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Reading Blue Coat School
Year 9 Examinations 2015
Revision Handbook
Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Biology
Revision should be undertaken in line with the Edexcel IGCSE Biology syllabus, which can
be downloaded from the Internet.
In addition, syllabus dividers (stuck into a pupils blue exercise book) outlines the IGCSE
syllabus requirements at the start of each topic studied.
Class notes, experiment accounts, the textbook, past exam questions and Unit Tests should
all be used for revision.
The following topics (which will be the contents of both blue and green exercise books) will
be examined in the Year 9 Summer Examination:
Topic
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Textbook pages
Life Processes.
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Variety of Living Organisms.
Cell Structure, Specialisation and
Organisation.
Movement in and out of cells.
Biological Molecules and a
Balanced Diet
Enzymes
Nutrition in Humans
16 - 22
1 – 3 and 11 - 15
9 – 11 and 122 - 126
37 - 45
3-6
46 - 51
Nutrition in Plants
109 - 119
The examination will consist of past examination questions, similar to those used for Unit tests
and Homework examination questions used for assessment throughout the year.
Making short revision notes or devising small tests, based on a pupil’s class notes, can be
some of the most effective means of revision. Simply reading through notes or texts, often
fails to enable a student to recall the detailed information required for IGCSE.
Studying past tests and homework questions is a valuable resource to use.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Chemistry
The list below covers the topics that can appear in the end of year Chemistry exams.
The exam will examine skills through a variety of question types, similar to those found in the
class tests.
A comprehensive guide to the Chemistry examinations with references to the text book,
IGCSE specification and the breakdown of topics covered can be found on the School
intranet.
Your Science Examinations are used to help to put students into appropriate sets for Years
10 and 11. Ensure that you are familiar with the material covered so that your results are
reflective of your ability.
Topic
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States of Matter
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Atoms
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Atomic Structure
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Acids, alkalis and salts.
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Ionic compounds
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Covalent compounds
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Metallic structures
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Chemical formulae and equations.
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The Periodic table
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Group 1
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Group 7
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Hydrogen and water
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Relative formula masses
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Classics
The exam is divided into three sections, Section A, Section B and Section C.
Section A - Translation
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You will be asked to translate 15-20 sentences from Latin into English.
The sentences will include all the vocabulary and grammar topics covered this year
(nouns, verbs and tenses, adjectives, present participles, perfect passive and active
participles, subjunctive).
Section B - Context Background Questions
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You will be asked a series of questions relating to the background topics you have
studied this year.
These questions will all be in English and you will answer in English. Topics will include;
Fishbourne Palace, Egypt and Alexandria, Medicine and Science, Aquae Sulis,
Religion and Curses, Roman Roads and the Army.
There will also be a small section on Derivations of Latin words into English.
Section C - Comprehension
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There will be a story in Latin to read and then a number of questions in English
associated with the story. (The format for this section is the same as the
comprehensions you have done in the Cambridge Latin Course throughout the
year.)
All questions will be in English and all your answers must be in English and in full
sentences.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Design Technology
The study of Design Technology is the study of technical processes used in industry as well
as how the designer harnesses this knowledge to create high quality and responsible
design. To appreciate this is to understand how our Years 7 – 9 curriculum is structured.
During the year all students are set clear goals in terms of the technological processes that
they expected to understand and work with, as well as our expectations of their
understanding of the design cycle. These two separate elements therefore make up the
content of the summer examination.
Revision for the summer examinations will take place with your son’s teacher during class
time in the lead up to the examination but it is also expected to take place at home
principally using the comprehensive coloured A4 teacher handouts that students carry in
their work folders as well as their homework sheets. Each year is part of a larger scheme of
work leading both to GCSE and A Levels.
