Summer Holidays - time to loose all those skills

The summer holidays come and for many students this is 6 weeks when they can relax, recover, go on holiday and forget about school and school work. This is so true because when the Autumn terms starts in September 3-6 months of recent work and skills will be lost and much of this work will have to be re-learnt and done again.

Although the summer holidays are good fun for students in year 10 going on to year 11 and those moving from AS to A2 this can be crucial. Some parents keep me on as a tutor though out the summer holiday to ensure that their children do not fall behind and loose too much knowledge.

If you can't do this then try to spend a day a week looking at each of your subjects, I would suggest 30 mins to 1 hr a week on each subject. spending just and hour a day, keeps the facts and skills in your head to that all that hard work does not melt away,

Exam Techniques

PANIC. Before the exam. This is Good. This might motivate good revision.
If you have revised well then you are well prepared.

• Check what exam you have the next day.
• Revise for that exam.
• Prepare everything you need to take to the exam.
• Get a good nights sleep before the exam. Go to bed a bit earlier and don't do any revision 1/2 hr before going to sleep.
• Have a good breakfast. If you don't normally then this is a good time to start.
• Read the front of the exam paper thoroughly. This reminds you of how many questions to do in each part.
• Read each question through to the end BEFORE you answer the question to make sure that you put the right answer in each part and do not get ahead of yourself.
•  In some papers the harder and more marks questions are at the end, These are often longer and take more time, so plan out your time - how much time for each question. 
• A wrist watch is excellent here for timing. You won't be allowed your phone. A watch with a second hand helps with the timing. If it helps take it off and put it on the desk in front of you.
• Answer all the questions you can. If you can't do a question then leave it and come back to it.
• Make sure all the keywords for this topic/section are used
• If you are running out of time then bullet point the facts
• For an essay question plan it first. Jot down a few notes. You can then refer to these in case you forget one as you write the essay.
• Come back to the questions you can't do. 
• Put down some answer. It might just be right. 
• If you have no idea than put down any relevant keywords or phrases.
• In some papers (like Maths) working from the back to the front can help. The harder/longer questions are at the back of the paper and you get these over when you are freshest and the easier ones come later.
• When your finish go back and check your answers. Read the question again and check you have answered what was asked.
• Remember ....  RTFQ Read the F..... Question
• RYA Read you answer. I often feel I am the first person to read what you have written
• Sometimes it right to go with your gut feeling answer to a question. It is often the right choice.

Last minute revision - what can you do to boost a grade

Different subjects require different techniques, but here are some ideas.

• Get some cards and write down facts about a topic 
• Important - One card per topic
• Write down keywords and their definitions write the definition on the back. It helps you learn it.
• Learn these facts- read them out loud. It is better with an audience, such as the dog or cat
• Now give the cards to someone and get them to test you. This is the only way it works.
• Get some past papers and have a go at doing them under pretend exam conditions - you don't have to do the whole paper just a few questions. 
• Look at the mark scheme. See what the examiners want.
• Check the facts of your answer. If you don't know enough then get some more cards and write down more facts and start the process again learning these facts.
• Run out of papers to do - then try some questions on the same topic from another exam board. Remember that that examiners will never give you the same questions as in a previous paper but often a variation on a theme.

Using Lego to Teach - Basic Levers

The basic Lego lever. A few brick and a pivot is all that is required. The pivot needs to allow the bar to more freely.

A homemade lego weight using a lego rock filled with 1p's. This gives enough weight (load) to be noticed using a finger as the effort.









 A first class lever. Press on the yellow flat brick.










A second class lever such as a wheel barrow. It is necessary to lift under the flat yellow plate.










A third class lever such a fishing rod or tweezers for a pair of third class levers. It is again necessary to lift under the yellow plate.

Using Lego to teach - Lever Arm Balance

Lego can often be used to create many instruments that are expensive to buy or who will be used so little that the cost cannot really be justified. That's where creating an object like this Lever Arm balance - that really works is well worth it.

Lego do make one of these in one of their educational sets, but I just made mine from a collection of Lego that I had.

The lever is an example of a first class lever. The car wheel is used as the counterbalance. The balance can accurately weigh up to about 200g in this configuration. If another wheel is used then far more. In the 0-200g range the balance is accurate and quite sturdy. The scale was made from a piece of paper and calibrated using a series of known weights.

Good books for science GCSE

 I am often asked which books I recommend for GCSE Science. These books are very visual but have a large amount of content. These books are written for all syllabuses ( AQA, Edexcel and OCR) and thus cover all the different GCSE's in three books. These books are for Single, double and triple science. They also cover most of the material for the 21st Century syllabus as well.
Each Chapter is well laid out with images and a good deal of well displayed facts. There is also a substantial amount of text as an explanation. This is much better than some of the normal students books which do not give enough material. These books provide some background material which is otherwise

missing from their school books.
At the end of each chapter there is a summary with some missing word to complete and some questions. At the end of each topic there are some past  paper questions and others from all boards.
These represent good books at a good price to cover all the different boards syllabus.
Each book has plenty of images both pictures and graphics to show or explain each different situation.
Hemel Private Tuition

Private Tutoring Boosts grades

If you want to improve your grades then a Private Tutor seems a good idea. An hour with a private tutor and your grades shoot up from a U to and A*.

Unfortunately this is not the case.

The tutor may know the yllabus and the work and may be able to explain it differently to you than your teacher did, which will help you to understand what you didn't learn in class.. The tutor has only you and you to full concentration. Your grade might go up a bit, but to go up more then you need to do some work as well.

You now have a better understanding of the subject but now you need to learn this work.

How do you learn this stuff.

1. Make notes of what the tutor says. The tutor may make notes but you also need some.
2. Read through these notes a few times.
3. Read the notes again another day.
4. Do some practice questions.
5. Get these questions marked with someone telling you waht you did wrong.
6. On another day do these questions again just after you have re-read your notes.
7. Try some more questions.

With a Private Tutor for a few weeks and doing all of the above, you grades will soar.

The Learning still has to be done, but guided learning makes things easier.