Mock Exams

Hi There,

I was just wandering as In School today the teacher was talking about the year 10 Mock Exams. What are they and what are they used for and are they important ?

Thanks For your help in this matter :wink:

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Reply 1

Mustard-man

Well the mocks will show your present performance in in terms of GCSE level. This may help them deceide which set/group you will be put in or what tier (foundation/intermediate/higher) you are.

Reply 2

anon53

At my schools, you will do two sets of mock exams during your GCVE Course. The first will be at the end of year 10. This will be used so that you and your teacher can see how you are progressing in terms of GCSE standards so far. The questions will usually be modified versions of past papers, focusing on the topics you've completed so far. It may help you to see how you are performing in relation to your target grades and which topics you need to put more work into before your real exams. It could also provide information for your teacher about whether you will be most suited to the Foundation,Intermediate (Maths only) or High papers. Hope this helps.

Reply 3

cybercool

so is it hard to get into the higher tier papers in Science and English ?

Reply 4

anon53

In both Science and English, the Higher papers are graded from A* (the highest to D (the lowest) with U being unclassified. There are advantages and disadvantages of taking the Higher paper, but if you are aiming for grades A*, A or B then you must take It.

The advantages of taking the foundation paper are that the questions are easier, so you have more chance of picking up marks, but the crucial C pass mark is slightly higher. This is usually the ones schools will enter you for if you are a borderline C/D candidate because you actually get a grade right down to a G on a foundation paper and it is actually easier to get a 'C'.

On a Higher paper, the questions are harder, but might provide a welcome challange for aspiring students. The 'C' grade pass mark is lower, but the questions are harder. In some subjects (e.g French) we took both the High and Foundation papers to see which we would gain the most marks from. I took the H paper in both.

Forgot to add that you will need to take the Higher if you are considering A-Levels in either three of the science disciplines or in English (either Language, Literature or combined) or a carreer in one of these subjects. I've now gonee on to take an AS Level (the first year ofv A-Level) course in English after doing the higher tier GCSE paper.

One thing that is worth noting is that (I think) you can enter for different papers for both English Language and Literature, but I'm not certain about this.

Enjoy your courses!

Reply 5

cybercool

If i want to take the science and maths subjects further then what happens if they decide to put me into the lower tier ?

Reply 6

Mustard-man

cybercool

so is it hard to get into the higher tier papers in Science and English ?

Right to the point- to be fair the higher tier papers arn't that hard to get into. Some teachers may enter you into foundation- like my teacher!! I had to pay £70 to change it, and if I didn't, I would of ended up with a C, but I actually got an A. But science double award isn't very hard, so you should convince your teacher to enter you into higher (if he/she doesn't).

In my english GCSE class there were only a few people doing foundation, so I think most students will be entered into higher.

Maths is different, theres the intermediate option as well, so there tends to be less people in the higher tier.

cybercool

If i want to take the science and maths subjects further then what happens if they decide to put me into the lower tier ?

Convince them not to like I suggested.
If you want to take science further, you normally need BB. If you want to take maths further, you generally need a B on higher, you might get away with it with a B on intermediate- depending on how comfortable your maths teacher is with it. Further maths usually requires an A at maths, but I knoe people who are doing it with a B.

If you get entered into lower tier, you will have no chance of taking the subject further. (But it really depends on the school- if it is a crap school then the requires maybe slightly lower)

Trust me, you'll regret it if you do foundation.

Reply 7

cybercool

Thanks for the info
They havent entered me into any of the tiers yet pleased to say :smile:

They are still deciding but really what are they looking at to decide the tiers ?

MOCKS-Sats ?

Reply 8

anon53

They will look at the results you have achieved in mock exams, end of topic tests and your attitude and commitment to the course. Seriously, don't worry - you'll be fine! :smile:

Reply 9

Mustard-man

cybercool

Thanks for the info
They havent entered me into any of the tiers yet pleased to say :smile:

They are still deciding but really what are they looking at to decide the tiers ?