Students should be able to (re the Toy project):
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analyse products on the market appropriate to a given brief
consider how design and technology affect the user
consider the importance of health and safety issues
consider the needs of the user when designing
use product analysis techniques to make critical judgements about products
consider ergonomics and anthropometric data when designing
generate a product brief influenced by a given situation
generate a product specification influenced by research
look to be creative, innovative and adventurous when designing
select and specify appropriate materials, quantities and sizes for a given design
produce a sequence of instructions (plan for production) that would allow for
manufacture of a product
select and use the most appropriate techniques and processes to make a product
Understanding processes used and subject specific vocabulary applied to the following
(re Pen & Toy projects):
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marking out and cutting materials
the basic use of cams
methods of joining wood
preparing and finishing wood
using wood turning and centre lathes / differences and similarities
the use of a pilar drill and a jig
epoxy resin
the use of a buffing wheel
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
English
Structure of Exam
The exam paper will be 90 minutes long.
There will be a Section A, which assesses reading skills, and a Section B, which assesses
writing skills.
Both sections are equally weighted.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar are assessed in Section B.
The skills being assessed throughout the paper are taken from the reading and writing
objectives you have been working towards all year.
Areas to Study and Revise
You must be prepared to answer questions on a piece of unseen prose, with a particular
focus on characterisation and setting.
You will be asked to write a formal letter with a persuasive purpose.
General Advice
All answers should be completed using a black or blue pen.
You should write in full sentences.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
French
The examination that you will take during the school examination week will have two
papers : a reading comprehension paper and a writing paper. You will also have an
individual speaking exam with your teacher and a listening comprehension exam. These
will take place in class time and your teacher will advise you as to the exact date.
Listening/Reading : These tests will include items on the following main topics:
• making arrangements to go out
• holiday activities
• holidays and trips out in the past tense
• recognition of different tenses
The reading paper will also include some exercises that are more general in nature.
Speaking: Your speaking test will be made up of a role-play card based on a day out for
which you will have to use the past tense.
You will have to use regular and irregular verbs with “avoir”, as well as “être” verbs. The oral
card will contain 5 boxes like the one below. Each box contains three pictures and each
picture has the verb construction underneath it. You will have to relate the day out in the
past tense, ensuring that you use the correct verb form. To score higher marks, you should
aim to use some linking expressions and time phrases. Your teacher will also ask you a few
unexpected questions, such as asking you for your opinion on an activity that you did.
Your oral card will have five boxes like this one that describe a day out:
aller à Paris
voyager en avion
visiter un musée
To revise for this speaking test, you must ensure that you know which verbs take AVOIR and
which verbs take ETRE in the past tense. You should also learn any irregular verbs.
Writing : For the writing test you should revise the following topics :
• making arrangements to go out – specifically, asking people if they want to do an
activity
• a short, structured piece with tense changes – using past, present and future tenses (this
is an unprepared piece)
• an exercise where you will have to change verbs from one tense to another
• a longer, past tense piece about a recent holiday (this is a PREPARED piece which you
can LEARN for the exam). To score well here, you will need to include opinions, linking
expressions and a range of interesting vocabulary. It is, however, a prepared piece of
work.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Geography
Discovery Geography
Key Questions
Lesson One – Course Review and Preparation for Test
Lesson Two – Test (multiple choice and extended writing)
Lesson Three - Geography Heroes Past and Present
Who have been some of the world’s most significant Geographers?
What makes their contributions so special?
Could Geography save your life?
Lesson Four - Geography Flashpoints
What are flashpoints?
What makes understanding the geographical side of science so important?
Lessons Five and Six – The Arctic and The Antarctic: Presentation Skills
What are some of the key geographical features of the Arctic and Antarctic?
Who were the geographical pioneers who first explored these lands?
What future geographic challenges do these areas face?
How can key ideas best be presented to an audience?
Fantastic Places
Key Questions
Lesson One – Svalbard
What is life like in Svalbard?
What will the future hold?
Lesson Two – The Racetrack Playa
Where in the world is the Racetrack Playa?
