The life-changing discovery of The Specification
Whilst my younger brother was studying for his end of year exams in Year 10, I went up to his revision basecamp (his bedroom) to discover him painstakingly scribbling out flashcards for (arguably) the easiest topic of chemistry - the periodic table. This is basic stuff. I kindly offered to test him on his newly made flashcards, to prove a point:
He could already recall information on the flashcard and more with ease and admitted he knew it already. As any big sister would, I helpfully informed him that he wasted the past hour and a half revising what he knew already instead of getting down the the gritty, challenging stuff.
He complained that he had no idea where to start revsising the syllabus, what even was on the syllabus, and what he would be tested on.
I enlightened him on the existence of the holy, sacred and wonderous virtues of 'The Specification'.
For those not in the know, which appears to be the majority of GCSE-ers, the specification is a document produced by the exam board that in clear, concise bulletpoints, gives the EXACT details of EXACTLY what you need to know, and in what detail. Every exam board ahs one for the qualification you are taking so check them out on their website as a priority before starting revision!
The specification is possibly the most useful revision resource I use - it saves me from wasting away hours on stuff I already know, or getting into too much detail for what the exam will require (if I get carried away by my nerdiness).
How do teachers use the spec?
The document tells yours teachers exactly whar they need to include in the syllabus they teach you - you may not have realised but this is usually how they plan their lessons. It's a way of ensuring they cover everything you need to know.
You should be doing the same - checking that you know the specification through and through will pratically guarantee you an A* as the exam board can't ask you anything else.
Disclaimer: I discovered post-Biology Paper 1, this isn't exactly true. There was a question on park benches, but lucky I knew they were really trying to get me to think about 5.4 (the use of pesticides)!
The expressions of everyone in the exam hall was pretty hilarious - I could feel all smug because I knew that the question wasn't looking for me to have an indepth knowledge of the upkeep of public furniture! My point is, that every question you get asked will relate back to a spec point, even if it's really obscure - so don't panic, if you know the spec, you can figure out the answer.
How do I use the spec?
Pretty much as a checklist. First of all, you're goign to need to print it out - I would recommend doing this double sided as the actual points section can be around 14 pages long! ( Be prepared for some intense print layout formatting and range selecting - I felt like chucking th printer against the wall seeral times before it printed out completely, back to back and in the correct scale!)
Once its printed, then I do as follows:
I'm currently in the middle of actually sitting my exams - 1st paper for each of the sciences is complete, so revision for paper 2 must commence. But how do I know what's on paper 2? you guessed it! On Edexcel specifications, paper 2 points are given in bold. So you can ignore them until you've got paper 1 out the way. I only mean ignore them for perhaps the two weeks before you sit Paper 1, but before then you should be trying to fix the info into your long term memory.
I have stumbled upon a couple of useuful websites that enable you to search the specification point number, and it will provide you with all the information to check that point off.
For example, for sciences search: 'Hannah help *the spec point number here*
Unfortunately this blog only caters for the Edexcel GCSE syllabus, however there are others out there!
Trust me, you gt so much satisfaction from striking things off your to do list, and you too can feel smug when you optimise your time to only revise the stuff you don''t get instead of wasting it on the easy stuff.
He could already recall information on the flashcard and more with ease and admitted he knew it already. As any big sister would, I helpfully informed him that he wasted the past hour and a half revising what he knew already instead of getting down the the gritty, challenging stuff.
He complained that he had no idea where to start revsising the syllabus, what even was on the syllabus, and what he would be tested on.
I enlightened him on the existence of the holy, sacred and wonderous virtues of 'The Specification'.
For those not in the know, which appears to be the majority of GCSE-ers, the specification is a document produced by the exam board that in clear, concise bulletpoints, gives the EXACT details of EXACTLY what you need to know, and in what detail. Every exam board ahs one for the qualification you are taking so check them out on their website as a priority before starting revision!
The specification is possibly the most useful revision resource I use - it saves me from wasting away hours on stuff I already know, or getting into too much detail for what the exam will require (if I get carried away by my nerdiness).
How do teachers use the spec?
The document tells yours teachers exactly whar they need to include in the syllabus they teach you - you may not have realised but this is usually how they plan their lessons. It's a way of ensuring they cover everything you need to know.
You should be doing the same - checking that you know the specification through and through will pratically guarantee you an A* as the exam board can't ask you anything else.
Disclaimer: I discovered post-Biology Paper 1, this isn't exactly true. There was a question on park benches, but lucky I knew they were really trying to get me to think about 5.4 (the use of pesticides)!
The expressions of everyone in the exam hall was pretty hilarious - I could feel all smug because I knew that the question wasn't looking for me to have an indepth knowledge of the upkeep of public furniture! My point is, that every question you get asked will relate back to a spec point, even if it's really obscure - so don't panic, if you know the spec, you can figure out the answer.
How do I use the spec?
Pretty much as a checklist. First of all, you're goign to need to print it out - I would recommend doing this double sided as the actual points section can be around 14 pages long! ( Be prepared for some intense print layout formatting and range selecting - I felt like chucking th printer against the wall seeral times before it printed out completely, back to back and in the correct scale!)
Once its printed, then I do as follows:
- Check off the points I know - seriously know - by heart, already, by crossing them through with a line. Any points I feel happy I understand, after revsising the, I will also cross through with a line.
- Circle any points that I know already are one of my weaker areas.
- Use any previously completed past papers to check which marks I lost and which of the spec points they relate to, then circle them also.
- If you're pushed for time (which you shouldn't be, because of your carefully thought out revision timetable), then prioritise the circled points and come back to the unmarked ones at the end.
- Ignore the points you haven't covered yet, or don't need to know at the moment for your next exam.
I'm currently in the middle of actually sitting my exams - 1st paper for each of the sciences is complete, so revision for paper 2 must commence. But how do I know what's on paper 2? you guessed it! On Edexcel specifications, paper 2 points are given in bold. So you can ignore them until you've got paper 1 out the way. I only mean ignore them for perhaps the two weeks before you sit Paper 1, but before then you should be trying to fix the info into your long term memory.
I have stumbled upon a couple of useuful websites that enable you to search the specification point number, and it will provide you with all the information to check that point off.
For example, for sciences search: 'Hannah help *the spec point number here*
Unfortunately this blog only caters for the Edexcel GCSE syllabus, however there are others out there!
Trust me, you gt so much satisfaction from striking things off your to do list, and you too can feel smug when you optimise your time to only revise the stuff you don''t get instead of wasting it on the easy stuff.
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