[Frankster]

This thread is for those who are taking the Unit 1 of Bio Chem Phy next month in June. Please can people who have the papers from Jan 2012 post them on here as well as it is only gonna benefit us..

[Frankster]

Bump.

[gingerbreadman85]

Physics inc equation sheet insert

[gingerbreadman85]

Chemistry inc data sheet

Foundation paper to large to upload, find here:
http://blogs.thegrangeschool.net/sci...Foundation.pdf
http://blogs.thegrangeschool.net/sci...tion-marks.pdf

[gingerbreadman85]

Biology papers here:
http://blogs.thegrangeschool.net/sci...-H-Jan2012.pdf
http://blogs.thegrangeschool.net/sci...-F-Jan2012.pdf

Mark schemes attached

[Autumn953]

Are there any exam style compilation of those 6 and 4 mark questions on the web? I have looked up like there is no tomorrow but there is no material out there. Has anyone got any question papers/practice papers etc?

It seems I have nothing left to revise, I know all my topics well but the unpredictability of the new spec and its marking scheme is going to make me lose marks. I was scoring 100% in the past papers from AQA until last week. Now with this bombshell of the new spec has left me totally confused and I am this close to failing

I don't need to revise, I just need a full grip of what is expected of me in those questions. After all we are the guinea pigs and we have not formally been trained to approach these questions in the way the examiner wants us to. We can not do magic in these 5-6 days.

Please share any material from the new spec because that is my only hope now.

Hugssss

[gingerbreadman85]

New style of questions, so there aren't many of them. Not sure what your teachers have been doing for the last year though, we knew about the 4-6 mark questions since the specification was certified and i've been teaching my kids how to do questions like that for months!

My personal hints (what i teach my students):
-Know the course content.
-READ THE QUESTION, if they are asking you for 3 things and you give 2, you are guaranteed to get a MAX of 4/6, if not less. Know the difference between economic, social, ethical and environmental issues.
-Know your command words. "Evaluate" means to compare the pros and cons of the 2 sides and then give your own opinion.
-Don't write the same thing lots of times and be concise, unlike humanities subjects you can't just waffle, you actually have to cover specific points and if you spend half a page covering 1 and you need to cover 6 you won't get a lot of marks!

Which exam are you doing?

[Autumn953]

Thanks a bunch for the reply. I am sitting Maths Unit 2 on the 11th, Biology unit 1 on the 12th, Chemistry unit 1 on the 15th, Maths Unit 1 on the 19th and finally Physics Unit 1 on the 20th of this month.

Our teachers seem to have just found out about the changes made by the AQA, they broke this news to us somewhere in the middle of last week before the school closed for this holiday. Their parting words of wisdom were to revise well and practice a lot. When we asked for any exam style practice papers they asked us to visit the AQA site although they did not appear to be very hopeful. All my classmates are panicking

Now with the new specifications, adding 'heat' is not good enough, I think now we are expected to specify the temperature lol. That is just one example, there are so many such areas that could go unnoticed when I sit this exam. These opportunities to score are well spread out in the new paper yet well hidden at the same time for someone who has been practicing with the old spec past papers.

Not knowing the answer is no longer a problem, I have gone through the new spec by AQA and my knowledge bank is pretty robust. The problem is with almost all the questions where the student is expected to go that extra mile and satisfy the demands of the marking scheme. How will one know what one is missing out?!?! Such an exam technique requires practice over the entire year.

Your tips are great, thanks a million. It is kind of you to have cared to reply. Yes social, economic, ethical and environmental issues in various scenarios should become clear cut bullet points before I finish revision And your hint about the 'command words' .... simply priceless.

Thank you soooo much.

[gingerbreadman85]

These might be handy then, topic specific question packs for C1 and P1, and the AQA Command Words

[gingerbreadman85]

Physics (dont have anything on reflection/refraction though)

[Autumn953]

Oh wow wow wow. You are superb. I don't know how to thank you. This material is a gold mine. I bow to thee.

Super thanksss!!

[Crystallouise99]

thanks for the revision material. They help a lot !!!!

[gingerbreadman85]

No probs, they generally get used as class revision material or homework. All sitting on my memory stick.

AQA have an online compilation of past paper questions (called Exampro Extra Online) you can select from to make custom sheets like this. You can select by topic, type of question and difficulty of the question. I use it to make end of topic tests too. Teacher access only though

[you-only-live-once]

do you also have biology revision material? please post them too please
yeah, i can't access to Exampro it's only for teachers..

[gingerbreadman85]

Sorry, I usually teach Chemistry and Physics. We share classes and my partner teacher is pretty much always a Biology specialist. In 4 years i've taught biology topics 2 times, and B1 only once (this year, and only 2 topics of it) whilst i've taught C1 and P1 alone around 10 times each in the same amount of time.

I would barely know where to start putting questions together to cover the right points, whereas P1 and C1 I can probably recite the specification in my sleep.

[Autumn953]

lol @ recite in my sleep

I have attempted all the Chemistry material that you posted here. Yes, I made several mistakes but hey, that was the idea. Learning from mistakes rather than being a know all. Now I have a pretty decent idea of how to approach these questions. The command words document was solid gold.

Now I am saving the Physics material so I could attempt it soon after my Chemistry test on the 15th. Right now, it is Maths Unit 2 on top priority as that would be my first exam when the school reopens on the 11th.

Thanks to you I am feeling very confident about my Chemistry at the moment. You will be the first person I will inform about my GCSE grades

Hugsssssss

[Ketchup1702]

how much are you revising a day? im not sure if im revising enough

[Autumn953]

lol this means you are pretty keen. It feels that way just before the exams that we are not revising enough. Stay away from worrying, it won't do you any good. I am not revising much either, just taking as many practice papers as I can and learning from any mistakes. That is good enough at this stage. This is keeping me in the exam mode all the time.

All the best.
Hugs

[Ketchup1702]

Ok thank you


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Dan2749]

@gingerbreadman85
Hi there, It's nice to see some teachers that care about random students across the UK.
Just a quick question. We did the Physics Mock(January 2012). And I got 39/60..I should have got at least 43-45. But that's regardless. I checked the mark scheme and its only 44 for a A* and I think 37 or 38 for A. But for our reports, Our teachers have said they will put the UMS mark down. So 39/60=65% which is apparently our UMS. So picking up a A/A*..wouldn't be difficult I assume in that case. And what are your opinions on the chemistry aqa exam..what will be the boundaries be around..do you think?