Continuing from the previous post. I would like to share the resources we used to prepare for the exam. We chose 'O' Levels because of its international standing as an universal completion-of-school standard. Early on we were advised by 'O' Levels experts to do Pearson's Edexcel syllabus instead of the Cambridge variant. We confirmed that both were accepted with equal weight and we liked London Board's Pearson Edexcel because the exam format for subjects we wanted had only 2 papers, such as Biology Paper 1 & 2 instead of Cambridge's 3 or 4 exam paper formats. Edexcel's curriculum we found was also lighter weight and more tailored for current general qualification; Cambridge is a legacy standard.
If you are a teacher (or if you are a student) looking to prep students / yourself for 'O' Levels–Edexcel, here are the basic steps I would recommend that worked for us:
Step 1
Go to Edexcel's website (click here) and for all the subjects that you need, get their curriculum content, past exam papers and marking scheme (the examiner's report is not necessary). Get the grade boundaries for subjects (click here for this). Understanding the grade boundaries is important to develop an answering strategy.
Step 2
Get one of these recommended textbooks for all the subjects from your local book store or Amazon.com at the following links: Biology, Chemistry, Physics. Maths.
Step 3
Read the textbooks (of biology, chemistry and physics) cover to cover. Don't worry about complete understanding or memorising of facts just yet. This exercise is just to familiarise with the subject matter and to get a glimpse of how the chapters relate to each other. Of course it is no point reading the Maths text book cover to cover. Maths is about practicing sums. I will discuss maths later.
Step 4
Use the past year exam questions (use about 2-3 sets, or 4 to 6 papers), analyse the questions and organise them according to the sections and chapters of the syllabus, do this as early as possible–way before the exams instead of keeping this effort for last. Learn to answer the question according to the marking scheme and familiarise with how questions are posed from the subject matter. You will find after doing a number or questions that, while question are never the same year after year, the answers are about the same. Create notes on answer patterns, such as how to give answers to questions that ask to 'explain' or 'suggest' or 'describe' etc. Also learn not to 'over-answer'.
Step 5
Use Youtube videos as visual aids of the subject matter. It helps students memorise facts, laws and visualise how processes, such as chemical reactions take place. My students found that the best videos are often created by other students, not necessarily videos on Kahn Academy or TED Edu. Keep a list, bookmark, of all the best videos for later reference. Do this in tandem with studying the past year papers.
Step 6
Develop an answering strategy based on the grade boundaries. For instance if a paper provides 120 marks and has to be completed in 2 hours; it works out to a minute a mark, which is not much time for thinking. Using the grade boundaries to plan on the grade to attempt, either A-star, A or B, a student can plan to shed up to about 30-40 marks, thus gaining as much time to concentrate on answering questions they are most confident in and reducing stress during the exam.
Step 7
Create mock exams with unattempted exam papers reserved for this and gauge preparedness.
If you are a teacher (or if you are a student) looking to prep students / yourself for 'O' Levels–Edexcel, here are the basic steps I would recommend that worked for us:
Step 1
Go to Edexcel's website (click here) and for all the subjects that you need, get their curriculum content, past exam papers and marking scheme (the examiner's report is not necessary). Get the grade boundaries for subjects (click here for this). Understanding the grade boundaries is important to develop an answering strategy.
Step 2
Get one of these recommended textbooks for all the subjects from your local book store or Amazon.com at the following links: Biology, Chemistry, Physics. Maths.
Step 3
Read the textbooks (of biology, chemistry and physics) cover to cover. Don't worry about complete understanding or memorising of facts just yet. This exercise is just to familiarise with the subject matter and to get a glimpse of how the chapters relate to each other. Of course it is no point reading the Maths text book cover to cover. Maths is about practicing sums. I will discuss maths later.
Step 4
Use the past year exam questions (use about 2-3 sets, or 4 to 6 papers), analyse the questions and organise them according to the sections and chapters of the syllabus, do this as early as possible–way before the exams instead of keeping this effort for last. Learn to answer the question according to the marking scheme and familiarise with how questions are posed from the subject matter. You will find after doing a number or questions that, while question are never the same year after year, the answers are about the same. Create notes on answer patterns, such as how to give answers to questions that ask to 'explain' or 'suggest' or 'describe' etc. Also learn not to 'over-answer'.
Step 5
Use Youtube videos as visual aids of the subject matter. It helps students memorise facts, laws and visualise how processes, such as chemical reactions take place. My students found that the best videos are often created by other students, not necessarily videos on Kahn Academy or TED Edu. Keep a list, bookmark, of all the best videos for later reference. Do this in tandem with studying the past year papers.
Step 6
Develop an answering strategy based on the grade boundaries. For instance if a paper provides 120 marks and has to be completed in 2 hours; it works out to a minute a mark, which is not much time for thinking. Using the grade boundaries to plan on the grade to attempt, either A-star, A or B, a student can plan to shed up to about 30-40 marks, thus gaining as much time to concentrate on answering questions they are most confident in and reducing stress during the exam.
Step 7
Create mock exams with unattempted exam papers reserved for this and gauge preparedness.
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