Shen

field H

igh Sch

oo

l Prepare for Success!

Plan your time,

Re-read, Re-draft, Recite, Re-test, Research, Rehearse & Record

Essential Facts, Figures & Formula, Essay Model Answers

Practice Questions

Answers & Mark Scheme

Review & Reflect on your progress

Enjoy your future success

PREP Newsletter

Autumn Term 1

What is ‘PREP’? ‘PREP’ is what we do with the information we have learnt during the school day and how we prepare for the next

day of learning. Evidence suggests that we only retain 50% of the information we learnt yesterday and after a week,

we only retain 10%. The only way we can move the information we have learnt into the long-term memory is

through re-visiting the information 4 or 5 times over a number of weeks.

In order to improve learning retention we are encouraging students to ‘PREP’ each evening after school. The focus of

the time should be on the learning from the day and learning from the previous week, month and/or year.

‘PREP’ is short for PREPARE:

• Plan your time,

• Re-read, Re-draft, Recite, Re-test, Research, Rehearse & Record

• Essential Facts, Figures & Formula, Essay Model Answers

• Practice Questions

• Answers & Mark Scheme

• Review & Reflect on your progress

• Enjoy your future success

Each department has uploaded Go4Schools and the X: Student Drive with resources, practice questions and the

answers.

Students should use the resources to PREP each evening and review any areas that they still don’t understand. If

students require feedback, help or guidance with their prep, they are encouraged to visit their teacher in a PREP

Drop-In time.

The PREP Drop-In Timetable is available on our website and in this Newsletter.

Regular ‘PREP’ will lead to successful exam and assessment results.

How to use this Newsletter Each subject has an explanation of the key assessment areas and where to find the resources for their subject. There

are also extra websites, books, APPs, links and Super Curricular opportunities listed if you would like to look at a

subject in greater depth.

The final part of the newsletter is filled with tips and strategies on how to ‘PREP’ successfully.

Improving Memory Skills & Understanding PREP

Funs Ways to PREP

All the tools, strategies and games listed can be applied to almost any subject. It is important to use the strategies to

improve understanding and information retention before you have a go at practice questions. It is essential to have

the knowledge first, before you apply it to an exam/assessment situation.

Don’t try and tackle all the resources at once. Students will be guided by their teachers through explanations and

feedback from assessments. There is a curriculum map on our website if you would like to look ahead and start

looking at the next topic.

It is important the students find the right PREP strategy for them and use them consistently.

We hope you find this newsletter useful and welcome any feedback on how we can improve it.

PREP Drop-In Timetable

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Before

School

Sixth Form (Mr Cooke) Maths (Ms Dyson)

Sixth Form (Mr Cooke) Music (Mr Sands) X8 Sixth Form (Mr Cooke) English (Mr Clifford)

Sixth Form (Mr Cooke) Maths (Miss Robinson)

Sixth Form (Mr Cooke) English (Mr Clifford)

Break

time

PE KS3 (Miss Gibbons & Mr Hall)

Humanities (Mr Gray) H53

Lunchtime

PE – A level (Mr Sapsford & Mr Macdonald) Art (Mrs Kemp & Miss Murphy) Humanities (Miss Hogan) H51 Science KS3 (All Teachers) Triple Science KS4 (Mr Hall) Maths (Mrs Jahromi) Week A C93 Maths (Mr Russell) Week B C93

PE GCSE (Mr Hall, Mr Rigg & Miss Gibbons) Social Sciences (Mrs Hollingsworth) C52 Drama (All Drama Teachers) Science KS3 (All Teachers) Maths (Ms Dyson) Week A C93 Maths (Mr Drew) Week B C93 Computer Science (Mr Gorman) C72

MFL (Mrs Shaunak-Hobbs & Mr Athana) – H17 – Week A MFL (Mr Shaunak & Miss Murphy) – H14 – Week B Media & Film (Mr Sheriff)– i72 Music (Mr Carter) X8 Science KS3 (All Teachers) Maths (Mrs Toshniwal) Week A C93 Humanities (Mrs Parkinson & Mrs Howard) H61 & H63

BTEC Sport (Mr Thomas) Social Sciences (Mrs Hollingsworth) C52 Humanities (Mr Springett) H53 Science KS3 (All Teachers) Maths (Mr Russell) Week A C93 Maths (Mr Drew) Week B C93

