Year 11
Welcome to the Year 11 Support Page
Here you will find all the useful information you might need for the months leading up to your final exams.
This page will be updated as new information is available so please check regularly.
Thursday 5th September – Exam Preparation Evening
Your parents were given lots of good advice and guidance to help provide you with the best possible conditions at home. They have a key role in helping to support you throughout this year and will be talking to you about things that will help you on your journey.
A copy of the presentation slides is below – please refer to it as you need it. Your parents will also want to refer to it.
Exam Preparation Evening Presentation
We would like you to talk to your parents this weekend about your targets for the year (7th and 8th September). When you have agreed the targets you are aiming for, complete the target sheet below (or your own version) and put it up on the wall. You then need to keep returning to this with your parents.
My Big Goals 2024-25Your parents received a revision pack from us last night which they will have given to you when they returned home. Please keep this pack with you at all times in your blue folder. An online version of the pack is below.
WSE Effective Exam Preparation Guide 2024-25Year 11 Booklet Mocks Term 1 2024Y11 English - ACC KO
Y11 English - AIC KOY11 English - Macbeth KO
Y11 English - Overview of PoemsY11 Maths - Key Vocabulary Revision Autumn 1 KO
Revision
Mapping out the task
It is important to have an idea of the task in front of you. Write down the subjects you are entered for. For each one write down the papers you have to take and the themes, topics or style of each paper. Each subject will normally break down into anywhere between 5 and 10 topics write those down too. If you don’t know these things find them out ASAP. Perhaps use the links at the bottom of the page to take you to the exam spec if you don’t have it anywhere else, but knowledge organisers and revision guides can be useful for this too. Then you just need to look at this for a moment. There is a lot to know. You need to get organized and get started.
What to do if you just can’t get started
Firstly, you need to get motivated. No one wants to revise. We would all rather go out – to a friends, shopping, to the beach – or just relax, watch TV, play a game, or just be on our phones! However, we all know that anything worth achieving can involve some effort. And sometimes the more effort you put in, the prouder you will be of yourself at the end, and almost certainly the better the outcome will be.
You need to realise that the exam results you get at 16 make a big difference to what you get to do next and stay with you for a long time. They are often the first thing an employer looks at. Do you want other people to think you are not as good as you really are? If you haven’t studied hard up to now don’t worry, with effort you will catch up. You are going to prove you can do it, and believe me the effort is worth it.
For many of you, if you are going to achieve the grades you need to take the next step in your education you need to try hard over the coming months. You need to revise. On any journey, however large it is essential to take the first step. If you know you haven’t been doing enough then as you are reading this, set yourself some easy achievable targets for today, for tomorrow and for the coming week. Can you do more hours of revision this week than last? And then more the week after that? Probably, you can, so do it.
Keeping going
Set yourself some targets. Decide on what your rewards should be. Involve your parents or carers so they can help reward you when you achieved a certain amount of revision. Keep a record of how much you did as well as how much you are going to do. It can be very motivating to see how much you have already done, rather than focus on how much you still have to do.
If you’ve written some revision notes or made some revision cards bring them in, show your teachers. If you know you’ve learnt something and you feel proud about it or got a family member to test you on something and you did well, tell your teacher about it. They will want to know!
Work with a friend. Some subjects (maths and languages spring to mind) can be tough to study alone, but much more effective to work with a partner. Working with someone else can help break up the days and add a bit of variety.
Work on as well as off the computer. The internet is a wondrous thing – but it can eat away at your time. Use technology to help you, to find things out or for using the various learning apps we have, but pen and paper, highlighters and colours is just as important for retaining information. You can’t take the internet into the exam remember!
Prioritising
It is human nature to spend more time on the things we like and less time on the things we don’t. however, with revision you have to battle against this. It is usually better to spend more time on the things you know are a weakness rather than a strength. It is also usually better not to spend an equal amount of time on each chapter of a revision guide, but to work out which chapters are strengths and which are weaknesses and then focus on the things where you need more help.
Key dates
Obviously it is important to be on top of things. You should definitely write a revision plan and you should have your official exam dates posted up at home where everyone can see them so that people can be extra nice to you at the right time! And so that you don’t forget!
Last full day in school
Every year we get asked about study leave. There is no longer “Study Leave” in the traditional sense that parents would have had when they were at school. Students will be expected in school for all of their timetabled lessons up until Friday 23rd May.
Year 11 Prom
The date of your Prom 2024-25 is Friday 27th June - further details to come!
Resources
KS4 Exam Board Information September 2024
The Exams Office video guidance for students
How to use flashcards correctly using the Leitner System
Apprenticeship Vacancies
Live apprenticeship and traineeship vacancies across the South region, and all vacancies can be found using the link below:
Latest Apprenticeship Vacancies