The aim was for senior Geography students to excel in their exam performance.

One of the main issues in Geography is numerous exam questions have a holistic approach where, ‘any valid point’ achieves a mark. This can cause students to be unclear about the specifics they need to include in an answer to achieve full marks. The main aspects to develop were ensuring students:

1. Had a clear understanding of the content
2. Understood the variety of questions that could be asked in each topic and how they could be asked (describe, explain, discuss and evaluate etc.)
3. Had a clear understanding of the expectations to achieve full marks
4. Learn how to mark, record and track their progress

A significant factor which led to our development of exam skills was the reliance of teacher’s marking past papers. This led to student’s not engaging in their own self-assessment. There was an element that once a teacher had marked something very few students would then change or adapt their answers effectively. Ultimately, this resulted in marks being awarded to a student in a time-consuming way with little progress being made.

How we changed:

1. Knowledge Organiser to show key content
2. Topic Checklist to show variety of questions
3. Exam Booklet shared questions and mark schemes to understand expectations and a blank version (no mark scheme) to record their answers digitally
4. Topic Checklist recorded marks on their checklist to see questions to revisit 

By using these three documents, students very quickly understood exactly what was being asked of them, how it was being asked and how they could achieve higher marks. Ideally, it moved away from a ‘this is what you got wrong’ to ‘expand your answers using these expectations [mark scheme]’. By allowing students to mark their work, then add to their answers, in a different colour pen, it visually highlights the improvement they need to complete to achieve full marks. Students are more aware of similar/frequent mistakes they are making rather than relying on a teacher to show them. Additionally, it allows students to work at different paces as they have a list of questions to progress through without waiting for a teacher to give them feedback. This significantly increased students’ confidence, promoted self-study and encouraged targets to be set. Rather than teacher’s setting specific homework, students set achievable goals for themselves. For example, complete, mark and improve two questions each night for a week on the run-up to your assessment.

Students have shared that these resources have given them a clear focus for revision, increased their confidence and promoted their understanding of what expectations are required to achieve their National Certification. 

Natalie Ralston, December 2022