Preparing students for their IBDP examinations requires a strategic approach to identify learning gaps, reinforce concepts, and provide ample practice. Kognity offers a range of features designed to support teachers in this crucial period. This guide outlines best practices and tools within Kognity to help your students succeed.
Identify Learning Gaps with the Insights 'Questions' Tab
Utilize the Questions tab within the Insights feature to pinpoint areas where your students are struggling and need additional support.
This feature displays the percentage of total questions answered correctly from all questions taken by the student (including assignment questions, strength questions in the Practice Centre, and exercise questions in the textbook).
Heat Map Analysis: As a teacher, you can follow our heat map visualization to gain a clearer understanding of your students' performance. This visual tool helps you quickly identify specific topics or question types where students need more help.
Detailed Filtering: Filter the data by topic and/or activity type to get an even more detailed understanding of student performance. This allows you to plan your revision classes effectively, focusing your valuable class time on addressing areas of weakness.
Leverage Kognity's Interactive Textbook Material
Make the most of your valuable class time by using our interactive material, call-out boxes, and visual elements within the textbook. This approach helps ensure that the entire class achieves the same basic level of understanding across all areas, providing additional support for students who need it.
Ensure Students Cover Required Reading
Confirm that your students have completed their required readings using either the textbook or your Insights feature.
Via the Textbook: Identify students who have covered the required reading by clicking on the number shown under each topic. You can then use this information to send book assignments from this section to those students who need to catch up.
Via the Insights Feature: Check the Textbook tab in Insights to observe each student's progress through the syllabus. This tab shows which sections of a topic students have read and completed, and which sections still need to be finished.
Student Self-Tracking: Guide your students to use the platform to track their personal reading progress in their own time. They should aim to see only 'green colored' Progress markers in their Table of Contents as they approach the exam period, indicating completed sections.
Copy and Resend Old Question Assignments
A significant benefit of using Kognity regularly throughout the school year is the ability to easily copy and resend any assignment between classes during revision periods.
Time-Saving Feature: The 'copy icon' (often located to the right of each assignment) is a great time-saver, allowing you to manage multiple classes efficiently.
Reviewing Questions: You also have the option to view questions you haven't sent out to students before. Make sure to review the question list for each topic to confirm if you've covered all necessary material.
Utilize Draft Assignments for Future Revision
Create new assignments or copy old ones and save them under 'Draft assignments' in the Assignments section.
Advance Preparation: 'Draft assignments' can be easily created in advance and sent out in the future, specifically for revision purposes. This streamlined process means you just need to push the 'send' button when ready.
Student Practice: This set of previously created assignments will be ready for your students to practice, test their knowledge, and enable you to identify any areas for further improvement.
Implement Exam Style Questions in Your Classroom
The Exam Style Questions in Kognity are new questions formatted like past exam questions. Each one comes with an example answer and a mark scheme, written by experienced examiners and teachers who know the IBDP examination requirements.
Accessing Exam Style Questions: You can find all Exam Style Questions in the ESQ library, the Table of Contents, and your Assignment area. Use the search bar to quickly find questions by keyword. Students only see the questions you make available to them, so you can keep others unseen for mock exams and assessments.
Unlock questions for self-study: In the ESQ library, select questions and use Hide/show to make them visible for students to practise on their own, without an assignment. Use Mark scheme to decide whether students can view the mark scheme after they submit an attempt. Students can attempt each question as many times as they like, which makes this ideal for independent revision. Learn more about mark scheme settings.
In-Class Time: Use these questions as advanced material to encourage higher-level discussion. Share your screen and ask students to discuss the Exam Style Questions, giving their answers and reasoning. This builds engagement and helps you gauge their understanding.
Send as an Assignment: You can send exam-style questions as assignments for timed practice or mock exams. Students write and submit their answers directly in Kognity. Where a question allows it, they can also upload an image, such as a drawing or annotated diagram. AI suggested scoring (beta) proposes a score and reasoning for each answer. You review every suggestion and can change it before it is finalised. If you’d like students to practise exam conditions on paper, add this to your instructions. Questions you assign also stay available to students for self-study afterwards.
Adding Instructions: Students complete assignments following the instructions you add to each one. It’s also important to go through these instructions in class, so students can ask questions and fully understand what you expect.
Don't Forget the Exam Tip Boxes!
Our textbooks contain various Exam tip boxes. These tips build on common struggles from previous years' exams, helping your students avoid similar mistakes. Incorporate these into your exam preparation strategy to guide your students effectively.
Use the Internal Assessment Guide
Leverage the Internal Assessment guide, found in your Table of Contents, to aid exam preparation. This guide includes tips, criteria explanations, and examples to help your students prepare for their exams and develop their research skills.
Need Further Assistance?
If you have any questions or need additional help, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact us by sending an email to support@kognity.com, and our team will be happy to assist you!