Exams

What you will find in this section

Tips to give to students on how to maximise their marks on each of the three exam papers
Specific details of areas of difficulty on Papers 2 & 3 and how to teach your students to overcome them
Fun ways of understanding objectives and using command terms
Full explanation of grade descriptors and grade boundaries
Examples of new questions with worked answers for experimental work on Section A on Paper 3

Advice and new questions with worked answers to prepare your students for data response questions on Section A on Paper 3
Practice Paper 1 exams for 'mocks'
Full details on the whole examination process from how the exams are written to how they are marked and graded
Advice on how to arrive at predicted grades
Why your feedback on the exams is important
Information and advice on Enquiry upon Results (EUR) and retakes

Introduction

We have come a long way since Henry Armstrong made the following statement:

“When Prof. Ayrton and I were appointed the first professors of the City and Guilds of London Institute we found ourselves in complete agreement that we would have nothing to do with teaching for examinations.

I am proud to say that the programmes of the Guild’s Colleges have never been disfigured by references to examinations as objects to be kept in view by students.”

Henry E.Armstrong
(Science Progress,1886)

Rightly or wrongly the examinations now have a central role in most (all?) teachers' and students' lives. The syllabus is written so that it is clear what can be examined and the exams are written using command terms which are commensurate with the level of objective being tested. The pressure is heavily on students to achieve certain high grades in order to continue into higher education.

This part of the Website looks at every aspect of external examinations.

Links

The main links accessible on the left and below breakdown as follows:

Essential Facts

This defines precisely the meaning of command term and explains the different levels of objectives. It covers grade descriptors and explains how the component grade boundaries and overall grade boundaries are arrived at together with figures giving the percentage of students attaining each grade.

Paper 1 (Multiple Choice)

The layout, timing, weighting and marks available are given and concrete advice is provided to give to students as to how to prepare for and answer Paper 1 and what the common pitfalls are. Contains practice papers containing new questions together with answers.

Paper 2

The layout, timing, weighting and marks available are given and concrete advice is provided to give to students as to how to prepare for and answer Paper 2 and what the common pitfalls are. The particular areas of chemistry that students have most difficulty with when answering Paper 2 questions are highlighted and teaching materials provided to help students overcome these difficulties.

Paper 3

The layout, timing, weighting and marks available are given and concrete advice is provided to give to students as to how to prepare for and answer Paper 3 and what the common pitfalls are. Practice questions together with answers are provided on both experimental work and data response for Section A of Paper 3.

The examination process

This section covers the whole examination process including the final subject report. This includes how the paper is actually written, marked, moderated and graded followed by advice on how to give predicted grades and feedback on the exams to the IB and when and how to apply for a remark.