Christopher Whitehead Language College
Year 7
(g-band)
Exam Preparation ELP
Summer Term 2015
Date given out: w/b 05/05/2015
Exams end: w/e 22/05/2015
Help is available from your subject teachers
– ask for help if you need it!
Name ____________________________________
Learning Mentor Group _______________________
Introduction and Timetable
This summer all year 7 students will be doing a number of exams. These will be in
English, maths, sciences, German, history and geography. The students will have
been supported throughout the year to develop their skills, knowledge and
understanding in all their subjects. In order to be successful in their studies,
however, they also need to be able to learn that information and practise applying
this in response to questions and within new contexts. The purpose of setting
exams in these subjects is:
1. To monitor their progress in these, the EBacc, subjects and identify any
areas where further support is required to make sure they reach their full
potential.
2. To begin to prepare the students for the expectations of the formal exam
requirements at GCSE. This is especially important now that these exams
are linear. They will need to develop and practise their revision skills so
they are ready to take a large number of GCSE papers at the end of the
two years of study. This can only be achieved by thorough preparation and
hard work.
In order to help them to do this we are suspending all other homework and ELPs
for the three-week period between 5th May and 22nd May. They will be given
specific guidance by their EBacc subject staff, who may allocate specific home
learning tasks designed to support them in preparing successfully.
The exams will take place during normal timetabled lessons over a period of two
weeks according to the timetable below. All other lessons will run as normal.
p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
Mon 11th May
Tues 12th May
Maths 1
Maths 2
Fri 15th May
German 1
English 1
th
May
Tues 19
th
English 2
May
p.1
p.5
Thurs 14st May
Maths 3
Mon 18
p.2
p.3
p.4
Wed 13th May
Wed 20th May
Thurs 21st May
Fri 22nd May
Geog sets 1, 3, 5
History sets 2, 4
Science
Geog sets 2, 4
History sets 1, 3, 5
German 2
The remaining pages outline what to expect and how to prepare for the exams in
each subject. This is followed by some general advice on the revision methods that
research has shown to be most effective.
The History Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
What am I expected to do?




You will have one exam in history that will last for an hour.
Before this exam it is expected you will do revision to help you prepare.
Your teacher will help you with revision and will set you some specific tasks in the lessons and for
homework.
Your revision must be thorough and useful. You do not revise by just reading the material you must
DO something with it.
What should I revise?

Your exam will cover everything you have learnt since September.
o
o
o
o
o



The
The
King
The
The
Battle of Hastings and William the Conqueror.
Murder of Thomas Becket
John and his reign.
development of castles
Black Death and Medieval Life
Source Analysis:
You should write about:
CONTENT – What is it about?
ORIGIN – Where and when
does it come from?
PURPOSE – Why was it
made/written and who was it
meant for?
Any of these topics could come up in the exam so you must be prepared.
Revise each topic so your topic knowledge is good.
Revise how to structure your P.E.E paragraphs and how to infer from sources.
What type of questions will I be asked?



You will be asked a series of simple knowledge based questions like ‘Give three reasons why William
won the Battle of Hastings’
You will get one source question – this will test your skills at making inferences (suggestions) about
the source content. You should spend about 10 -15 minutes on this.
You will have one comparison question where you have to make a judgement. The key here is to include
your subject knowledge and give a balanced argument and finish with a conclusion. You should spend
about 15 minutes on this.
Where can I get some help?



You will have time in your lessons to help prepare you but you must revise at home.
Use your exercise books as this has all your notes and examples.
Ask you teacher for any further guidance.
The Geography Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
What am I expected to do?




You will have one exam in geography that will last for an hour.
Before this exam it is expected that you will do revision to help you prepare.
Your teacher will help you with revision and will set you some specific tasks in the
lesson and for homework.
Your revision must be thorough and useful. You do not revise by just reading the
material you must DO something with it.
What should I revise?