What processes are responsible for the sliding rocks?
Lesson Three – Chesil Beach, Dorset
Where is Chesil Beach Dorset?
Where did all of the shingle come from?
What is special about how the stones are arranged on Chesil Beach?
How can we measure the sizes of stones from Chesil Beach?
Lesson Four – Central Park NYC, New York, USA
Where is Central Park, New York City?
What makes this a fantastic place?
Who are the different stakeholders ?
How can Central Park be managed sustainably and for the benefit of all?
Lesson Five - Fantastic Places Task
Where are your fantastic places?
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
How are these places different and similar?
How might these places be cared for and protected in the future?
Geology
You should use this list to help you to start revising for your end of year exam. You could also
use it to ensure that your exercise book and workbook are completely up to date and that
any work that you are missing is copied up. If you find that you are missing work please
come and speak to your teacher.
A more comprehensive revision guide will be issued in the summer term, before the
examination, but this is a basic list of the topics that we will have covered this year:
• Geology professions.
• Geological timeline – knowledge of periods including the relative ages of organisms.
• The rock cycle – including details of the three rock types and cycle process.
• Minerals - the tests to identify them and the properties of common minerals.
• Identification of some basic fossils – trilobites, brachiopods and ammonites.
• Dinosaurs – differences between carnivores and herbivores.
• Structure of the Earth – layers, composition, depth and state (solid/liquid/plastic).
• Continental drift and plate tectonics – including evidence for and against these theories
• Plate boundaries – the 3 main types: destructive, constructive, conservative.
• Volcanoes – effusive and explosive and their associated hazards, as well as eruption
monitoring.
• Earthquakes – P, S and L waves differences. S and P wave shadow zones and
seismographs.
• Tsunamis – explanation of causes, calculation of speed and effects on populations.
• An earthquake and a volcano case study – eg Kobe and Pinatubo.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
German
Students will do an oral, reading, listening and writing exam, with a 25% weighting each.
o Use regular and irregular verbs in the past tense
o Use verbs with ‘haben’ and ‘sein’ as auxiliaries
o Use inversion in the past tense
o Use ‘weil’ in past tense story (and if possible ‘wo’ and ‘obwohl’ )
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Describe a holiday last year: say where you went; how/where you stayed; how long you
stayed for; what you did; what the weather was like; give and opinion of the holiday.
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Describe a journey in the past tense (optional)
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Be able to change tenses: you will need to be able to swap between future, past and
present tense
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Revise modal verbs (konnen / mussen / wollen)
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Revise prepositions (little words):
nach + countries (in die Schweiz) zum /zur + places im +seasons
Weihnachten mit dem / mit der + transport (zu Fuss)
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Revise youth hostel:
Ask if there is a space; say how long you want to stay; say if you are boys or girls; ask if
you can hire sheets; say what meals you want; ask where something is in the youth
hostel; ask if there is a particular room/facility; ask if you can do something in the youth
hostel / nearby
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Revise stations
Ask when a train leaves and arrives; ask what platform; buy tickets; ask if you have to
change
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In the written exam, students will have to:
Describe a holiday (or journey) in the past tense
Describe yourself and say
What you like and don’t like doing
What you did last week
What you will / want to do this weekend
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In the oral exam, students will have to:
Perform a role play on both youth hostels and stations
Answer questions which you will be given in advanced based on jobs and pocket
money
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zu + Ostern /
Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
History
In the exam, there are two sections:
Section A: In this section you will have to answer a series of questions, using a selection of
sources. You will need some own knowledge in order to recognise and understand the
sources, and comment on their reliability. Handy tip 1: Read the question!! Too many
students lose marks through silly errors as a result of misreading the question. This year the
sources will focus.
Section B: in this section you will have to answer three essays from an extended choice. The
topics are detailed below. You should aim to revise at least four of the topics well, and
perhaps even a fifth, just to give yourself the best possible chance of success in the exam.
