Q 5 style answers about music with a theme or intention – remember to use varied vocabulary. “Bailey and Leah, well done for your work so far, keep going with composition and don’t let the volume of extracts put you off for the exam. You can do it!”

Advice for Music Remember to break down the subject in topics and themes, both for revision and in your answers. It is just as important to revise exam structure as it is content. Do as many practice questions as you can. Timing is very important in the exam, get yourself an analogue watch and make sure you leave enough time on each question. Make sure you have spoken to your teacher if there are still areas of your exam technique that you are unsure of. “You have worked incredibly hard over the last two years to get yourself to this position and you can all be proud of how far you have come. Make sure the effort you put in these last remaining weeks does justice to the hard work you have put into the last two year. Good Luck!”

Advice for Religious Studies Condense your notes into revision notes / cards Get those scholars in (don't forget to do this in Hinduism as well) Remember your critical evaluation Read around the subject - Is there anything extra that you can include to stand out from the crowd? Timing - practice your essays in timed conditions and hand them to your teachers to mark "Working hard is important. But there is something that matters even more: believing in yourself. " - Harry Potter / Miss Sri & Miss Clark

Advice for Physics Sanity check answers - is your answer a sensible number? Show working - write the equation, substitute numbers, show you calculate. Remember units - we are measuring physical quantities, they have a scale. Read the question - and now read it again. Make sure you are answering what they are asking. Multiple choice technique - common sense first, and never leave these blank! Remember: "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now. ” and "The harder I practice, the luckier I get. "

Advice for History 1. Remember to break down the subject in topics and themes, both for revision and in your answers. 2. It is just as important to revise exam structure as it is content. 3. Do as many practice questions as you can. 4. Timing is very important in the exam, get yourself an analog watch and make sure you leave enough time on each question. 5. Make sure you have spoken to your teacher if there are still areas of your exam technique that you are unsure of. You have worked incredibly hard over the last two years to get yourself to this position and you can all be proud of how far you have come. Make sure the effort you put in these last remaining weeks does justice to the hard work you have put into the last two year. Good Luck.