Your exam will cover everything you have learnt since September.



o Your understanding of what geography is.
o Map, photograph & graph skills and interpretation.
o Atlas skills and locational knowledge.
o Basic needs – water and food.
o Antarctica.
o Migration.
o Rivers and flooding.
Any of these topics could come up in the exam so you must be prepared.
Revise each topic so your topic knowledge is good.
Revise how to write using explanation and evidence to support your answer.
What type of questions will I be asked?



You will be asked a series of skills based questions asking you to complete, describe or interpret
information you have been given.
You will be given some simple recall questions, which will test your knowledge of some of the key
words you have used and things you have learnt.
You will have one question where you have to discuss an issue and explain your reasoning. The key
here is to include your subject knowledge as evidence, give a reasoned argument, explaining how or
why the issue has come about and finish with a conclusion. You should spend about 15 minutes on this.
Where can I get some help?



You will have time in your lessons to help prepare you but you must also revise at home.
Use your exercise books as this has all your notes and examples.
Ask you teacher for any further guidance.
The MFL Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
What am I expected to do?




You will have three exams in German; a 30 minute reading exam, a 30 minute listening exam, and a 45
minute writing exam.
Before this exam it is expected you will do revision to help you prepare.
Your teacher will help you with revision and will set you some specific tasks in the lessons and for
homework.
Your revision must be thorough and useful. You do not revise by just reading the material you must
DO something with it.
What should I revise?

Your exam will cover everything you have learnt since September.
o
o
o
o



Describing
Describing
Describing
Describing
myself.
my family.
where I live.
my school.
Grammar:
You should revise:
NOUNS – What gender is it?
ADJECTIVES – Where do they
go, what spelling changes are
there?
VERBS – Which persons of the
verb do you know?
Any of these topics could come up in the exam so you must be prepared.
Revise each topic so your topic knowledge is good.
Use your exercise book, vocabulary book and Doddle to support you.
What type of questions will I be asked?



For the reading exam, you will have to be able to answer questions based on information in texts; this
could be choosing a correct answer from three options, deciding if a statement is true or false, or
answering using a short sentence in English.
For the listening exam, you will have to be able to identify information from hearing it TWICE. The
questions will follow a similar format to the reading examination.
For the writing exam, you will have three tasks to do; translate from German to English, translate
information from English to German, and answer a question on one of the four topics covered this
year. This answer should be between 50 and 100 words.
Where can I get some help?



You will have time in your lessons to help prepare you but you must revise at home.
Use your exercise books as this has all your notes and examples, and Doddle.
Ask you teacher for any further guidance.
You will be given
a revision
booklet to help
you prepare for
these exams.
The English Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
Section A - This will be ‘English 1’ on your timetable
In this exam you will have an extract of a story to read and then 4 questions to answer.
You will be marked out of 40.
You will need to show that you can do the following:
 Find information in the story.
 Analyse how a writer uses techniques to create an interesting story.
 Look at how the writer has structured the story.
 Respond personally to the writing.
Section B - This will be ‘English 2’ on your timetable
You will have a choice of two tasks to do in this exam. You only do ONE of them!
The tasks will either be:
 Writing to describe.
 Writing to narrate.
You will be marked out of 40. These marks are divided into two main areas:
1. Content and organisation (out of 24 marks)
Content
• Communication is consistently clear and effective
• Tone, style and register matched to purpose, form and audience
• Increasingly sophisticated vocabulary and phrasing , chosen for effect with a range of
appropriate
linguistic devices
Organisation
• Writing is engaging with a range of detailed connected ideas
• Coherent paragraphs with integrated discourse markers
• Effective use of structural features
2. Technical accuracy (out of 16 marks)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sentence demarcation is mostly secure and mostly accurate
Range of punctuation is used, mostly with success
Uses a variety of sentence forms for effect
Mostly uses Standard English appropriately with mostly controlled grammatical
structures
Generally accurate spelling, including complex and irregular words
Increasingly sophisticated use of vocabulary
The Mathematics Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
Topics in mathematics are split into distinct categories and are studied in rotation
throughout Key Stage 3. Students will be assessed using SAT papers. The tests will
comprise of a mental test and two written papers, one calculator and one noncalculator. Your child will be expected to bring their own calculator. The papers
will be administered over three lessons and catch up sessions will take place the
following week in case of absences.
Listed below is a summary of the main topics covered.
The Science Department
End of Year Exam Guide for Year 7
What am I expected to do?