Handy tip 2: make sure your answer is focussed on the question set, and does not simply
“tell the story”. Your question may also have two parts to it, and you must address both
parts. If you fail to do this, you will probably not get more than half the marks available.
Handy tip 3: if your essay is a factor-based essay, perhaps focussed on reasons for or
consequences of a certain event, make sure you outline 3-4 factors. The very best essays,
and certainly those of students planning to take History GCSE, will prioritise factors in their
answer.
Please note that you may not have studied every topic on the list.
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Empire: reasons for the growth of empire, and the system of slavery
Empire: Britain and India
Empire: Britain and North America
The Scramble for Africa
Heroes: Napoleon, Wellington or Nelson
Population and urban growth in Britain
The Industrial Revolution and the factory system, and changes in: power or transport or
coal mining or iron and steel
The Agricultural Revolution
German Unification
Reasons for, and outbreak of WW1
Technology and WW1
The Treaty of Versailles
Causes of the Second World War
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
ICT
Structure of Exam
The exam paper will be 60 minutes long. The total number of marks available will be 60.
You must answer all questions.
Your quality of written communication is assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*)
You must discuss pros and cons and give opinions in your responses to these questions
Areas to Study and Revise
See study / revision guide on Intranet
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Benefits of working from home
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Hardware used in networking.
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Benefits of networking and network security (Wifi security WEP and WPA keys).
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Data Protection Act.
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Input / Output devices.
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Differences between WIFI and Bluetooth.
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Impact of the Internet on daily life.
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Security risks on the Internet.
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Backup / appropriate technology and appropriate decisions.
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How does ICT enhance education ?
General Advice
Do not use brand names. Example, do not say explorer or safari, say web browser.
Read ‘BBC News technology’ as often as you can to keep up to date so you can give
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
examples in your responses: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology/
Mathematics The end of year examination will test all the topics covered in the year; a list of topics is
given below. All students will receive a set of revision sheets which have a selection of
questions on each topic. Students will complete these sheets in class and for prep in
preparation for the examination. This is the minimum level of revision required. Areas that
students have found more challenging (either during the year, on previous half term tests or
on the revision sheets) will require more attention. Students are then advised to use their
notes and attempt extra questions, either from the text book or from the “myimaths.com”
website. Their class teacher is available for any extra help either in class, where possible, or
by arranging to meet during a lunchtime.
The only way to revise mathematics is to attempt questions – just reading their notes is of
little use, unless they apply what they have read to answer questions.
Topic
TRIGONOMETRY
INDICES
STANDARD FORM
ALGEBRA
Details (Please consult your note book for more information)
SOH, CAH, TOA
Finding Sides (Numerator & Denominator), Finding Angles
Angles of elevation; bearings etc
Multiplying, Dividing, Negative, Raising to a power, zero power .
Writing nos: in standard form (& Reverse)
Calculations.
Simple brackets; substitution
Solving equations
Problem form
FRACTIONS
SETS
AREA AND VOLUME
SIMULTANEOUS
EQUATIONS
Frequency
Distributions
Multiplying brackets
Four Rules
Problem Form
Algebraic fractions
Solving equations
Members of a set; no. of members; universal set; subsets;
complement; intersection; union; Venn diagrams.
Area of plane shapes; volume of a prism
Finding the radius of a circle
Graphical solution, Elimination method, Problems
Averages
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Calculate the mean
ERRORS AND
ESTIMATION
POLYGONS
Cumulative frequency
Estimation
Errors; limits of accuracy
Interior and Exterior Angles in polygons
TRANSFORMATIONS
Translation
combined transformations
FORMULAE
PERCENTAGES
Finding a formula
Percentage change, Increase/Decrease, Reverse Percentages
GRAPHS
Interpretation, Travel Graphs
SIMILARITY
FORMULAE
Similar shapes, similar triangles
Change the subject
Fractions
negative terms
squares and square roots
FACTORISATION
Common factors & Quadratics ( inc. the diff. of two squares)
STRAIGHT LINES
INEQUALITIES
Gradient, intercept , y=mx+c , sketch graphs
Using a number line
Solving inequalities
Graphs & inequalities
Relative frequency, Working out probabilities, Listing possible
outcomes
Exclusive events, Independent events
PROBABILITY *
*These topics are normally taught after the End of Year Examination and so will not be
examined.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Music
Composition
You will be expected to compose an 8 bar melody over a given chord sequence.