PE KS3 (Mr Sapsford, Mr Hall & Mr Chapman) Humanities (Mrs Power) H54 Drama (Mrs Richardson, Mrs Nowlan) Science KS3 (All Teachers) Maths (Mrs Kitchen) Week A C93 Maths (Mrs Robinson) Week B C93 Music (Mr Carter) X8

After

School

Chemistry (Mr Richards & Mrs Helim)

BVE (Mr Edwards) Biology (Mrs Turner-Smith, Mr Fletcher & Miss Fensome) BVE (Mr Edwards)

BTEC Health & Social Care (Mrs Knight & Mrs Dyke) i1 & i6 BVE (Mrs Weedon)

Social Sciences (Mrs Hollingsworth) BVE (Mr Shearing) English (Mr Clifford) Maths (Mr Drew & Mrs Jahromi)

BVE (Mrs Bellworthy) Physics (Dr Pope)

Year 9 - PREP Guide – Half Term 1

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading

Mat

he

mat

ics

Ca

lc

ul

at

ion

s &

Ac

cu

ra

cy

Co

ns

tr

uc

tio

ns

In

te

ge

rs

, P

ow

er

s &

Ro

ot

s

The best place to PREP for Mathematics is www.hegartymaths.com, with online tutorials and practice questions. The best practice is to watch

and make notes on the video in your Maths PREP book, then copy and complete the quiz questions, self-assessing using the online feedback.

We also have paper based PREP sheets available in the Maths department and on the Student Resources drive.

1. nRich website Open problems are ‘live’ and pupils are invited to send

solutions in, with some being published once the problem is closed.

Triangle Transformation: https://nrich.maths.org/13831

Mixing Paints: https://nrich.maths.org/4793

2. Books to Read

The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzenberger

How Many Socks Make a Pair? By Rob Eastaway

Calculations &

Accuracy

Hegarty Maths Clip

Numbers:

STEP 1: Four Operations:

18, 19, 21, 22

Negative Numbers: 39, 40, 42, 43

Place Value: 1, 15, 16

STEP 2:

BIDMAS: 24, 44, 120

Money: 753

Rounding to Powers of

10 and Decimals: 56, 134

Truncation: 134

Construction & Loci

Hegarty Maths Clip

Numbers:

STEP 1: Draw & Measure

Angles:

458, 459, 460, 461

STEP 2:

Construct ASA/SAS Triangles:

683 Nets:

833, 834, 835, 836

Isometric Drawings & Plans:

837 - 844

Integers, Powers &

Roots

Hegarty Maths Clip

Numbers:

STEP 1: Factors and Multiples:

27, 33

Prime, Square & Cube Numbers: 28, 99, 100,

101

STEP 2:

Product of Prime Factors, HCF & LCM:

29, 30, 31, 34

Super-Curricular Visits

Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, at the Science Museum.

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/mathematics-

winton-gallery

Telling powerful stories about Mathematicians, from

salespeople to sailors, and gamblers to garden designers, the Winton Gallery includes aircraft, Manchester University’s

differential analyser, and the model of the National

Westminster Tower, one of London’s largest structures when it was built.

STEP 3:

Place Value advanced: 135, 136

Calculator Skills: 129

STEP 4:

Upper and Lower Bounds:

137, 138 Estimation:

131

STEP 5:

Error Intervals: 774, 775, 776, 777

Calculations with

Bounds: 139

STEP 3:

Bearings: 492, 494, 495

STEP 4:

Construct SSS Triangles:

683 Perpendicular Bisector:

660, 662, 663

Angle Bisector: 661

STEP 5:

Loci: 674, 676, 677 Regions: 676

STEP 6: Loci Problems:

678, 679

STEP 3:

Index Laws: 102, 103, 105, 106

Estimating Roots: 112

STEP 4:

Standard & Ordinary Form: 122, 123, 124

STEP 5:

Calculations with Standard Form: 125,

126, 127, 128

STEP 6: Surds, Introduction & Basics:

111, 113, 114, 115

STEP 7:

Surds, Brackets & Rationalising: 116,

117, 118, 119

Media & Other Links

General Maths: I use Maths for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CISZeQC8QxA

