Study tips and websites for those with children in Y11

[noblegiraffe]

I've seen lots of threads with parents asking for good books and websites for revision for various subjects so thought it might be a good idea if we could collate them into a thread for reference.

How to study:
www.cultofpedagogy.com/learning-strategies/ - evidence-based strategies for effective revision such as 'retrieval practice' (practising remembering key facts - e.g. Self-testing), 'spaced practice' (coming back to the same topics at increasing intervals to increase chances of remembering them), 'interleaved practice' (mixing up questions to practise identifying the type of approach needed).

How to set up a revision timetable and make revision less daunting
missdcoxblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/29/how-to-prepare-for-exams/

Good websites for maths
mrbartonmaths.com/students/gcse/ a million resources for every topic
corbettmaths.com 5-a-day questions for regular revision, videos to explain each topic, and worksheets to practise the topics (with answers)
mathswebsite.com hegartymaths - you need to create a free login, it has videos with explanations of topics, then questions then goes through the answers. It keeps track of what has been watched.

Study tips for maths
The key thing for maths is that to learn maths, you have to do maths. You can't revise maths effectively by reading a book.
Ideally you'd have a pen and paper and do a question, check the answer, if correct try a harder question. If incorrect do not leave it but go back and try to figure out where you went wrong, then try more questions on the same topic.
Don't just do past papers over and over, use past papers (or mocks, or checklists from school) to identify weak topics, then focus on those topics using a revision guide, videos and worksheets linked to above. Then go back to past papers and identify more topics.
If a pen and paper aren't available (e.g. Revising on the bus) then revision cards with a question on one side and the answer on the other are good (Pearson sell ones like these). Look at the question, think about how you would do it, then check the other side. Bus time can also be used to self-test formulae, methods or facts (Corbettmaths sell ones like these ).
Do not do questions that you do not have the answer for, there's no point. Always check the answers (past paper mark schemes are on the internet) for any questions that you do.

Make sure your child knows off by heart (because so many get these basics wrong):
Prime numbers up to 30, square numbers up to at least 12 but better 15 squared, cube numbers up to 5 cubed.
Formulae for the area of a triangle, parallelogram, trapezium (new for 9-1 GCSE).
Formulae for the circumference and area of a circle (SO many students, even at higher, even at A* muddle these up)
THEIR TIMES TABLES (honestly, knowledge of times tables is so important for foundation students it can really be the difference between a pass and a fail).

I'm sure I'll think of more but that's probably enough for now. Anyone got any good sites/tips for other subjects?

I am going to keep this thread for reference too. Very useful. Thank you.

I've just been talking to a friend who is marking GCSE this summer.

She has reminded her students that after being to work (she teaches) cooking dinner and putting the kids uk bed she will mark a few papers each night. She will try to make sense of papers which are illegible, but irritating a marker is not a good idea. They also have a small amount of time.

Read the questions, read which part of the question is required and use punctuation and paragraphs. She is surprised how many stupid mistakes are made and how students forget to write down which question or part question they have answered especially when it is multilayer question on the same topic. She want to give the best result for the child but she need them to help her.

This I think is a useful way for them to think as the marker is their audience.

Can I ask, is it worth subscribing to Tassomai, at this late stage? Will my DD get all the course done before her exams in May? I was thinking of getting all 3 sciences but will this be too much to fit in, with all her other revision?

Easter hols, so a good time to bump this as things start to get really serious on the revision front!

Huge huge thanks Noblegiraffe - fabulous advice and fabulous thread!

Can I ask, is it worth subscribing to Tassomai, at this late stage? Will my DD get all the course done before her exams in May? I was thinking of getting all 3 sciences but will this be too much to fit in, with all her other revision?
Same question here.

@drummersmum - have a look at senecalearning.com/ which mmzz recommended - it covers Igcse Physics and Chemistry but NOT Biology yet - can only be done a laptop so not so flexible as Tassomai (which your DC can do on their phone) but its free....DD has used it the last few day's but she has been getting 100% which is a little worrying but she has found it useful.

Thanks a lot teen . I will look into it, but it's really biology revision we want to support and I was also looking into something accessible when not at home. I must say, Tassomai is ridiculously expensive.

These sheets are available on Pearson -DC's may find them helpful for maths (there is also the foundation - downloadable and free :
www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/secondary/ProgressionandIntervention/Intervention/Target/top-10/top-10-toughest-areas-of-the-2017-gcse-9-1-mathematics-exam-papers.aspx
@Drummer - there are some Biology boards on there - and also practical's my DD will dip into - but they are certainly not has portable as Tassomai..

teen we have signed up for tassomai and DS is finding it ridiculously easy and a waste of time. He got four questions in five minutes about whether smoking was positive or negative. I think I've wasted 20 pounds. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if they can up the level as they say that if you're buying it just before the exams they can do something about it.

And teen thanks for those Pearsons links. Printed the maths one.

DD only used the Chemistry on Tassomai before mocks and she found it OK....but Chemistry is her weakest science subject...I think Tassomai tend to be repetitive in testing the same questions to ensure you understand - which is annoying if you have a bright child.

I downloaded this today - which I thought was quite a good set of Biology revision notes for iGCSE although there is the odd error.

www.tes.com/teaching-resource/edexcel-igcse-triple-biology-revision-notes-6289333 (There are 66 pages but I liked the fact that key words were in RED and experiments in Italic's)

teen if there is the odd error, I'm too scared to offer it... Aren't you?

I'm ok with it because the majority of errors seem to be typo's/ like FHS instead of FSH... I am going to let DD's biology teacher have a look at it when DD gets back to school (she has something similar but only work up to end of year 10)...for me it is just a good resource with all the highlighted terminology (which is my daughter's main issue)...although would be great if it didn't have the odd error!

It will be interesting to see if DD can pick up on the errors...