Exams

Information for students and parents

Examinations can be a stressful time for all of the family, not just the student actually taking the examination. In this section, you’ll find revision tips, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and all of the official information from JCQ that is given to students every year.

Please ensure that you:

• Ensure that your child attends school regularly and on time
• Talk to your child about their learning, work they has to do and deadlines
• Contact your child’s tutor if you have any questions or concerns about your child
• Attend Parents’ Evening
• Check your child’s revision timetable for mock exams
• Check your child’s examination timetable and ensure they understands when their exam take place. If an exam is missed your child will not be awarded any marks for that exam.
• Read your child’s copy of the Summer Examination Timetable
• Attend all meetings and workshops organised for parents to assist their children with GCSE work.

Coursework

Students will have many deadlines to meet during this year. You can help your child by:

• Monitoring their coursework. Find out what they have to do and when it has to be handed in
• Making sure they are doing some work every evening
• Contacting their tutor if they say they have no work to do, or if they are worried about a piece of work
• Encouraging them to attend Enrichment, half-term and Easter revision classes
• Encouraging them to use the numerous websites available to support their coursework and revision
• Provide them with a quiet place to study
• Make sure they takes regular breaks
• Ensure that they eat healthy food and drink plenty of water
• Ensure that they go to bed at a reasonable time and get enough sleep
• Ensure that they revise thoroughly for both the mock and final examinations.

You can contact your child’s Learning Manager if you wish to discuss any GSCE related issues.

Certificates

Certificates from before 2016: In accordance with the JCQ regulations certificates from previous years are not held for longer than 12 months after they are awarded. If you have lost, misplaced or did not collect certificates then you must approach the individual awarding bodies for replacements. The school cannot do this for you it is on an individual basis.

Revision Tips

• 1 – Get Organised
  Start your revision early and make sure you know all the dates of your exams. Check for revision sessions being held by your teachers – you can be sure there’ll be at least one for each department every week. Make sure you’ve got everything you need – textbooks, notes, past papers, pens etc – and log-on to the exam board website for even more information.

• 2 – Go Public
  Make a revision timetable on a large piece of paper and post it up somewhere at home that everyone can see it. That way, everyone knows what you are meant to be studying and when. Strangely enough, letting other people know your plans actually lightens the load, because then it’s not just down to you to motivate yourself and you’ll have better chance of sticking to it.

• 3 – De-digitalise
  You should unplug your computer or laptop, as it can be too tempting to go off roaming the wide, open spaces of Web-fordshire, instead of ploughing through Pythagorus’ Theorem. It is also important to turn off your mobile phone (one distraction too many). Of course, a ten minute ‘surfing’ break every now and then will help but be strict with yourself and go back to your revision.

• 4 – Come up with mnemonics
  The word stands for Make Names Easily Memorable by Organising Nominated Initial Characters. The website Student UK suggests My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas as a way of remembering the nine planets in order of distance from the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). Try and come up with names or phrases that will help you – or ask your teacher to help you.

• 5 – Believe in bananas
  Take a leaf out of the top tennis players’ book and make use of this potassium-rich performance-enhancer to raise your energy levels. When Federer and Nadal need a lift, they don’t reach for a courtside cup of black coffee or can of energy drink, they dip into their kitbags and unzip a banana.

• 6 – Quality time
  Ask friends over for a revision session. With things like dates and vocabulary, it’s always better if someone else is testing you, rather than you testing yourself (and peeking at the answers) – but make sure you stick to the subject!

• 7 – Watch television
  Of course you shouldn’t try to learn the periodic table of chemical elements while watching Friends reruns or a TOWIE special. But that doesn’t mean you cannot record a favourite programme and watch it as a treat, between your revision sessions.

• 8 – Keep Healthy
  You can do all the revision in the world but if you fall asleep in the exam because your revision runs into the early hours, it’ll count for nothing! Eat well, exercise regularly and make sure you get enough sleep in the run up to your exams to give yourself the best possible chances to achieve your potential.

Exam FAQs

My timetable is wrong – how do I change it?
If you think an exam is missing or if you’ve been entered for the wrong one, you will need to speak to your teacher or the Head of Department for that subject. The exams office can only change a student’s exam timetable on instruction from a member of the teaching staff.

Where will I be sitting and what time do I have to be there?
For every exam, the seating plans will be on display in the afternoon prior to each exam on the outside window of the learning managers’ office. It will also be displayed in the main hall on the morning of registration for the exam.Your timetable will show you the start time of the exam but you must be at the exam room AT LEAST 15 minutes before the start time.

I’ve got more than one exam at the same time – what happens?
You will usually be able to take one exam straight after the other but if this is not possible, the exams office will speak to you and arrange for one of your exams to be moved to earlier or later in the day – you will also be supervised between the exams to make sure the security of the exam is maintained.

What do I do if I’m late for my exam?
Firstly, don’t panic! If you arrive less than half an hour late, go straight to your exam room – the invigilators will make sure you can start your exam as soon as you arrive. If you arrive more than 30 minutes late, go to the Attendance Office and a member of staff will bring you to the exam room.

What if I am ill?
If you are ill before the exam, or after the exam has started, speak to the exams officer or one of the invigilators. If you are too ill to come in for your exam, please let the exam office know before the exam or as soon as possible afterwards – if you are absent from an exam without valid reason, your parent/guardian may be charged for the cost of the exam entry.