Calculations and Accuracy - Four Operations:

Faster than a Calculator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4PTvXtz4GM

Calculations and Accuracy - Four Operations: Dividing by Zero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2z5uzqxJNU

Constructions - Plans and Elevations Numberphile: Maths & Movies - Animation at Pixar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0NB9IyYpU

Constructions - Scale, Plans & Elevations / Real-Life

Maths The Curious Incident of the Maths in the Stage-show Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsZm1BD_j8 Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQnyNlgmkc

Integers, Powers & Roots - Index Laws What is 0 to the Power of 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_mi8ngNnM

Awe & Wonder

How Folding Paper Can Get You to the Moon https://youtu.be/AmFMJC45f1Q

Can you solve the passcode riddle: https://youtu.be/7Vd1dTBVbFg

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading

Engl

ish

Of

Mic

e a

nd M

en/T

o K

ill a

Mock

ingbird

Practice your spellings for term 1a (found on Go4Schools)

Complete at least 20 minutes of reading a night on either a fiction book or a non-fiction text (newspapers/magazines/etc.…)

Imagine that you are a young person during this period. Write a series

of letters home to your family detailing your experiences of life on a

working ranch/working in Alabama.

Take a significant/powerful moment from the novel and turn this into

a play script. Remember to include stage directions, notes of

setting/staging and character names and descriptions. It is important

to remember that your characters must act like they would in the

novel.

Create a diagram, charting the development of a key character(s) over

the course of your novel. Include key quotations and moments that

are significant to your chosen character. For example, you could use a

simple timeline structure.

Consider and present your views on the following statement:

- OMAM: Carlson says that Curley's wife has no place outside the house. Knowing what we know about her, is Carlson justified in his opinion? Or is he simply being sexist? How does Carlson's opinion reflect the attitude toward women in 1930s America? Has that attitude changed completely, or does it still exist today? - TKAM: Many of the characters in the novel hold stereotypes about how individuals will behave as a result of their age, gender, race, social status, etc. Which characters are the victims of stereotyping? Do any of them break through the behaviour expected of them, showing individuality and exposing the falseness of labelling people?

Research Task- Research the following events in 1930- 1950’s US History to develop your contextual knowledge of this period. Consider the following: Of Mice and Men – The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, Migrant Workers, John Steinbeck, The American Dream To Kill a Mockingbird – Slavery to Segregation, The Civil Rights Movement, Harper Lee, The KKK, The Case of the Scottsboro Boys, the American Dream

Super-Curricular Visits

Media & Other Links To improve your contextual understanding of 1930’s America, why not try watching some of the following films?

- The Grapes of Wrath - Cinderella Man - King Kong (Peter Jackson) - To Kill a Mockingbird

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading M

FL

Un

it 1

- L

as P

elic

ula

s, L

a Te

le y

Las

Re

de

s So

cial

es

(1)

Film

, TV

an

d S

oci

al M

edia

Learn the vocabulary associated with this unit – this can be found on Go4Schools under Spanish PREP.

Revise for End of Unit Assessment 1 using your class notes and the revision checklist for this unit. This will have been given to you by your Spanish teacher, and can also be found in Go4Schools.

Find an article on the internet about anything that you are particularly interested in (e.g. sport, music, film, television) and make a list of new words and their meanings in English from what you find in the article. You can use Collins online Spanish dictionary to help you with the definitions.

Try watching your favourite television shows on Netflix (or similar) with the Spanish subtitles. Alternatively, you could change the audio setting to Spanish and have English

subtitles

Super-Curricular Activities

Media & Other Links

www.collinsdictionary.com/spanish

www.quizlet.com/ashaunak (website or app)

Duolingo (app) - aim for 10-15 minutes/daily. It’s a mix of writing, translating, practising different vocab and listening – all in

one! It gets really competitive and fun.

Memrise (app) - aim for 10-15 minutes/daily. Look for sets that are based on Mira (textbook used for Spanish at KS3)

www.language-gym.com/#!/ to practise verbs in all tenses

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading C

om

pu

ter

Scie

nce

DIG

IT

AL

LIT

ER

AC

Y

An

d E

-SA

FE

TY

Digital Literacy Introduction to coding – using www.code.org complete ‘hour of code’ sessions. You may want to create a log in using your google classroom email account to save your progress.

