{"id":10771,"date":"2017-07-28T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T14:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10771"},"modified":"2017-08-04T12:21:27","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T11:21:27","slug":"revision-guides-exam-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/revision-guides-exam-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you always wanted to know about Revision Guides and Exam Boards (but were afraid to ask)"},"content":{"rendered":"I have always told my kids that the secret to revision is to start as early as possible. It is no use trying to tackle nine or ten subjects a couple of months before the exams are due to start. Revision should go hand in hand with the course topics as they are covered, leaving the period before exams to go through notes, brush up on areas of improvement and work on exam technique. By the way \u2013 this is not a guide to help you find ways to motivate your moody teenager to sit down and revise, if you know the secret of that please bottle it and send me a case!\r\n

Main Exam boards in the U.K<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nExam boards are responsible for setting and awarding secondary school qualifications including GCSES, A-Levels and vocational qualification. There are five main exam boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with Scotland having one, the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority), which offers all Scotland’s qualifications.\r\n\r\nAQA<\/span><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>\u2013 the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance. AQA past papers portal can be found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nOCR<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> – Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations. OCR past papers portal can be found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nEdexcel<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> (Pearson). Edexcel past papers portal can be found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWJEC<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> is the Welsh exam board and is based in Cardiff. WJEC past papers portal can be found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nCCEA<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> – Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment and is Northern Ireland\u2019s awarding body for examinations. CCEA past papers portal can be found here.<\/span><\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\nSQA<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> – Scottish Qualifications Authority. SQA past papers portal can be found here.<\/span><\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\nMost secondary schools use a number of different exam boards for different topics and information about which exam board your child will be assessed by can usually be found on your school\u2019s website.\r\n\r\n \r\n

Why should I care which exam boards my child\u2019s school uses?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nIn one word \u2013 familiarity. If your child practices past papers from the exam board whose papers they will be sitting on exam day then they are likely to become more familiar with the style of the papers and how questions are typically worded.\r\n\r\nWhilst it is unlikely the same topics and questions will appear from one year to the next, it is likely that they will be framed in similar styles and the more comfortable and familiar your child is with those styles, the more likely they are to succeed. However it\u2019s also handy to simply access to more past papers \u2013 typically exam boards will only make the last few years of exam papers available so if your child wants more practice then by all means use another exam boards website!\r\n\r\nThere has some been news in the past about whether one exam board is \u201ceasier\u201d than another and some reports of schools putting pressure on exam boards to make their papers more straightforward or predictable. We\u2019re not going to go into that now \u2013 except to say that all exam boards are regulated by Ofqual<\/span><\/a><\/span> to ensure standards and fairness and any child gaining a good qualification from any of the exam boards should be congratulated for their hard work!\r\n\r\n \r\n

Revision Guides by Exam Board. <\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThere are numerous revision guides for all subjects and they are typically available by Exam Board.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ve found a great store on eBay<\/span><\/a><\/span> who offer a range of revision guides (don\u2019t forget to go via KidStart<\/span><\/a><\/span> to collect 15% back on eBay purchases)<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\n\"1\"<\/a>\r\n\r\nWordery on eBay<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> have a massive selection of revision guides, official past paper books with answers and other resources for students covering all the key subjects and main exam boards. Just a few of the titles available from their eBay store are listed below (or find them all in this eBay Collection here<\/span><\/a>):<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\r\nAQA GCSE Mathematics Revision Guide <\/strong><\/a>(\u00a34.56 with free delivery)\r\n\r\nWith Revision Workbooks for question practice and Revision Guides for classroom and independent study, our revision resources are the smart choice for those revising for AQA GCSE Maths.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"1\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nEdexcel GCSE Science Student Book<\/strong><\/a> (\u00a318.48 with free delivery)\r\n\r\nThis Student Book features high quality, engaging content to motivate and support students.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Helps students achieve their potential with a range of exam-style questions,\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sample student answers and step-by-step guidance on the new question types.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Provides in-depth support for Controlled Assessment.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"1\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMy Revision Notes OCR (A) GCSE Schools History Project<\/strong> <\/a>(\u00a38.96 with free delivery)\r\n\r\nCondensed topics into easy-to-revise chunks with tick boxes to track your progress.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revision tasks for each chunk of content.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sample exam questions for each topic.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exam tips explain how to approach each kind of sample question and common mistakes.\r\n\r\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Quick quizzes online at www.hodderplus.co.uk\/myrevisionnotes .\r\n\r\nThis second edition is for the revised specification for first examination in Summer 2015.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n

Other Online Revision Resources<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nBBC Bitesize<\/span><\/a><\/span> covers nearly all subjects ranging from Key Stage 1 through 3 and GCSE. Packed with useful revision notes, activities and mini tests it is a useful starting point for any child\u2019s revision.\r\n\r\nKhan Academy<\/span><\/a> <\/span>is a fantastic resource with helpful tutorial videos and explanations from qualified teachers. With an emphasis on Maths and Sciences Khan Academy tutorials are a great way for kids to understand tricky concepts with real examples.\r\n\r\nS-cool<\/span><\/a> <\/span>provides revision guides, question banks and even lets students create their own revision timetables. Registration is free and you can ask questions to other users of the site for tips and hints.\r\n\r\nStudyMaths.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0i<\/span><\/span>s one of many subject specific online study guides and is also packed with revision notes, worksheets, maths games and question banks.\r\n\r\nFinally don\u2019t forget to check what help and resources are available from your child\u2019s school. Many will have their own website or \u2018Learning Gateways\u2019 where course materials and other resources are made available to students. Revision and homework clubs are also a great way for children to learn the skills revision and independent studying.\r\n\r\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have always told my kids that the secret to revision is to start as early as possible. It is no use trying to tackle nine or ten subjects a couple of months before the exams are due to start. 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