AS Stress

[mumeeee]

My DD is 16 and doing her As levels this year.
She has her first written papers fo Physics, Chemistry and Biology in January in the first week of term.
She feels that is much to early as they will only have just finished covering the stuff for the exam by the end of this term. Both me and my DH agree with her. She has masses of homework every day and she will have to revise all over christmas. Also she has her Biolagy course work experiment today.
She is doing OCR are any of your children doing this board. What do you think of having paers in January.

I used to teach A level Biology. OCR is a trick board I used to teach in a retake college so it was slightly different- but I agree it is very soon for modules. it also means that studying becomes what I call telephone directory learning, as students become interested only in what they need to know, and lose sight of the bigger picture- (and the exam itself becomes very narrow).

Does she have a copy of her syllabus- if not she can download one from the OCR website. It really helps with revision as she'll be able to see exacty what the board want her to know- and then it becomes easier to work out what the questions are asking.

Thanks Jimjams.
I don't know wether she has a copy of her syllabus. I'll ask her tonight

The OCR syllabus is usually very detailed- it really spells out what is wanted- if she can go through some past papers with the syllabus next to her then she should get a feel for the things they ask (usually they ask the same sort of stuff all the time).

If she has any Biology questions tell her to log onto www.homeworkhigh.co.uk chatroom on Tuesday evenings (6.30-9) and I'll try and help her. (I hope that doesn't count as an ad- I don't get any benefit from more people coming onto the site- I just work there)

tell her not to get too stressed though- they are an absolute pain- and the 6th form system needs and overhaul- but they're not worth getting too stressed about. Much sympathy though.

I agree 100% with Jimjams comments.The website should also have a specimin paper, worth having a look at. In my experience as studentents need to practice giving as answers to questions, not GCSE level answers. I have students who know their stuff, but don't do that well in exams because they give the simplest answer that they feel is still sorrect. So they don't 'show' the examiners what they know of the as sylabus. On line sites are great idea (and JJ would be great!), but there are also good revision texts that are written for the OCR exam board. I've had a look on amazon, and they have a few listed. They will help you dd get her head around revising the topics, and give her guidance in what the examiners are looking for in an answer.

Hope it all goes well

Thanks hmb and Jimjams.

I have spoken to my DD she doeshave a copy of her syllabus. I have looked on Amazon and agree thse books look good. I'll ask her what she wants. She has spoken to her teachers today and is feeling more relaxed now. She says thanks Jimjams and will have a look at your website on Tuesday.

oh gosh not my website- it's run by channel 4- but I'll look out for her. Originally it was for up to GCSE but the regulars have stayed with us and quite a few people using it now are AS. In the chat room they can talk about school work- and there are a few AS scientist regulars. It's moderated.

I knew it wasn't your website Jimjams. I just couldn't think how to put it.

another thought- check out www.thisisrevision.com for chemistry revision help.

now called freerevision.com- but you'll still get there with the old address. The free revision materials are excellent.

Just to say thanks again Jijmjams. Our computer crashed last weekso my DD wasn't able to look at that website. She has gone to see Lincoln Park tonight. She has managed to do her homework so she is able to go out for a change.