Artificial Intelligence – Research and answer the following questions:

1. What is artificial intelligence?

2. How has it changed/ developed technology in the last 10 years.

3. Research how AI is going to impact the future. Will it be negative or positive – why?

Speed Typing – using www.speedtypingonline.com practice your typing skills, focusing on getting as close to 100% accuracy as possible.

E-Safety Watch the following videos for the four topic areas below and write notes. Come up with questions to ask other students in the class and complete a model answer to share for each area. The pros and cons of social networking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nwlUZcMci8 Harm that can come you: (stranger danger etc.) & Harm that you can do – how to prevent this from happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB5VDIebMd8

3. Speed Typing Online (Digital Literacy)

Pupils are invited to complete challenges and timed typing sessions to enhance their typing skills. Pupils are also encouraged to create their own typing challenges that can be saved and shared with other pupils. Website: https://www.speedtypingonline.com/typing-test 4. Books to Read

The Teen’s Guide to Social Media… and Mobile Devices – Jonathon McGee Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing – Martin Gardener

Super-Curricular Visits

Bletchley Park is a great place to find out about the history of Computer Science and Cryptography.

https://bletchleypark.org.uk/

Media & Other Links

BBC Bitesize KS3 Computer Science:

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/subjects/zvc9q6ff

Code.org: https://studio.code.org

Google Classroom: https://classroom.google.com

SHS Computer Science: www.shs.cloud

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading

Mu

sic

Pop C

ultu

re

Super-Curricular Activities

Media & Other Links

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading G

eo

grap

hy

Ro

cks

and

So

il

Learn keywords from the topic such as rock types or weathering types.

Draw the rock cycle from memory.

Investigate various landscapes and think about how rock types have impacted on them.

Create a poster on the importance of rocks to humans.

Create a resource explaining the link between rocks and soil.

Suggest why learning about rocks and soil is important.

Research one example of each of the three rock types and compare the characteristics.

Explore how mining can impact on a countries economy, a good example could be Chile or South Africa.

Research the various career opportunities that link to geology.

Super-Curricular Activities

Visit the science museum and natural history museums. They

are free to enter https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/427179-natural-history-museum

Media & Other Links https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPKtVpEVEjIDnGbJTIt

2JdCJsfFrEG3Qr Series of 3 videos that show the tectonic and geological story of Britain, both physical and human geography covered.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/minecraft/3d/thurrock.html? Geological and topographical maps of Thurrock that can be viewed and explored using Minecraft.

http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain3d/index.html? An interactive geology map of the UK.

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading

PE

The

ory

:

Skel

etal

Sys

tem

Completely familiarise yourself with the bones in the body. These will be vital for future knowledge about the skeletal system. Parents could easily test knowledge by quizzing pupils at random times.

Produce a revision poster with as many different movements from different sports. Label these pictures with the types of movement shown in the pictures.

Complete the classification of bones worksheet on go4schools.

Familiarise yourself with the ‘types of

movement’ worksheet on go4schools. Next to each picture give a sporting example

which demonstrates each movement.

Functions of the skeleton https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zq3sbk7/revision/2

Structured of the skeleton & bone classification https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zq3sbk7/revision/1

Types of movement https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zq3sbk7/revision/4

Short term effects of exercise on the skeletal system https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/z367tyc/revision/1

Long term effects of exercise on the skeletal system https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/z367tyc/revision/2

Super-Curricular Activities

To help prep for the practical element of PE spend some time engaging with some physical activity. Increased activity levels make for a healthier lifestyle. This can also have a positive effect on the skeletal system with bones increasing the uptake of calcium making them stronger and reducing the chance of an injury such as a break or a fracture.

Media & Other Links Functions of the skeletal system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0FfuiMV0s&list=PLUb-9-TpmYV-_5P4SwQkqIpQ-4JELCiv1&index=5

Classification of bones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWxXziVkVOA&index=7&list=PLUb-9-TpmYV-_5P4SwQkqIpQ-4JELCiv1

Joints and Movements https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRM77awEE0&list=PLUb-9-TpmYV-_5P4SwQkqIpQ-4JELCiv1&index=8

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading D

RA

MA

In Drama your PREP is split into 3 areas:

Bafta PREP (fairly challenging)

Golden Globes PREP (challenging)

The Oscars PREP (very challenging)

Your aim is to complete all 3 pieces of

PREP work by the end of the topic that

you studying in Drama. You have to

complete the first piece of PREP before

you move onto the next one which

becomes more challenging. Some of

your PREP will be connected with your

practical tasks in lesson.

