Five resources for planning your post-mock exam lessons

Mocks, PPEs, practice exams – whatever you call them, chances are that your Year 11 class tackle them at some point during the school year. As soon as they are marked, you are probably busy analysing their results and planning your lessons. You want to ensure that gaps in knowledge are filled and students can make improvements before their final exams.

We have picked out a variety of tools, sites and blogs from across the web to help you make the most of the mocks. They should give you some starting points to maximise post-mock strategies in your classroom. From QLA spreadsheets to podcasts, there should be something here to help you plan some effective post-mock lessons for your students.

Whilst we are unable to explicitly endorse any of the external resources or content, we think you will find something useful. Everything we have picked out comes from or features a current classroom-based maths teacher.

1. Five minute analysis sheet by MathedUp

You know what students need to do to improve, but do they? This analysis sheet from MathedUp is ready to print, or can be tailored to your classes. It only takes students five minutes to fill in, but enables them to reflect honestly on their strengths, areas for improvement and revision strategies.

2. QLA downloadable spreadsheets by JustMaths

Are you a teacher who finds question level analysis (QLA) invaluable, or do you think your time could be better spent elsewhere? If you value the impact of QLA, JustMaths’s downloadable spreadsheets provide analysis for your whole class, allowing you to identify patterns and tailor your lessons accordingly. They are for 2017’s papers, but could easily be adapted. And we all know that QLA can be very time consuming. With these spreadsheets you can even get students to input their own marks and do their personal analysis.

3. Podcast with exam board representatives from the NCETM

How has the 9-1 GCSE affected your approach to revision with your classes? Is a topic-by-topic method still relevant, or has the increased focus on reasoning and problem solving led you to tackle things differently? Listen to this recent podcast in which representatives from AQA, Edexcel and OCR discuss the summer 2019 exams. They share their thoughts on how students got on, what the implications are for teaching and how the new qualifications might affect numbers opting for A level. 

4. Resourceaholic blog by Jo Morgan

Popular blogger Jo Morgan has written a Resourceaholic blog post which collates some handy revision resources. It could come in useful when your students have analysed their mocks and are ready to start preparing for the real exams. 

5. Letter template to send to students by MrReddy

This letter template from Mr Reddy’s blog allows you to create personalised letters for your students. It uses a mail merge from a results spreadsheet to provide students with details of how they did and congratulate them on their successes.