Has anyone got a minute to pass on their knowledge of Seneca et al

[Mostpeculiar]

We’re definitely in need of help from somewhere especially during the 6 weeks holiday, I saw Seneca mentioned on here and had a quick look it looks good and I can see there’s various levels of service that exist and I’m just a bit clueless about it all

Is Seneca the best of its type or Is there a better alternative does anyone have words of wisdom about the service levels?

I’d be grateful for any info/opinion you may have

I use Seneca as a Science teacher -
The positives- it allows me to set sections of work that follow the syllabus and I can see who has done it and what score they got. I can also see how long individual students spend using it outside of assigned tasks. Lots of our more reluctant writers like it and those students who find it difficult to get organised or know where to start with revision enjoy the easy to navigate sections and chunked content . Some of our students who otherwise would never revise do some work with Seneca so it’s definitely been helpful. All our students sign up for free and I am on there as a teacher for free and so I can’t comment on enhanced packages.

Reservations- I don’t set work on it very often because although it is excellent for active revision of factual content it doesn’t help with exam technique which is a significant part of the battle with the new science exams. I would rather set past paper questions and give feedback on those and leave the students to use Seneca for themselves . What year group is your child?

She’s y10

If she just wants to make sure she is on top of content it’s definitely useful and as she can sign up for free nothing lost if she doesn’t like it. She will need to know what syllabus she is doing so she chooses the right tab to take her to the questions.

My ds used Seneca for science. It clearly works because his predicted grade went from 6 to 7 from year 9 to 10 and then to could get an 8 to getting a 9 in mocks.

Shame he didn't actually get to take exams this year so who knows what they'll assess him at?

But it really did work well for him and he has severe problems with executive function. He could follow this system really well though.

I've been looking at this too and wondering what the difference between the 3 packages is? The top one says live lessons (which would be good in current situation) but it's very expensive and not sure its worth it. Can anyone advise on the premium packages ?

Dd just has the free version but she really likes it and it does help her to go over the content.

DD2, y10, was also signed up to the free version.
I'm not generally a great fan of online stuff, but I really rate this.

DD has used it for Science, RE, & Food Tech and it is really on the core knowledge and concepts. There seems to be stuff for most subjects and boards. The PP is correct in that it doesn't cover exam style questions but for getting basic stuff in it is good.

DD is able to 'do Seneca' at times when she isn't up to written work.

It can be a bit irritating if your spelling isn't very good though.

I might sign up for the next level up for revising for mocks, but not before probably.

My DS used My GCSE Science - free version at first and then we paid. It was absolutely excellent. They were doing a really good deal for anyone with a nhs.net e-mail address - my friend signed up on this and got 85% off I think - not sure if that offer is still going. It is tailored for double/triple/combined science and exam-board specific.

@estherfrewen

My DS used My GCSE Science - free version at first and then we paid. It was absolutely excellent. They were doing a really good deal for anyone with a nhs.net e-mail address - my friend signed up on this and got 85% off I think - not sure if that offer is still going. It is tailored for double/triple/combined science and exam-board specific.

Does anyone know if Senecas science provision is comparable to GCSEScience? My dd is also doing triple or was let’s face it

I don't know I'm afraid - we didn't ever have Seneca. We only started My GCSE science around Christmas this year (current year 11 ...). DS forecast 8s in all sciences and had been doing the AQA books, school revision, etc but he just felt that it gave him another form of revision - it has very comprehensive videos and worksheets and covers the practicals as well. He had a very indifferent chemistry teacher for a couple of terms and seemed to be missing a lot of notes. We did a week of the free version to see if he liked it and then signed up for the paid version. It was only about £50 full price for triple science. He got 9,8,8 in his mocks just before lockdown - time will tell regarding the final results!

Sounds like finding £50 MyGCSE science is a no brainer hopefully someone might see this thread who has experience of subscribing to the various levels of Seneca

Sorry I can't help - I thought you were asking about the Roman philosopher and author!!