Your PREP is located in the following

area:

Student resources(X:)/Expressive

Arts/Drama/Key stage 3/KS3 Drama

PREP/Year 9/Year 9 PREP

All 3 tasks/worksheets/links are

located here for you to access at school

or at home for each topic you study in

Year 9.

6 recommended books that Actors should buy

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/books-

every-actor-shelf-10187/

Media Links

How to create a believable character

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKcsi8OK2eg Acting techniques by Helen Mirren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hYDmRq_PHY Acting Techniques by Steve Martin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMvNoJvQqNw

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading H

isto

ry

Th

e I

nd

us

tr

ial

Re

vo

lu

tio

n

Use your research to create a fact file about Isambard Kingdom

Brunel. You could produce it in Word or in PowerPoint.

Imagine you are in charge of a modern day version of the Great Exhibition. What inventions would you display? Why?

What was the worst job in Victorian Britain? Explain your answer in PEE paragraphs or as a presentation. What criteria will you use to help you form your judgement? Can you find images or sources to support your judgement?

Imagine you are a factory worker living in the early 19th century.

Write a story to describe how your life changed when you left the

domestic system and entered the factory system.

Imagine you are living in the mid 19th Century. Write a speech to

Parliament to campaign for better working conditions and

children's' rights.

Create a timeline to show how factories changed over time. Start

with the end of the domestic system. Include facts such as the

inventions of the Spinning Jenny and Flying Shuttle, Richard

Arkwright, the move form water to steam power and changes in

law.

How did the invention of the steam train and steam ship transform

the world? Explain your answer in PEE paragraphs or as a spider

diagram.

Research Prince Albert. How did he die? What does this tell us about the

health of the rich and the poor?

Why did disease spread so easily in Victorian towns? Research Cholera and

Typhoid. How did they spread?

Research Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Who was he? Why was he

so important? How did he change the world? What was the Great Exhibition of 1851? What exhibits were shown there? Why was it so significant?

Read 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens. What does it reveal to

us about life in Victorian towns?

Super-Curricular Visits

Why not visit the Charles Dickens museum in London? What does it tell us about the time in which Dickens lived?

You could visit Tower Bridge and consider how unique it was when it was built in 1886. There is a museum inside Tower Bridge which explains how it was built and charts how London has changed over time. You might even get to see the bridge being raised! The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens near the Royal Albert Hall is a very impressive structure and well worth a visit. Why do you think it was designed in such a grand way? Visit Audley End House. How was life different for the rich and the poor in Victorian Britain? Come and tell us about your visits. We would be very interested to hear about what you have learned and to see any photos you took!

Media & Other Links Watch 'Oliver Twist'. What does it reveal to us about life in Victorian towns?

Subject Topic PREP Tasks Further Research /Reading

Art

Ye

ar

9 - A

ut

um

n T

er

m

Still Life Developing Skills

Make a directly observed drawing of a still life arrangement of natural forms e.g. a leaf and pine cones, shells. Your drawing should be on A4, filling the majority of the paper. Concentrate on using a wide range of tone and marks to create the effect of texture and depth. This work should show your command of perspective and your chosen medium and should take about 3 hours to complete.

Research the artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Use instructions for writing about artists located on the student drive/expressive arts/Art/general/artist writing guidance. Briefly show you know something about the artist (nationality, birth year possible year of death, genre), find as many images of their work as possible, then select your favourite piece analyse it in your own words.

Research the artist Amiria Gale using the above instructions.

Research for yourself what a Still Life picture is.

Explore the enormous variety of Still Life images, What

is a Vanitas painting?

Research the following Artists:

5. Georgia O’Keeffe

6. Jenny Speirs

7. Juan Sanchez Cotan

8. Jeffery Hayes

9. Linda Apple

Super-Curricular Visits

We are extremely lucky to live near the great city of

London where most of the museums and art

galleries are free.