MOCKS-Sats ?

also your year 9 key stage 3 test, and they might look at your CAT test

Reply 10

cybercool

gordon2002

also your year 9 key stage 3 test, and they might look at your CAT test

That was what I was worried you would say. :eek:

The CAT Tests :frown:

I done poorly in those tests and it stopped me from being in good sets in year 7 and 8 which I could have got more out of. Is there any way of doing something about it like is there gonna be another test like the CATS test . :redface:

Reply 11

Excalibur

Ah, don't worry about it... I generally do really bad in CATs test type of exams and I ended up with really low SATs predictions, but I got 877 in the end anyway. :biggrin:

You do another CATs in Year 9 I think, to determine which set you'll be in for Year 10. But really, it's not hard to get moved up even if you do get put into lower sets. CATs only assess your natural ability; if you did quite well in KS3, your end of unit tests and stuff they're not going to put you in lower sets just because of the CATs.

As for the year 10 mocks... yeah, they're basically mock mock GCSEs. In our school we did the foundation papers for the languages, and for the other subjects condensed past papers into just the topics we've already done. It may help teachers decide which tier to enter you in, but they don't matter too much. The ones that does determine the tier is your Year 11 ones in December, but even then, if you had done consistently well and just flopped up your trial exams, they may still let you enter higher tier.

Reply 12

cybercool

Hi there,

Thanks for all your replies.

I know that we did a CATS test in year 7 but were we supposed to have another one in year 9 ?

I really hate the CATS i wanted to be in the gifted and talented but my CATS werent good enough.

What are you reffering to as the end of unit tests and when did we do them ?

:wink:

Reply 13

Excalibur

We did Cats the week after the SATs, but that might not be a national thing. But I don't think the CATs really decided whether you were in G&T... I was put into G&T at the beginning of Year 7, before I took my CATs exams. Plus people get into G&T over time if you show that you're capable.

End of unit tests... well, when you finish a topic don't you have a test to go over that topic? We have a end of unit test for every science topic we cover, like Rate of Reaction, Metals, Forces, Plants, etc.

Reply 14

cybercool

Yeah the end of unit tests we do but i doubt they are used to put us into sets becuase I got the highest marks possible out of most of them throughout the year but I got put into an interevention class (not so good ) .

Dont you have a end of year test which decide which groups to put you in i unfortunatley got a 4high when i should have got 6 high.

:wink:

PS> What are the end of unit tests used for ?

Reply 15

sam12345

cybercool

According to the book "how to excel in examinations" practicing mock exams before the real one improves results by 15 percent for n average student on the average exam.
next if you ask me where to get the book don't just search for it on google

Reply 16

danni_bella

Just popping in to say best of luck with them, and remember to continuously test yourself! Like with min quizzes, they rock IMO :cool:

Helped me to get good grades in biology! :smile:

DB_x

Reply 17

Mustard-man

sam12345

what do you mean don't search it on google?!!?!?!? I typed, 'how to excel in examinations' and the first thing I saw was a link to it!!
--------------
Oh right, its not out yet

Reply 18

kellywood_5

At my school, and I think most others, you have two sets of exams before the GCSEs. We did the first lot in June of Year 10, which we just called Year 10 exams, and the second lot in December of Year 11, which were the mock GCSEs. Don't worry about them because the results aren't that important; they'll just give you and your teachers an idea of how well you're doing and which areas you need to work on. They will be used to decide which tier papers you sit, but classwork throughout the course will also be used, so if you happen to do badly in a particular subject you're normally good at, you wouldn't necessarily be put in for Foundation on the basis of that one bad result. Generally, unless your teachers think you'll struggle to get a C, you'll be entered for Higher. People tend to do better in the real GCSEs than in the mocks- for example, I got 2 As, 5 Bs and 3 Cs in the Year 10 exams, 1 A*, 4 As, 3 Bs, 1 C and 1 E (a real mixed bag!) in the mocks and 1 A*, 6 As and 3 Bs in the real GCSEs- so don't be disheartened if you don't do as well as you hoped.

Reply 19

sam12345

gordon2002

what do you mean don't search it on google?!!?!?!? I typed, 'how to excel in examinations' and the first thing I saw was a link to it!!
--------------
Oh right, its not out yet

The book is available at Amazon.com. They have a search box that says search for books where you can type in the title - how to excel in examinations - that takes you to the page where the book is available