I pay for premium. I would definitely recommend using free for a while first and see if it suits you. Premium gives more material and some harder questions which can be useful if you have covered a lot of the subject. You can see what extra is available on premium whilst you use free. Seneca are very helpful to chat to if you ring them but personally I would try it then speak to them with your queries.

DS yr11 was recommended to use Seneca for one subject in school. He went on to use it for revision in half a dozen subjects he thought it was so useful. He's a capable student who will do science & maths A levels. He only used the free service as a preview of premium didn't sell it to him.

Both mine use it - one in y8 who's asd, it's good for him when he rejects alternatives as it's just fact learning. My DD y9 uses premium again very factual, good for revision and fact learning. I wouldn't use just seneca but it's good as an alternative / as well. Premium only really offers more choice so would do free first and that maybe enough.

My DS in y8 is often set science revision on Seneca and hates it with a passion. He will only use it if I sit with him so I can "see how bad it is". I've done that a few times and agree that it's a bit painful. It does break revision down into bitesize chunks, but the muti-choice questions are often painfully patronising or just way too guessable. Also annoying are the random "can you remember this marginally relevant fact that was briefly mentioned further up the page but you'll never need for a GCSE science exam" questions.

He much prefers BBC Bitesize.

As others have said, Seneca learning is good for subject content and it is exam board specific. You have to be wary, because on some other sites I have seen, the info is generic which can lead to students revising something completely irrelevant to their subject. BBC Bitesize unfortunately falls foul of this. So I would not recommend it unless you are very clear on exactly what the exam spec requires.

But again, it is good for revising content. It does nothing really to help with exam technique for the longer essay style questions. Some of the premium material does help a bit with mid length questions (4/5 marks). But again, that depends on your subject and specification.

Overall, I would say that it is a nice addition to your revision, but it is exactly that - addition.

The benefits for me as a teacher, is that I can easily see how long students take to answer questions and how much they get right.

I advise my students to use it as a test. Not to bother reading the intro bumpf (you can speed up the length at which it produces the writing), and then answer the questions they can immediately, and to only go back and read if they they don't know the answers. Makes the process quicker and the student more aware of what they do / do not know.

BBC Bitesize unfortunately falls foul of this. So I would not recommend it unless you are very clear on exactly what the exam spec requires.

@Sarahbeans, if you get the BBC Bitesize app, or creste an account on the website to personalise your learning, you can filter content by exam board.

I paid for premium in December - think it must have been cheaper then as remember it being in the £60s.

DD1 Y10 was sitting exams in January and wouldn't re-do courses she's already done - she was doing free course throughout the term- so wanted the hyper-linked courses - so she'd go through content again.

She was due to sit more exams this summer so I think it would have been more useful at Easter in a normal year.

She hates bitesized and using books so computer based revision works best for her. Though at minute trying to get her to do GCSE board revision work books where they exist for her subjects.

Also paying for tassomai for triple sciences and I think that's been worth it - though won't know till she gets to sit the exams I suppose.

Again though it it sould be part of not all of the revision IMO.

Like pp I'd suggest doing free courses first then seeing if you feel need to upgrade. The free version is fine for my younger kids at the moment.

@hijiji And some of the information on BBC Bitesize is generic, inaccurate and does not meet all of the demands of the individual specifications. For the two subjects I teach and one subject I work as an examiner for at least.

For example - Take GCSE Religious Studies, It misses out the whole of themes, does not distinguish between material that is needed for short course and what is needed for full course. And certain bits are just left out. E.g. The Eduqas spec requires students to be able to link God's omnipotence to Exodus 14v21. However, BBC Bitesize leaves this reference out completely. Yet students can get asked a specific question on this in the exam.

So it is okay to use alongside, but I wouldn't rely on Bitesize alone, not unless you have a forensic understanding of the specification and what is left out.

And don't get me started on GCSE Sociology.... It does not distinguish between the two boards at all (AQA and Eduqas), only includes generic videos to watch, includes material from the old specification (Mass media) that has not been on the spec since 2016!

I could also rant about the A level, but I think I will stop here :-)

My son used Seneca last year, we paid £50

For him it worked much better than revising via books

He got 877 for his triple science