Find out more at: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ https://www.npg.org.uk/ https://www.vam.ac.uk/

Media & Other Links Drawing with biro and ink pens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQgjZbGK8Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqi7S74ouqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkMVavY1oww

Improving Memory Skills & Understanding PREP 1. Self-Testing

Self-testing in an effective tool if you have a large amount of information to learn for an assessment or exam.

Let’s say you had to remember the definition of 20 key words.

Start by writing out five key words and their definitions. Study them for 2 or 3 minutes, then put the sheet away.

On another piece of paper, try to write down the key words and definitions from memory.

If you were not able to recall all 5, then repeat the process again. Study the definitions and re-test.

Once you are able to recall 5 key words and definitions, add another 5 to the original sheet.

Give yourself 4 or 5 minutes to study the 10 key words and definitions. Put the sheet away and re-test but this time

with 10.

Build this up until you can recall all 20 key words and definitions.

More importantly, re-test yourself a week later. Review your progress and go back to any definitions or words you

were unable to write down. Then, re-test yourself a month later with the same words.

The more you re-test, the more you will retain and the easier it becomes.

These techniques could be applied to:

Key Information for an Essay

Character names and profiles

Formula

Translations

Case Studies

Experiment processes

Arguments or Quotations

And many more!

2. Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain. Mind Mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" your ideas.

All Mind Maps have some things in common. They have a natural organisational structure that radiates from the centre and use lines, symbols, words, colour and images according to simple, brain-friendly concepts. Mind Mapping converts a long list of monotonous information into a colourful, memorable and highly organised diagram that works in line with your brain's natural way of doing things.

Think of your general main theme and write that down in the centre of the page. i.e. Food

Figure out sub-themes of your main concept and draw branches to them from the centre, beginning to look like a spider web i.e. Meats, Dairy, Breads

Make sure to use very short phrases or even single words Add images to invoke thought or get the message across better Try to think of at least two main points for each sub-theme you created and create branches out to those

3. Revision Cards

Revision cards are small handheld cards that contain key information. The cards should have a title at the top with 5

or 6 key words, formula or sentences. Try and keep the colour consistent for each topic e.g. green cards for the

Environment.

TIP: On the back of the revision card, write the title from the front. Then, after you have read through your cards a

number of times, turn them over. Look at the title and self-test yourself on the information. Once you have recalled

all you can, turn the card back over and check your answers.

4. Complete the Sentence

If you have a large number of facts to learn for an essay, write out ten key sentences you wish to memorise for the

essay. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write out the first half of the sentence and leave the other half blank. Take

a break, make a cup of tea, then come back and try to complete the sentences from memory.

If you managed to complete all ten, try and add more sentences and repeat the exercise.

TIP: Once you can complete the sentences with ease, test yourself further by trying to write out all the key sentences

from memory without the sentence starters!

Fun Ways to PREP

1. Key Words Crossword Puzzle Choose a subject and write down all the key words you need to learn. Find an online Crossword creator, there are a huge number of web sites that can do this for you. For the clues, write the definition of the key word. Once the crossword has been created, leave it for a few days/weeks. Then, try and complete it. Don’t forget to print out the answer sheet so you can self-check the answers! Here is an example below:

2. Key Word Pictionary For this game you will need at least one other person. With a friend or group of friends, decide which subject and set of Key Words you wish to learn or revise. Write them down on individual cards. Try to have a large number so they are not too obvious. Take it in turns to draw (without using words, symbols or speaking) something that represents the key word you wish to learn. *Want to Make the Game Harder?* The other player who is trying to guess the key word can’t say the key word, but must give the correct definition of it! Here is an example below:

The Easy Answer: An Atom

1. *The Definition Answer: 2. The smallest particle of a chemical element that can

exist.

ACROSS DOWN 2. What does the ‘H’ in SHS stand for? 1. In what year group do you take A Level exams? 5. What is ‘PREP’ short for? 3. What is the surname of our Headteacher?

