Year 7 revision support/ideas

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anotherworriedmum
Posts: 289
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:04 pm

Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by anotherworriedmum »

My oldest son is 4 weeks away from his year 7 exams in a GS. He is in a flap, and making me anxious too! He does not perform at his best in exams so I need to boost his confidence. He has never really had to revise on his own either as we revised for 11 plus together, but I think he needs to start doing it himself now.

I wonder if anyone have any tips/good sites/books that I can share with him.

Thanks :-)
Midget Man
Posts: 950
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:28 pm
Location: Bucks

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by Midget Man »

I don't even recal DS doing any in yr7? If there was then there was never a fuss made, I can't help but feel it would be more beneficial if he just relaxes and treats it all no differently time wise than what he'd do in homework. There are times when they need to knuckle down and revise hard but yr7 really isn't one of them. He may do better if its more relaxed anyway :D
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KB
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Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by KB »

I agree that its not worth getting stressed about year 7 exams - they are as much for staff benefit as pupils. I always keep in mind that education is a marathon not sprint so keep some reserves :)

However the lower year exams are a good opportunity to be gently introduced to revision skills and exam technique. In a way what is learned about those skills (positive and negative can both be valuable at this stage) is more important than the actual material.

Normally the school will make it clear to the pupils what is expected of them and the school intranet will probably have information for pupils and parents about the exam in each subject.

In the absence of such information, the text books should have end of unit/topic questions so these would be a good place to start.

Be sure to take some time out for R&R too!
la boume
Posts: 287
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:33 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by la boume »

Y7 DD uses getrevising.co.uk. She found this site by herself and does flash cards, which she prints and then asks me to test her. They haven't got end of year exams in Y7 now, but do have plenty of other tests.
tiffinboys
Posts: 8022
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:00 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by tiffinboys »

I heard that Tiffins have end of term exam, every term in all subjects to assess progress.
3b1g
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:11 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by 3b1g »

My son has frequent 'tracker tests' that he is expected to revise for, as well as summer exams for which he has to revise work done so far that year. He has used these internal exams to learn revision skills, which he didn't need at primary school. The general plan is as follows:
1. He makes a list of topics he has studied for each subject.
2. He makes a revision summary for each topic, often as a mind-map.
3. He tests himself with a quiz he finds online or questions he complied himself earlier in the year.

At the end of Y7, he asked for my help with steps 1 and 2.
This year (Y8), I reminded him to do step 1 throughout the year, but he seems to be managing 2 and 3 on his own (he has been told by the school to revise all Science topics since September 2011 so he started today).
Next year he will hopefully be able to do the whole thing without assistance.

He uses various materials, but most often the BBC bitesize website and the CGP revision guide (the Science one was provided by the school and the teacher gives them a list of which page numbers to revise).
pheasantchick
Posts: 2439
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:28 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by pheasantchick »

Revising for exams is a skill which takes time to learn. Some people find mind maps useful. Another method is to write notes and learn them. Sometime he will will write his own tests, sometimes i test him. He will also use the bbc tests, and other tests if he can find them online.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by Daogroupie »

In our school Year 7 exams put you into sets which are then not changed for the entire year. My dd's tell me of students who don't do much all year and then pitch up with an excellent mark in the exams and pinch the top set places from students who have worked hard all year who have parents who don't appreciate that in a selective school it is a real battle to make the top sets. We know a student who got 96% in the DAO maths exam which was only 2 wrong as there 50 questsion. However he did not make the top maths set in Y8 losing out on a place to more average students who did serious revision. This is the same issue as 11 plus preparation. Different schools do things very differently so find out what the results of the Y7 exams are used for before you decide how much to revise. The QE cull thread in the Herts section is a very sobering reminder of what happened to students who did not do well enough in internal tests. I would recommend mymaths and BBC bitesize. DG
3b1g
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:11 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by 3b1g »

Totally agree with what DG said. At my son's school, the results boys get on their internal assessments in Y7 to Y9 will dictate which sets they are put into. DS1 is an able mathematician but spent two and a half terms in set 4 out of 7 because he wasn't organised enough to revise for a test in the Autumn of Y7. He learned his lesson from this and did revise for the summer exam, and consequently was moved up two sets to start the beginning of Y8 in set 2, which is the right teaching pace for him and where he should be.

The internal assessments for Science at the beginning of Y9 cover all topics studied since the beginning of Y7 and the results determine whether he'll study three sciences at GCSE. At his school, the teachers are assuming that the boys are revising for these tests, but at no point are they told what 'revising' means or how to do it effectively.
aliportico
Posts: 888
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:19 pm

Re: Year 7 revision support/ideas

Post by aliportico »

Galore Park publish a Study Skills book which I think is pretty good.

Not that dd1 has ever really used it. We've been having lots of discussion recently as she has reached the point of being 6 weeks away from the start of her gcse's and still doesn't really know how to revise - just reading and remembering has worked for her until now but I'm not sure it's quite enough for this summer, and I'm sure it's not enough for A levels!
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