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Your Guide to
GCSE
Examinations
Summer 2015
Updated April 2015
This guide is to help answer questions you may have regarding
examinations
If you have any queries regarding your examinations please speak to
your head of year or the examinations officer. The examinations
officer can be found in the office opposite the staff room.
PREPARING FOR YOUR EXAMINATIONS
Your subject teachers are available to help you with the preparation for
your examinations and many will organise extra lessons during lunch
times and after school to help you prepare. Make sure you know when
these lessons will take place, write the times in your homework diary
and make sure you attend.
In March you will receive your examination timetable. This should
contain details of all the examinations that you will take and it will
include the time and date of the examination. Please check this
timetable carefully. Make sure your personal details at the top are
correct. Make sure the examinations you expect to take and the
levels you expect to take are shown correctly on the timetable - It is
your responsibility to check your timetable.
Most language
examinations will show two examinations, Higher and Foundation, this
is correct as the level of entry is decided very close to the date of the
actual examination so the examination boards show both tiers of entry.
You will only sit the higher or foundation paper, not both. If there is
anything that you are not sure about or you think there is a mistake
please come to the examination office (opposite the staff room) with
your exam timetable.
SITTING EXAMINATIONS
It is important that you prepare well when you have an examination the
next day. Pack your pencil case and make certain you have all the
equipment you need for your examinations. Make sure that you get to
bed early – you will not do the best you can if you are tired.
Make sure that you know where you are sitting for your examination.
The seating plans will be pinned up on the examinations notice board
by the small hall (canteen) entrance. You will have a different seat for
each examination that you take. Please note that the time of your
examination is shown at the top of the seating plan, the times shown
next to your name are the expected finishing times.
You should report to the exam venue by 8.45 am for morning
examinations to start promptly at 9.00 am and at 12.45 pm to start
promptly at 1.00 pm for afternoon examinations.
Afternoon
examinations may run past 3.35 pm. If you usually catch a school bus
home and your examination is due to finish after 3.35 pm make sure
you know how you are getting home. You will not want to be worrying
about how you are getting home while you are sitting your
examination.
Mobile Telephones and MP3 /4 players or smart watches with data
recording facilities
Examination Board regulations state that mobile phones must NOT be
present in examination rooms, even if switched off in bags. Therefore
we ask students NOT to bring mobile phones to school on examination
days. However, we understand that for some students this is not
possible. If it is essential that you bring your mobile phone into school
it must not be left in your bag. The phone must be switched off and
placed on the designated table at the front of the examination venue.
This applies to MP3 players too as many of these now have recording
facilities. If you are caught with a mobile phone or MP3 player in your
possession or in your bag then you risk not having your examination
paper marked which will result in a U grade – it really is not worth
taking the risk.
LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT HOME OR HAND IT IN!
Meals
Students may prefer to bring packed lunches on examination days.
Students may get lunch in the small hall canteen before afternoon
examinations if they wish to. The canteen is open from 12.40 pm and
often opens early when exams are taking place. If a student has a clash
of examinations and they need to be kept under supervision they can
either bring a packed lunch with them or they will be escorted to the
canteen.
Equipment
Candidates are responsible for bringing equipment for each
examination, such as black pens, pencils, eraser, ruler, compasses,
protractor and calculator in working order. It is advisable to bring spare
pens, cartridges and batteries, and all equipment must be carried in a
clear pencil case or bag. Examination Boards require that all written
answers must be in black ink. No other colour may be used except for
diagrams or drawings. The use of Tippex or other white erasing fluid is
not allowed. English candidates must bring their school copies of the
set texts for English Literature. The school cannot provide equipment
for students who have forgotten to bring their own. It is a good idea to
make sure your calculator is brought to every examination. A common
mistake is to think you only need a calculator for Mathematics but you
will need it for lots of other subjects – carry it in your bag at all times.
Illness
If you are unable to attend an examination because of illness, the
School must be notified by telephone by 8.45am (for a morning
Examination) or 12.45pm (for an afternoon Examination) on the day
concerned. Examination Boards do not allow examinations to be
transferred to another day.