You will have a 45 minute science exam.
You will be expected to revise all of the work you have completed in science this year.
Your science teachers will guide and support you with revision.
If you have any questions about what you should be revising, both your science teachers will be happy
to give you some advice on where to start.
Remember the more thorough your revision, the more likely you are to do well!
What should I revise?

Your exam will cover everything you have learnt since September. This includes the following topics:
o Atoms and compounds
o Materials and mixtures
o Cells
o Living things
o Energy practical skills
o Adaptations and survival



Any of these topics could come up in the exam so you must be prepared.
Revise each topic so your topic knowledge is good.
Use your exercise book, learning outcome sheets and Doddle to support you.
What type of questions will I be asked?



The science exam will be in the format of a MCQ (multiple choice questions).
You will be asked a series of questions and you will need to select the correct answer from a choice of
4 or sometimes 5 answers.
Make sure you read the question carefully as some questions require two right answers to get the
mark.
Where can I get some help?




You will have time in your lessons to help prepare you but you must revise at home.
Use your exercise books as this has all your notes. BBC Bitesize and Doddle can help too.
There is a KS3 science revision club. This club runs every Wednesday after school in S14. Remember
to let someone know that you will be late getting home.
Ask you teacher for any further guidance.
How to Revise Effectively
There has been a lot of research done on how effective different revision methods
are. At a time when linear exams are returning, and students will
need to learn two year’s worth of information in order to be
successful at GCSE, it is important that they use the opportunity
that the key stage three exams offer to experiment and find out
which of the most effective methods work best for them.
The big message is:
However much we hope that this is not the case, the research shows that revision
methods that seem easy are unlikely to result in learning. Reading through your
notes and highlighting key words, for instance, has almost no benefit. It looks and
feels like learning but the evidence shows that it is relatively
ineffective. It is the trickier tasks, such as trying to remember
what is on a flashcard, that make for more memorable
learning. It is the ‘desirable difficulty’ of harder tasks that
proves to make for a longer lasting memory of the
information. We need to adopt the mantra:
So what methods do work better?
1. Taking notes can be very effective, but only if we do
not just copy out chunks of text.
 If you annotate your key points by interpreting what they mean it can be
very helpful.
 If you make connections between different points or draw out questions
or patterns from the information you will improve your understanding
and your ability to remember the topic.
 The Cornell method (bit.ly/Cornell System) can provide a good structure
for this.
2. Reciting can also be very useful for certain types of learning e.g. times
tables, quotes from books for English Literature. Reading, reciting and then,
importantly, testing can be very effective for key facts, definitions etc.
3. Mind maps help to clarify and organise a topic.
Many students find that the use of colours for
different sections of the mind map can help or the use
of highlighters to link themes within the mind map
can be useful. Mind maps are also very useful tools
for testing knowledge and understanding.
4. Venn diagrams can be especially useful when comparing
different viewpoints. They can also be used for testing
knowledge and understanding.
5. Lists can be useful learning tools when a number of points need
to be learnt for a topic. These can then be used for testing
whether the knowledge can be expanded upon effectively for an
answer.
6. Flashcards have been proven to have a big impact. They are particularly
useful for information retrieval practice. You can use them to test yourself or
be tested by others. It also allows you to focus on the things you
do not yet know once you have been through them once.
7. Testing really works. This can be practising questions or
testing specific knowledge. If you are disciplined
enough it can be done with a friend. Some people
learn best by speaking their knowledge out loud.
Remember:
Hard Work Pays Off!