Revision FAQs
All through this section in the academic year 2011/12, remember that you need 2006 specification (1st OUP edition) resources for year 12 and 2011 specification (2nd OUP edition) resources for year 11.
What is available for student revision for the GCSE Science course?
What is available for student revision for Additional Applied Science?
What is available for student revision for the Additional Science course?
What is available for revision for GCSE Physics, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Biology?
What is available for student revision for the Science course?
The Oxford University Press textbooks are of course a good place to start.
The Science books have a two-page spread at the end of each module setting out what students need to know. This includes both 'Science explanations' and 'Ideas about science'. See C21 1st edn publications from OUP and C21 2nd edn publications from OUP. Students could use a copy of these as a checklist of what they are confident about.
Teachers could use selective slides from the OUP Ipack / OxBox as prompts, getting students to identify key ideas in each module. Other prompts could be experiments, or newspaper headlines.
If you are a private individual you can order OUP textbooks via this telephone number 01536 452640
The OCR specification describes these requirements in more detail. You can download this from the OCR website - care over whether you want the 2006 version or the 2011 one.
If the student is using a C21 Science Workbook, answers for the 2006 resources are available online here OUP C21 website. Go to the section labelled '2006 resources'.
A useful revision guide for the Science course is also available from Oxford University Press. See C21 1st edn publications from OUP and C21 2nd edn publications from OUP.
See the past papers used during the Pilot for C21 Science, NOTING CAREFULLY the health warnings! (GCSE Science was then called GCSE Core Science) Pilot exam questions
And finally, teachers will have access to OCR Sample Assessment Materials for Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 at Foundation and Higher level GCSE Science sample papers, and end-of-module Tests.
What do you suggest we do to prepare our GCSE Science students for their Unit 4 (Ideas in context) exam?
GCSE Science Unit 4 can only be entered in June of each year.
As you probably know, Unit 4 has three questions, one each of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Each question relates to one of the GCSE Science modules. Different question types are shown in the Sample Assessment Material for Unit 4 on the OCR website.
OCR will post out the pre-release (stimulus) material for these questions mid-March. Centres should receive it before Easter.
After Easter, you could do one week of preparation as a department, rotating students around Biology, Chemistry and Physics specialists if you use them, or if not, one lesson on each subject area.
Here are some suggestions. You may have other ideas.
- Do a brief revision session on the module, using media headlines (contemporary if relevant) and images from the OUP iPack, to set the mood. Read through OCR's stimulus material and build up a spider diagram of key concepts related to this - either as class, or students working in groups using the textbook to help them.
- Question-spotting - each group comes up with two questions they could ask about the article - one a Science Explanation and one an Idea About Science. (The OUP Revision Guide might also be useful here, to generate ideas.)
- Go through the students' questions, then ask each group to come up with another two ... and so on, until you've exhausted it.
The teacher might have pre-prepared a list of, say, twelve questions. You could make this into a game - can the class get all questions on the teachers' list? (Be reasonably flexible about actual wording of questions - accept any question based on the same idea.) Mini mars bars all round if they get them !!
Remind your students that Unit 4 questions can be from any Idea about Science (IaS), not necessarily just the ones studied in each particular module, although these are by far the most obvious ones. For example, it is possible to assess IaS1 'Data' in a question about B1 'You and your genes', even though IaS1 is not explicitly taught in B1).
For weaker students, you might not push this last point. Focus them on just the Ideas about Science in the three modules that the stimulus material indicates.
What is available for student revision for Additional Applied Science?
The Oxford University Press (OUP) textbooks are of course a good place to start. The Additional Applied Science books cover almost everything students need to know and understand. Actively using the glossaries is particularly good way of revising. C21 Additional Applied Science Workbooks cover the specification requirements completely. For both of thesesee C21 1st edn publications from OUP and C21 2nd edn publications from OUP.
Answers to 1st edn Workbook questions are available on-line here (free) OUP C21 website - go to '2006 edition'.
The OCR specification describes these requirements in more detail. You can download the spec from this OCR web page OCR C21 specifications.
If you are a private individual you can order OUP publications via this telephone number 01536 452640
Teachers could use selective slides from the OUP iPack / OxBox as prompts, getting students to identify key ideas in each module. Other prompts could be experiments.
And finally, OCR Specimen and Past Papers for all modules at Foundation and Higher level are available online here: GCSE Additional Applied Science Specimen and Past papers.
What is available for student revision for the GCSE Additional Science course?
The Oxford University Press textbooks are of course a good place to start. There is an Additional Science revision guide available too. See C21 1st edn publications from OUP and C21 2nd edn publications from OUP.
The Additional Science students’ book has a two-page spread at the end of each module setting out what students need to know and understand. Students could use a copy of these as a checklist of what they are confident about. Students should do the questions which follow. When students have done the questions, the teacher can provide answers (available in the Additional Science Teacher & Technician pack).
Teachers could use selective slides from the OUP Ipack / OxBox as prompts, getting students to identify key ideas in each module. Other prompts could be experiments, or newspaper headlines.
If you are a private individual you can order OUP textbooks via this telephone number 01536 452640
The OCR specification describes these requirements in more detail. You can download the spec from the OCR website.
Students may be using the C21 Additional Science Workbooks. They should complete these and use them as the basis for notes of their own. Answers for the 1st, 2006 edition are available on-line here OUP C21 website - go to '2006 edition'.
And finally, here are OCR past papers
What is available for revision for GCSE Physics, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Biology?
As a start, see our notes on:
GCSE Science revision
and
GCSE Additional Science revision
In addition, OUP have produced a dedicated revision guide for each of GCSE Physics, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Biology. See C21 1st edn publications from OUP and C21 2nd edn publications from OUP.
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