Clashes between Examinations
Sometimes there will be a clash of Examinations which is when two
different subjects are on your timetable to be taken at the same time.
You may need to take a morning examination in the afternoon, or vice
versa, once it has been agreed by the examination board. In these
cases you will be supervised at all times between examinations. As you
may not contact other students, you will need packed lunch and drink
and will be required to hand in any mobile phone/MP3 player.
EXAMINATION RESULTS AND CERTIFICATES
You (or your parents) may collect your results from the Sixth Form
Centre between 10.00 am and 11.30 am on Thursday 20th August for
GCSE exams and Thursday 13th August for GCE exams and you must sign
for their receipt. After 11.30 am results will not be available for
collection. They will be sent by first class mail to your home address.
Please ensure that the School Office is notified of any change of
address.
Queries about Examination Results
If you wish to query examination results you should first discuss this
possibility with the Headteacher or a member of the sixth form staff
running a results Surgery.
Examination Certificates
Examination Certificates are important and valuable documents and
will be required by future employers or institutions of Higher or Further
education to which you may apply. It is not possible to get duplicate
copies of your certificates if you lose them. All certificates will be
awarded at the same time, even if you sat some exams in Year 10.
GCSE certificates are sent to School by the Examination Boards during
the course of the Autumn Term. There will be a formal Presentation
Evening in December 2015 or January 2016, when you will be invited to
receive your certificates. Any certificates which have not been
presented will need to be collected from the school office. Exam boards
recommend that certificates are not posted to students as they cannot
be replaced if they are lost in the post.
Some common questions and answers
What happens if my bus is late?
Some parents like to bring students to school when they have examinations
but if you come by bus and it is late please try to let the school know that you
are going to be late. As soon as you arrive in school sign in at reception and go
to the exams office and explain that you are late for an examination.
I am not sure if I need a calculator for my science examination?
You can check with your science teacher – it is a good idea to always carry your
calculator in your bag in case you need it.
The person who is sitting next to me keeps sniffing and it is distracting me.
Invigilators will hand out tissues to students who need them. If someone or
something is distracting you raise your hand and let the invigilator know.
I am worried that I will get thirsty during my examinations.
You can take a bottle of water into the examination, take off the label so that it
is a clear bottle with no writing on it. If you get thirsty and have forgotten your
water ask an invigilator who will have a supply of water.
How do I know how many questions to answer?
You will have done practice papers and your teachers will have told you how
many questions you need to answer. All instructions are shown on the front of
the examination paper.
Why do I have to write in black pen?
Examination Boards are increasingly marking papers electronically and so they
need the answers to be recorded in black.
What happens if I am not feeling very well?
Tell the invigilator before the examination begins. If you think you may need
to leave the room you will be found a seat near the door. If you do need to
leave the room an invigilator will go with you.
I have a cold or hayfever and I have run out of tissues during my
examination.
Raise your hand and ask the invigilator for some tissues.
I overslept and will be late for my examination, shall I stay at home?
NO. As soon as you realise you are going to be late, telephone the school and
let the examinations officer know. Get to school as quickly as you can and
report to the examinations officer when you arrive. It is a good idea to make
sure you set your alarm or arrange for somebody to wake you so that this does
not happen.
I have finished my two hour examination in an hour can I go home?
No. The school do not allow students to leave examinations early. If you finish
early check that you have answered the right number of questions and check
your answers carefully.
What is isolation or supervision?
Isolation also called supervision is the term used when you need to remain
under supervision and it happens when a student has a clash of examinations
and one examination is being sat at a different time. It means that the student
is not allowed to contact any other student. Usually you will be in a separate
room with an invigilator or member of the exam office staff, you will have no
access to a computer or mobile telephone. You can eat and drink and revise
when you are in isolation.
If you have any queries or concerns during an examination raise your hand to
attract the attention of the invigilator. Invigilators are there to help you and
answer your queries.
If you have other questions please ask your head of year or the examinations
officer.