Teach Secondary Issue 13.6

“Just like we rehearsed...” Mock exams are a standard part of every school’s GCSE preparations – but the closer you can get to simulating the real thing, the better, writes Ama Dickson …. O n the day that GCSE exams take place, it’s down to the students to showcase everything they’ve prepared for, up until that moment. Sitting in the exam hall, there’s no other time besides now in which to perform as best as they possibly can, if they wish to achieve that grade they’ll have often worked so hard for. Teachers and support staff no longer have any role to play at this point (bar invigilating). After completing all of those past papers, and after all the walkthroughs they’ll have practised and completed, it all comes down to this one moment in time. That bigmoment That said, given how the vast majority of school students will be sitting papers for multiple courses over exams season, it’s not so much that there will be just one moment they’re reliant on, but many, across all of the subjects they’ve studied – decisive moments in which they’ll need to showcase their grasp of knowledge before applying it as accurately as they can. It’s therefore perhaps best to see GCSE exams – from the students’ perspective, at least – as a process of putting on a range of distinct performances. Each 90-minute or 2-hour period students are given to complete their exam paper is akin to a make-or-break moment. In the same way that actors will carefully prepare and rehearse for that big moment when the curtain goes up, sensibly scheduled and rigorous exam rehearsals will afford students important opportunities for practising and perfecting the skills that will be required of them in the examhall, and therefore hopefully help them avoid any unpleasant surprises on the day. Stress responses Needless to say, exams can be an incredibly stressful time. It’s not easy to go from sitting in a class of around 30 of your peers, to sitting in a large examhall with up to 150 students, or evenmore. Once the exam itself is underway, the invigilators will typically pace up and down the silent exam room, occasionally stopping for breaks. They’ll be trying to move as quietly as possible, so as not to disturb the other exam entrants, but their presence can’t help but feel unfamiliar, strange and perhaps even intimidating. Past papers aside, might it therefore be worth holding one or more full exam rehearsals in the final run-up to the big day(s)? The environment of an examhall can easily provoke stress responses, given how large and overwhelming they can be. Maintaining focus in such large environments can be difficult enough as it is, and the high stakes involved don’t exactly help. Rehearsing the time that students will be spending in such environments can help them become more familiar with how things will be on the day, which could be of huge benefit. When it matters most, virtually all students will want any external factors that could affect their performance to be accounted for and controlled. Most will agree, however, that it’s the amount of study and revision they’ve done that will likely do most to determine how well they perform, beyond anything else. Timemanagement Full exam rehearsals can be valuable for the insights they provide students with regards to their timekeeping. An individual’s grasp of time management (or lack thereof) can, and will directly affect their overall grades and outcomes. They might not have been able to attempt all the questions, or cover all the points in their written response that they otherwise would have done, simply due to running out of time. Teachers will, of course, thoroughly walk their students through a number past exam papers beforehand, and usually provide exemplar responses during revision lessons – but advice specifically relating to the skills of timing that students will have to pull off “Studentswill want any external factors that could affect theirperformance tobe accounted forandcontrolled” 32 teachwire.net/secondary