Supercharging PE GCSE exam revision for teachers: Preparation  

Welcome to our comprehensive blog series designed to support teachers in guiding their students through PE GCSE exam revision in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). As educators, you play a crucial role in preparing your students for academic success, and we’re here to provide you with effective strategies to enhance your teaching.

Our series begins with exam preparation tips, offering insights on how to help students set up productive study schedules and create conducive learning environments.

We’ll then move onto reviewing content, providing structured approaches to breaking down key topics and concepts essential for the exams.

Discover active learning and revision techniques to make your lessons and students’ revision more engaging and impactful.

To ensure your students can effectively apply their knowledge, we’ll discuss how to use past papers and construct answers.

Additionally, we’ll focus on wellbeing strategies, emphasising the importance of your students maintaining a healthy balance during the revision period.

Exam preparation

We understand the unique challenges that come with preparing for PE exams, where both theoretical knowledge and practical application are crucial. Our goal is to help you ensure your students are well-prepared and confident for their written exam.

Know the requirements and ensure your students do too

Understanding the written exam requirements is crucial, as it will enable you to effectively guide your students in mastering the necessary content and skills. Knowledge of the exam format, question types, and assessment criteria will allow you to tailor your instruction to align with exam expectations, ensuring students are well-prepared.

The shared requirements for the PE GCSE exam across different exam boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, and WJEC Eduqas) typically encompass the following core components:

Theoretical Content

Applied Anatomy and Physiology: Understanding the structure and function of the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, and how they relate to physical performance.

Movement Analysis: Knowledge of biomechanical principles, levers, planes, and axes of movement.

Physical Training: Understanding the principles of training, different types of training methods, and how to apply them to improve fitness and performance.

Health, Fitness, and Well-being: Understanding the components of fitness, benefits of physical activity, and the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.

Sport Psychology: Knowledge of psychological factors affecting performance, including motivation, arousal, anxiety, and goal setting.

Socio-cultural Influences: Understanding the influence of culture, society, and ethics on physical activity and sport, including issues like participation, commercialisation, and the role of national governing bodies.

Examination

Written Exam: Students take a written exam covering the theoretical aspects of the course. This usually includes multiple-choice, short answer, and extended response questions.

Exam Duration and Weighting: The written exam typically contributes a significant portion of the final grade (usually around 60%).

Know the paper:

It probably goes without saying that it is equally important to know the typical format of the exam paper back to front. This will help you align your instruction with the specific format and question types their students will encounter, ensuring targeted and effective preparation.

Ofqual (the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) sets the weighting of Assessment Objectives (AOs) for PE GCSE exams to ensure consistency across exam boards. These weightings are designed to balance the assessment of both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The typical weightings for PE GCSE assessment objectives are as follows:

AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the factors that underpin performance and involvement in physical activity and sport – Weighting: 25%

This objective focuses on students’ ability to recall, explain, and understand key concepts, theories, and principles related to physical education.

AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding of the factors that underpin performance and involvement in physical activity and sport – Weighting: 20%

This objective assesses students’ ability to apply their theoretical knowledge to practical situations, showing how concepts can be used to improve performance and engagement in physical activities.

AO3: Analyse and evaluate the factors that underpin performance and involvement in physical activity and sport – Weighting: 15%

This objective evaluates students’ analytical and evaluative skills, requiring them to assess performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and make informed recommendations for improvement.

AO4: Demonstrate and apply relevant skills and techniques in physical activity and sport – Weighting: 30%

This objective focuses on the practical performance aspect of the course, where students must demonstrate their skills, techniques, and strategic understanding in various physical activities.

AO5: Analyse and evaluate performance to bring about improvement in physical activity and sport – Weighting: 10%

This objective involves the assessment of students’ ability to analyse and evaluate their own or others’ performance to suggest and implement improvements effectively.

In summary, the overall weighting of these assessment objectives typically divides the PE GCSE assessment into:

60% theoretical knowledge (AO1, AO2, AO3)

40% practical performance (AO4, AO5)

These weightings ensure that students are comprehensively assessed on their theoretical understanding, ability to apply knowledge, and practical skills, providing a balanced evaluation of their capabilities in physical education.

Plan ahead

It is worth spending a lesson on exam preparation. Encourage your students to create a timetable early in the year so that they can start to go through content months ahead in their own time. It’s important to emphasise the importance of spacing and overlearning. This means leaving time in between revising content and coming back to it in short but regular sessions. 

Checklist

Provide them with a checklist of the syllabus for your exam board, listing each topic and its content. Encourage students to use a system such as the grid below to mark off the content as they revise it.

They can use emojis, tick boxes, or a traffic light system to indicate their progress.

Revision timetables

Give time to your students to create their revision timetables early in the year. Encourage them to allocate specific times for each topic content.

Ensure they are aware of the importance of active revision in short and regular bursts.

Their timetable should incorporate many cycles of reviewing content, active learning/revision, and applying.

For example, their timetable for one month may look something like this:

Insights to follow in this series will expand on the importance of this cycle and provide ideas on each phase.

Organisation

Encourage your students to keep their notes organised and filed according to topics. They should do the same with any digital files

Remember that they have other subjects to revise for, so remind them to leave days/times for those, as well as ensure plenty of time for rest and any extracurricular activities.

Suggest that they try to set up a dedicated study area at home that is free from distractions, comfortable and has all the necessary supplies. However, this is not possible for some students. If you can, ask them what they need and talk with your colleagues about providing study time and space at school.

Conclusion

As PE teachers, guiding students through GCSE exam preparation is a pivotal role that requires thoughtful planning and support. By ensuring your students know what the exam entails, equipping students with structured revision schedules, and encouraging them to maintain an organised approach, you can empower them to excel in their exams. Remember to foster a supportive environment, provide constructive feedback, and promote student well-being throughout this critical period. Your dedication and guidance will play a significant role in shaping their success in GCSE PE and beyond.

Read more

Next week, we will focus on reviewing content, providing structured approaches to breaking down key topics and concepts essential for the exams.

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