4. In what Year group do you take GCSE exam?

3. Write a Short Story If you have a large number of facts, figures or key words to remember, write a short story that you can recite to yourself in the exam. The more interesting and funny your story is, the more likely you are to remember the facts. Here is an example:

1.To begin our adventure into storytelling, start by reading the paragraph below, which recounts a brief and

chaotic story. Your task is simply to understand what happens:

"A man called Nigel is sat next to his enormous, 300lb pet squid as they travel around in the back of his

lime-green limo. They're arguing over what to watch on the limo's TV: Coronation Street, or Sesame Street.

It soon turns into a fight, which the squid wins by using its eight limbs to empty eight pepper-grinders on to

Nigel's head. Nigel leaps from the car in terror and runs away towards the sea, cleverly heading through a

thick yellow field of rapeseed to stop the squid from following. On reaching the beach, he meets Prince

Harry, who is celebrating his 25th birthday. Prince Harry persuades Nigel to help him confront two Gallic

dancers who have eaten a beautiful "she-swan" (without the Queen's permission). After the attack, Nigel

jumps into the sea and swims out towards, as luck would have it, the Lady of Shalott, who is bobbing up and

down in a boat made from a giant orange pepper. She invites him on board and they fall in love."

It will have taken you perhaps a minute to read through this. This should demonstrate just how quickly and effortlessly your mind can imagine elaborate scenes it has never encountered before.

Your next step is to see how much of the story you recall. First, close your eyes and repeat the story as well as you can in your head. When you're done, open your eyes and write down all the items you have successfully recalled. This will give you a sense of how many useful memories you can store in around a minute or so. Hopefully you'll have impressed yourself again.

Now, you'll perhaps be wondering what the point of remembering a random list of objects like this might be. But here we can reveal that the story you've learned is not at all random, but in fact encodes the ingredients for a Nigel Slater recipe. Hooray! The 300lb squid represents 300g of squid; the lime-green limo is a lime; Coronation Street stands for coriander; Sesame Street for sesame oil; eight pepper grinders for eight crushed peppercorns; the rapeseed field for rapeseed oil; Prince Harry celebrating his birthday for 25g ginger; two Gallic dancers for two cloves of garlic; the "she-swan" for Szechuan pepper; the sea for salt; the Lady of Shalott for shallots; the orange pepper boat for one large orange pepper.

Have a look over these connections. Your last task is to try to remember the ingredients that correspond to each element in the story. Once you've done that, you're ready to make your squid and pepper stir-fry …

1. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/15/story-lines-facts

4. Key Term Word Search Choose a subject and write down all the key words you need to learn. Find an online Word Search creator, there are a huge number of web sites that can do this for you.

For the clues, write the definition of the key word.

Once the word search has been created, leave it for a few days/weeks. Then, try and complete it. Don’t forget to print out the answer sheet so you can self-check the answers!

Here is an example below:

1. What is ‘PREP’ short for? 2. What is the surname of our Headteacher? 3. What year group take their GCSE exams? 4. What year group take their A Level exams? 5. What does the ‘H’ in SHS stand for?

5. Write a poem If you have a large number of facts, figures or key words to remember, write a poem that you can re-cite to yourself in the exam. Try and make it rhyme on the key words and throw in their definitions if you can.

6. Card Matching Game Use revision cards. They must all be the same size and colour. On half the cards, write a key word on each. On the other half of the cards, write their definitions on each. With a friend, turn all the cards so they face down on the table. Each person takes it in turns to turn over two cards. If they turn over the key word and the correct definition, they get to keep them. If the two cards do not match, they must be turned back and it is the next persons turn. The winner is the person with the most cards at the end. You not only have to remember where the key words and the definitions are, but match them as well!

Here is an example:

7. Name That Tune! Choose a song from the charts that you know really well and enjoy singing along to. Now, re-write the lyrics so they contain all the facts and key words you need to remember. Try to keep to the same number of syllables for each line! Then, sing the words out loud as many times as you need to remember the lyrics. TIP: Go to youtube or karaoke site and use the backing track/instrumental so you can sing your lyrics along to the beat!

8. Alphabet Prep Challenge yourself to write a key fact, definition or key word for each letter of the alphabet. It works best with a single topic or area. Once you have completed it, memorise it using some of the techniques in this book. Finally, challenge yourself to recall all the information using the alphabet as your guide and prompt!

PENTATONIC

SCALE

A Musical Scale

containing

only 5 notes.