Top five tips for supporting your students during the mock exam period
For many schools and students, mock period is now upon us. Whether you teach a single GCSE class or multiple GCSE classes, we're here to support you and your students towards success.
1) Set revision homework using the Isaac content pages
As a teacher, you'll get to grips with your students' strengths and weaknesses while delivering your GCSE or A level classes. To set effective revision homework, you can use the data you have gained from previous end of topic or mock assessments to identify areas your students need to improve.
One way to implement this new form of homework is by creating a document for students to follow on a week-by-week basis with topics from Isaac Computer Science. Look out for the soon to be released Isaac Computer Science revision page which is aimed at Year 11 GCSE students to revise a topic each week before their end of year examinations. For instance, your students might keep forgetting what the purpose of the CPU register is – you then could use this page to support them.
2) Use our end of topic assessments to test your students’ knowledge
Through the Teach Computing Curriculum, we offer a range of different units to help you teach your students the content they need to be successful in their GCSEs. Following recent updates, we have now improved each unit where an end of topic assessment existed* and converted them into either Google or Microsoft Forms. Here’s just one example of an end of topic assessment you can use at key stage 4 to test your students’ knowledge on computer systems.
As well as the end of topic assessments, we also have the secondary question banks which have online quizzes for you to use with your students.
*Please note that not all key stage 4 units have an end of topic assessment
3) Attend a GCSE or A level booster event
We know having to prepare intervention and revision sessions can have an impact on your workload. To help you with this, Isaac Computer Science offer 15 different GCSE topic booster events and 10 A level booster events which your students can attend.
Booster events are for students who either want to revise computer science or are less familiar with the material and want a primer. Each session focuses on a different computer science topic and gives students the understanding and confidence to use the concepts involved during their studies.
Bring some extra energy to your revision session by hosting a booster event and featuring it on your main whiteboard! Get your students engaged by inviting them to log in to the meeting for a chance to enter the Isaac booster prize draw - an opportunity they won’t want to miss!
4) Use gameboards to check your students’ understanding
For each of the boosters, we have created premade GCSE and A level gameboards on specific topics that you could use with your students either in class or for homework. You could use these gameboards and the data they return on the Isaac platform to check their understanding before their mock in this half term
Remember that you can also make your gameboards from the thousands of questions available on the platform, so don’t hesitate – get stuck in today and inject some fun into your computer science lessons!
5) Revisit topics your group has found hard using the Teach Computing Curriculum’s resources for key stage 4
You may have already explored various resources to teach content initially and are now seeking a new approach. Remember, the Teach Computing Curriculum offers comprehensive lessons covering the entire key stage 4 GCSE specification. Often, students need to encounter a topic multiple times and through diverse methods to fully grasp the material. So, revisit the content, and watch your students thrive!