What did your Triple Science DC's 'Revision file' look like?

[Tansie]

MyGCSEScience site recommends an actual file, divided into the 3 subjects, where I gather the DC prints off the necessary 'slide' from the videos (Youtube), and writes notes next to them as necessary.

We have subscribed to MyScience, by the way.

We have the AQA course notes (as suggested by the school) and I have told DS his best bet is to use the video headers (see the link) to divide his work up to make it manageable; to watch the video, find the relevant part of his AQA notes, read it (and make notes as necessary), then answer the topic's exam question that the subs service makes available you, then check the correct answer, ditto.

Will this work?

DS is not diligent but has apparently suddenly realised that he's going to fail next May/June's GCSEs unless he sorts himself out!

This is all a bit of a mystery to me because, for O level revision, one 'just' schlepped one's way through one's exercise books and the course textbook, no multiple sourcing or cross referencing; whereas DS's 'exercise books', such as they are, seem only to be used for recording answers to unseen questions (presumably set on the white board), so we have:

1. A
2. C?
3. dunno
4. A.. etc

• it's hardly a good revision source, is it?!

It sounds like a good strategy. Some students prefer to have 3 exercise books though, as files can get messy.

If he's doing triple sci i would recommend he tries to study things as a whole, rather than by module.

For example, atomic structure and bonding is first mentioned in C1.1, then C2.1 and C2.2, then again in C3. This can be difficult because its never fully explained in any one section. You need them all together in one place.

(The codes refer to Chemistry Units, your DC might be familiar with the concept, and their coursenotss she be labelled as such.)

*coursenotes should be

Class books in science are not always great for revision. We tend to use them as work books to answer questions and rely on revision books to revise from. The advice on the mygcse science is great and I advise my students to do something similar.

DS did all the revision for his GCSE Science exams using the appropriate revision guides for his exam board purchased from Amazon. His exercise books were completely useless. He got A's in all 3 exams.

DS1 just used text books and revision guides but didn't get the three As that he was predicted (scraped an A in Biology and got high Bs in Chemistry and Physics). I might sign up to that website for DS2. Have you found it useful so far, Tansie?

We are 'early stage', Phaedra. DS says 'it's good' but he's perhaps not the best judge!

The advantage of the whole 'subscribe/revision file' thing is that we can view evidence that 'work has been done' when we demand to see it ask nicely. I have already told DS that the advantage in making the file is that not only is he hopefully learning as he compiles, he's also making a Revision File.

On the 'what would current Y11 going on Y12' parents offer those of us in the Y10/11 waiting-room' thread... It was stated that doing past papers is key, and I'd say yes, with answers and examiner's notes!

Having said that, DS was 'put off' (easily done!) early on where the B(iology) something-or-other paper had an exam question about sperm calls... The question (2 marks) asks, I recall, 'Why are there many mitochondria in the mid section of the sperm?'

Now, to me, attempting an answer (and being in possession of a good Bio O level!); the key words are ... . Why do they ask about many as opposed to just 'mitochondria'? Clue there! Surely!- And why mid-section? Location is obviously key here..

So my answer, aged 15/16, might have been:

The head part contains the genetic material, the tail is the propulsion; the mid part is the obvious part to site the 'other bits' that provide the energy to the sperm. (1 mark)

There are 'many' because the sperm, considering its size, has a long way to go. (1 mark)

No. The correct answer is something like:

The mitochondria supply energy to the sperm via respiration (1 mark)
This works aerobically (1 mark)

Wot ?

Thanks, Tansie.

DS used to be told he wasted too much time on questions only worth a couple of marks, no wonder if that one's typical!

DD1 has just received her GCSE results. She improved her biology grade by 20% between the January mock & June. She did loads & loads of previous papers and looked very carefully at the mark schemes. She did the same for maths, lots of practice papers. Her maths score ended up as 95, biology was very similar.

My DS used the revision guides from OCR (his exam board) but also a mind mapping app on the iPad. He created some very detailed mind maps with notes for each heading. He's a bit of a techy geek so he much preferred this to hand writing out lots of notes.

As a matter of interest, he did much, much better in the exams than in his controlled assessments. For Chemistry he got A, A, A for the exams and a C for the controlled assessment, which gave him an A overall, so depending on the board, do emphasise a bit of revision on 'How to do a good controlled assessment' as well.

DS1 started iGCSE courses in Physics, Chemistry & Biology last November. He has a file for each. He has only done a few topics so far, but for each topic he has watched a couple of videos on YouTube, attempted to learn the definitions of the key terms, printed out a topic summary and tried a few practice questions.

I do think it's useful for them to try marking their answers using the mark schemes. It gives them a sense of what sort of answer the examiner is looking for.