Performance
You will have to play a piece of music of your choice on an instrument of your choice. You
can choose to play a piece we have learnt in class. You will be assessed on accuracy
(including fluency) and musical expression.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Physics
Remember to bring calculator, pen, pencil, ruler, protractor.
The exam will be made up of ‘answer on the paper’ style questions.
Below is a list of topics together with the relevant sections of the syllabus to help you revise.
Please note that this is only an approximation of the topics we will have likely covered by
the time we get to the examination.
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Water waves
Reflection of light
Refraction of light
Electromagnetic spectrum
Sound
Energy
Kinetic theory
Conduction, convection and radiation
Velocity, acceleration and D-T graphs
A more detailed list of syllabus requirements of these topics is on the School Intranet. Find it
in:
Look in student area – physics – shared documents – iGCSE – End of Year examination
guidance.
The file is under the heading ‘Year9 SoW Student Copy.docx – student copy’
You will be given any equations that you need on the front of the paper.
Remember to read the question and to look at the number of marks before answering.
If you finish early, check carefully, making sure that your answers are as clear as possible. If
you have trouble reading your answer, we are certainly going to struggle.
If you have any concerns about the examination, do please ask your Physics teacher in
good time for you to revise appropriately.
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Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Religious Studies
Deity
THE NATURE OF GOD
Medical Ethics
ABORTION
• How God is described
• The concept of the Trinity
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BELIEF IN GOD
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The Ontological Argument
The Cosmological Argument
The Teleological Argument
The argument from experience
The Moral Argument
Challenges from Atheists (e.g. Hume,
Darwin, Dawkins)
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FERTILITY TREATMENT AND CLONING
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MIRACLES
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The concept of miracles
God as intervening through the
world: miracles, Jesus, the Holy Spirit.
Personhood (when is a life a life?)
Sanctity of Life
Abortion and the law
Pro-choice vs pro-life including
Christian views
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Different types of treatment
Link between IVF and abortion
Cloning (therapeutic and
reproductive)
Different arguments regarding these
including Christian attitudes
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ATTITUDES TO EUTHANASIA AND SUICIDE
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Different types of euthanasia
Case studies
Palliative Care
Different arguments including Christian
views
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USING ANIMALS FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
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How are animals valued in society?
Christian teachings and attitudes
Year 9 Examinations 2015: Revision Handbook
Spanish
Papers:
1. Reading and Writing
2. Listening
1. In the reading comprehension paper, you will have a variety of short extracts and texts
with questions in English which you will have to answer in English. In the written paper
you will need to be able to produce extended pieces of informative writing which
demonstrate a good level of grammatical accuracy.
2. The listening paper will be done in lesson time and will require you to answer questions in
English on the short extracts you hear.
Topics:
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Past and future holidays
Going out: holiday activities, cinema
Health
House and home
Daily routine
Household chores
Grammar:
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preterite tense including irregulars eg fui, hice etc and future tense, using the verb ir plus
a plus an infinitive
Use of the verb soler eg: suelo ir al cine una vez a la semana
Uses of the verb ‘doler’ eg: me duele(n) el/la/los/las
expressions for since – eg desde hace
prepositions – eg: entre, al lado de, enfrente de etc
expressions of time - eg: siempre, todos los días, a menudo, nunca
root changing verbs – eg: jugar (juego) fregar (friego) - 20 -