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In our recent mocks only 30% of year 10 and 11 students said they referred to the Exam Specification for each subject they were examined in. This means 70% of students are missing out on a very simple strategy that can have a significant impact on exam performance.
What is an Exam specifciation (spec)?
What is an Exam specifciation (spec)?
An exam specification is a list of all the topics that can come up in a particular exam paper. And the very best students follow it to the letter. Go to the website of the exam board that is setting your particular paper, search for your qualification, and you should see it, downloadable in PDF format. We have also put links in each of the subject revision pages in this website
how do i use it?
how do i use it?
You work through it, line by line.
OK. But what does that mean? And how does that help you? Say you download the specification for AQA GCSE Maths. And when you open it up, you read this: ‘[Students should know how to…] round numbers and measures to an appropriate degree of accuracy.’ Obviously, simply knowing that you could be asked to round numbers up or down in the exam doesn’t really help a whole lot. But it’s when you use that information to guide your revision that you will really reap the benefit.
The best students don’t just read the specification. They go away and make sure they know how to do everything that is on it.
Practising on past papers is all very well. But, remember, that only exposes you to the sections of the syllabus that students have been examined on in the past. Go through the specification and you will be familiar not just with parts of the syllabus that students have been tested on recently, but with all examinable content. Use the specification properly and nothing will surprise you.
some real examples
some real examples
The key element of the specification, from a student’s perspective, is the content section.
Let’s look at an example from the AQA GCSE Biology specification shown on the left.
Identify Key Terms: The specification statement highlights important words such as photosynthesis, endothermic reaction, energy transfer, chloroplasts, and light. Ensure you understand these terms and how they relate to photosynthesis.
Link Concepts Together: The statement tells you that photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction, meaning it takes in energy. You should be able to explain that this energy comes from light and is absorbed by chloroplasts.
Practice Explanation Skills: You can use the specification to guide your revision by writing explanations in full sentences, linking the idea of energy transfer to the process of photosynthesis.
Predict Exam Questions: By breaking the statement into parts, You can think about what an examiner might ask—such as definitions, explanations of energy transfer, or the role of light in photosynthesis.
e.g
Define photosynthesis and explain why it is classified as an endothermic reaction.
Describe how energy is transferred during photosynthesis and explain why photosynthesis is considered an endothermic reaction.
Use Diagrams: Since the statement mentions chloroplasts, You could reinforce your learning by drawing and labelling a diagram of a leaf cell, showing where light energy is absorbed.
Differences in Specifications
Differences in Specifications
Not all specifications are written in the same style. Many of the maths and science specifications go in for long lists of objectives that are easy to access and tick off as you master them. Other specifications are less helpful and require much more interpretation. For example the AQA specification for English Language and Literature contains the following type of entry under the Assessment Criteria for Coursework:
Lower band 4 (23–25)
skilful and secure analysis and commentary
clear sense of context/variation/contextual influences underpins reading
sustained focus on texts and theme
coherently compares and contrasts writer’s choices of form, structure, mode, language
confident comparison
This sort of information gives you an idea of what the marker would be looking for in the written work.
Can Using a Course Specification Replace Books or Courses?
Can Using a Course Specification Replace Books or Courses?
NO! The specification, even a detailed one like the science and maths ones, are simply a list of targets. Getting to those targets can often require a great deal of learning and practice. That is where good course material comes in. The course material and the specification go together. You use the course material to get to the point where you know a lot, understand a lot and can do a lot. You use the specification to see just precisely what the examiner will want you to do.
Using the two, course and specification, is a real chicken and egg thing. A sensible approach is to have a quick look at the specification before you start a new section of work. Then do the work and then check the specification again to see if you really have got what they are looking for AND then, when you realise that you haven’t quite got everything, go back to the course materials with the gaps that you have identified and re-do those bits.
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