Y9+ science. Is it taught in a linear fashion?

[Erebus]

By which I mean, do they 'do light', then 'do gravity', then do 'structure of a plant', then do 'properties' of metals' (but not necessarily in that order.. but then effectively not 'do' that topic again? Obviously they have to touch on and draw from previous knowledge to build on what they know but the reason I want to know is that DS has a 'science exam' to study for, in 4 or 5 weeks' time which will determine which 'set' they go into for GCSE. They've all been given the AQA revision guides (which go up to GCSE), one for each science, but apparently no guidance as to how to use them!

He will (hopefully! ) know what topics they've already 'done' so- realistically, can I say 'OK, revise light this evening' and he will be able to turn to that and supposedly understand 'everything' there about light having covered it already? Of course I know it won't be that straight forward, but have I got the gist right? Otherwise god knows how he can revise! It's an art form in itself, really, and I hope the school does guide him well.

I could be completely wrong but I thought the sciences were taught in a spiral form so you might do plants one year, then the next year you do them in more detail and then the same the next year, so each years builds in more information.

Spiral- hadn't heard that but it'd make sense!

The specification works in topics. Some topics are addressed on more detail in later modules (linear assessment in this instance just means all the modules are taken at the end).

There are core skills though that are assessed in each topic, such as data handling and interpretation.

He should be told what parts of the spec he needs to revise.

The whole of the national curriculum is based on the spiral model. Topics are revisited once or twice per key stage. The school will probably test him on all the content from key stage 3. You can get key stage 3 revision guides for a few pounds from amazon. Unless they have taught gcse material to him this year i would ignore the other guides. I also think its highly likely that they will base the exam on past key stage 3 sats papers. You can get past papers and mark schemes from www.emaths.co.uk. Do these with him and identify weak areas that need more study. There will be questions based on experiments so look at those too.
My top tips for science exam success:

1. RTQ. Read the question! And answer the question.
2. Use scientific vocab as much as possible.
3. If the question awards 3 marks. Make sure there are three points written down. (very important!)
4. Use a ruler. You will probably have to draw on diagrams. You must use a ruler and draw accurately. Things like the path of light reflecting off a mirror will also need accurate angles. Circuit diagrams must not have any gaps! If they do you will not get the mark.
5. If you don't know guess. You may get something!

Good luck!

Thanks for that.

The guides the schools have issued (at our expense) are AQA GCSE ones which I too thought tricky as DS1 is 2/3 of his way through Y9 therefore of course there's stuff in there he hasn't covered at all! But what? Yes, the obvious response is 'he should revise what he's covered' but I am not 100% sure he'll know precisely how far he's gone in light or plant reproduction. And being a typical boy, will only 'revise' what he thinks he already knows, not tackle the harder stuff he should know by now.

Bear in mind, I am not being 'pushy mummy'- the school sent out a letter telling us of this impending exam, asking us to pay for the ^strongly recommended' revision guides and expecting the DC to revise for it. But what, exactly??!

Some schools start GCSE in year 9, and if you have GCSE revision guides, I expect this one does.

AQA has 3 modules for each Science subject. If he has done GCSE work in year 9, he will need to look at the first units. The revision guide will be organised in units as well. So he would need to revise homeostasis from B1, not B3 for example.

He should ask his teacher to highlight which bits of the revision guide are relevant.

That's really useful to know, many thanks. I did notice they were divided up but of course didn't know the relevance.

I am hoping the teacher does tell them what they need to know but I wouldn't guarantee it or that DS will necessarily twig that s/he's imparting important revision information to him!

He has started the GCSE course, I happen to know. They split into double and triple next term.

I'd tell him to take in his revision guide and get her to tick on the contents page against the sections he needs to revise.

Thanks, all.

It sort of suddenly did hit me with his maths that actually, DS, you need to know everything in your KS3 maths revision guide! Then we found a KS3 science revision guide, too, which is helpful as it again goes only as far as he could be expected to know (he's almost top set but at a high achieving comp so top set has some A level standard DC in it!).

why are you micro-manging his revision?

Your 'micromanaging' is me helping him to pick his way through half inch thick books to decide what he believes he must know for these tests.

Effective revision, like study, is another learned skill. Like look/cover/recall/check for learning spelling in Y1. He goes to a comp where they get 'assessments', not end-of-year exams. He's now towards the end of Y9 and suddenly, it's 'exam time' though only in 3 areas, thankfully. 2 of the subjects he'll be examined in have given him a shortlist of 'what he needs to revise' but it does tend to be, in maths for instance, 'percentages. ratios. etc' Science- well, we paid the school £8 for the 3 'revision guides', totalling several hundred pages, and he's naturally, a bit overwhelmed by it. I suspect there is intended to be a bit of 'sink or swim', here, as they want to decide which set to put the DC in and, when it comes down to it, re-advise re double and triple!

We step in when our DC are overwhelmed, be it to help them guide them, contact the correct person on their behalf, don't we? So I am helping him organise himself regarding what he should know and how to use techniques to prove to himself he knows it. Helpfully, doing this has demonstrated to him that stuff the thought he knew he hasn't actually retained. If my 'micromanaging' has brought this about at the end of Y9, rather than my laisse fair attitude discovering it in June, Y11, so be it.