1. GCSE ‘Raise a Grade’ Session - Exam Technique

3. Choose questions carefully. Choosing the right questions to answer is the key to getting the best grades. Know what questions to expect. There are 3 sections: A B and C: Section A – Answer 2 questions from the 3 A1 is about the EU. A2 is about LEDCs. A3 is about MEDCs. These questions will contain a variety of topics, e.g. climate, population, economic activity. You would have to use a case study for each.

4. Choose questions carefully. Choosing the right questions to answer is the key to getting the best grades. Know what questions to expect. There are 3 sections: A B and C: Section B – Answer either B4 or B5 B4 is about physical systems and environments. B5 is about natural hazards and people. You must ensure you have case studies for each topic.

5. Choose questions carefully. Choosing the right questions to answer is the key to getting the best grades. Know what questions to expect. There are 3 sections: A B and C: Section C – answer either C6 or C7 C6 is about Economic Systems and Development. C7 is about Population and Settlement. You must ensure you have case studies for each topic.

6. Choose questions carefully. Health Warning!!! It is dangerous to revise for certain topics and ignore others. You need to be sure that you can attempt ALL questions as you may not understand the particular question that you revised for.

7. 1. Read the Question: Command Words Command words can completely change a question, e.g. Describe recent changes in economic activity in the UK. Explain recent changes in economic activity in the UK. Write down what the recent changes in economic activity have been. Give reasons for the recent changes in economic activity.

8. 1. Read the Question: Command Words Match up the command words to the descriptions in the envelope.

10. Plan your answer. When you first read the question, many ideas may come into your head. Sometimes the least stressful method of answering is to produce a quick spider diagram. This may also help with your structure (coming up next). Explain the factors responsible for differences in temperature and rainfall in the UK Altitude. Places higher up are likely to be colder and wetter. Latitude. Places further North are likely to be colder. Distance from the sea. Places near to the sea are likely to be milder and wetter. Prevailing wind. The south and west are much wetter because the prevailing wind comes from the Atlantic. Thinking back to command words, DESCRIBE would make this a totally different question.

11. Structure sentences. Each exam question consists of 5 parts – A to E. Question E always asks that you use a case study. Writing about the case study is not enough – your answer must read well, e.g. a recipe is only useful if it’s written in the right order. Read the following sentences and decide which order they go in. 2. Plate tectonics is the study of the earths’ crust. 4. Plates move in different directions. 1. The plates of the earth move because of the molten magma below. 3. There are four types of plate boundary – constructive, destructive, collision and conservative.

12. Structure sentences. This is a very easy exercise, so why don’t we manage to do it in the exam?

13. Check through At the end of an exam you are likely to be tired and eager to get home. However, it is very worthwhile checking through your paper one more time. This is when you are most likely to pick up on the errors we’ve talked through today. After 2 years of study, a lot of extra marks can be gained for an extra 10 minutes worth of effort!