Worksheets to help students practice key skills required for exams. Interpreting graphs Describing patterns Understanding and identifying patterns in tables Using information from diagrams Using physics formulae Command words All command words are highlighted/underlined to promote discussion. All graphs, tables and diagrams are from AQA GCSE exam questions including Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I have carefully selected topics so they can be used for old or new specification (first exams 2018). All the sheets alternate topics (Bio, Chem, Phys, Bio, Chem, Phys, etc) I have made them to be used as short form time activities but they could be used in lessons or as homework.

These 7 lessons are designed to teach students key skills they will need to complete science GCSE exams. Lesson should apply to any exam board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, etc). All examples (apart from a very small amount) are real exam questions or use real exam tables and graphs from old spec (A*-G) and new spec (9-1). Slides with blue headings are for information and students to take notes if you wish. Slides with orange headers are questions and activities for students to complete. Not all lessons will last a full hour and others may be slightly too long. You know your classes best so use your judgement. Lessons DO NOT need to be taught in order, but it would help to do lesson 1 first. Lesson 1 - Variables This lesson teaches students independent, dependent and control variables and more importantly how to identify them from tables, graphs and text in exams. It also covers continuous and categoric variables and which types of graph should be plotted. Lesson 2 - Conclusions This lesson teaches students to write conclusions from graphs and tables of data, what it means if data is directly proportional and the difference between describe and explain questions Lesson 3 – Comparing and Evaluating This lessons teaches students what to do if they come across the command words compare or evaluate and not just to restate the information in the question Lesson 4 – Graphs This lesson focuses on how to plot graphs, how accurate students must be, drawing lines of best fit and dealing with anomalies. Lesson 5 – Means, Significant Figures and Standard Form This lesson reminds students of the need for certain mathematical skills in all science (not just physics equations). It covers how to calculate means and check you’re right, taking anomalies into account and how to use standard form and significant figures. Lesson 6 – Writing Methods This lesson teaches students how much detail is needed if they are asked to write a method and the need to describe the use of the apparatus. Lesson 7 – Keywords This lesson teaches students about common misuse of scientific keywords. For example, when they say something would be more accurate when they mean precise.

Key facts that students need to remember for AQA Combined Science Trilogy Chemistry Specification. The first slide shows the questions and the answers. I plan to give them to students as homework to learn. Then in the following 5-10 lessons they will get the same questions over and over again to help (or even force) them to try and remember them. The following slides are therefore just the same questions mixed up. I plan to just project them on the screen to save printing. I think this is the same as knowledge organisers. I just couldn’t find any that didn’t seem to have too much on for my students as I don’t want it to put them off. There is a tracker if you want to use it. The cells will change colour depending on if a student has improved, stayed the same ot got worse. Physics ones are also available to download

Key facts that students need to remember for AQA Combined Science Trilogy Physics Specification. The first slide shows the questions and the answers. I plan to give them to students as homework to learn. Then in the following 5-10 lessons they will get the same questions over and over again to help (or even force) them to try and remember them. The following slides are therefore just the same questions mixed up. I plan to just project them on the screen to save printing. I think this is the same as knowledge organisers. I just couldn’t find any that didn’t seem to have too much on for my students as I don’t want it to put them off. There is a tracker if you want to use it. The cells will change colour depending on if a student has improved, stayed the same ot got worse. I might be making Biology and Chemistry but its a bit complicated. Watch this space.

A resource to help students see the difference in different level/band/grade answers when writing a method for an investigation/experiment in science. Students get given each method and must give it a grade and write ww and ebi comments. The powerpoint then goes through some suggestions

A PowerPoint with lots of examples of common mistakes made by students sitting P1 and P2 for AQA Physics or Core and Additional Science. Made after analysis of the examiners reports for the 2016 exams (and 1 or 2 extra I already had). There are 2 slides with each question: The first shows the common answer which is incorrect or insufficient for students to try and work out why it didn't score full marks. The second shows what needed to be added or corrected. I plan to use them as starters throughout the year to constantly revisit P1 and P2 whilst also teaching P3. Could easily be used as: Form time activities Starters Group work (each group gets a different one to explain what is wrong with the answer) Revision at the end of the year Plenaries (after the topic has been taught in lesson) I do plan to do this for other years of exams and possibly for Chemistry and Biology too. These are for legacy spec but could possibly be used for the new AQA specification (2018) but you would have to pick out the relevant topics and avoid questions that involve the data sheet as they are not given one in the new spec.

A secondary school science display to encourage a love of reading. I’m told the new ofsted criteria has a big focus on encouraging students to read. The books I have selected are not intended to help students learn the curriculum but just be enjoyable reads related to science. They are roughly broken down into ks3, ks4 and ks5 but these could easily be changed to suggest recommended reading ages or something similar.

A resource to help students see the difference in different level/band/grade answers when completing any extended writing in science. Students get given each answer and must give it a grade and write ww and ebi comments. The powerpoint then goes through some suggestions