IGCSE - How can I prepare my students for examinations with Kognity?

IGCSE revision, Kognity Cambridge IGCSE™ textbook, assignments, Best Practice tips

Courtney Librizzi avatar
Written by Courtney Librizzi
Updated over a week ago

1. Check Questions tab in the Insights feature to identify the gaps and areas where your students are struggling and need support.

This feature shows the percentage of total questions answered correctly from all questions taken by the student (assignment questions, strength questions in the Practice Centre, and exercise questions in the book). Here, you as a teacher will be able to follow our heat map to get a better understanding of your student's performance and identify the areas where your students need more help. You can also filter the data by topic and/or activity type to get an even more detailed understanding of student performance. This will allow you to plan your revision class ahead of time and focus your time in class, best supporting any areas of weakness.

2. Use your valuable time in class to make use of our interactive material, boxes, and visual parts in the textbook. This will allow you to make sure your whole class has the same basic level of understanding in all areas of the curriculum.

3. Make sure your students have covered the required reading. 

You can do this from your textbook or using our Statistics page. Send Reading Assignments reminding your students to complete their readings. Students who have already completed the readings will receive positive reinforcement seeing that they are already on top of things!

Textbook: Easily identify those students who have covered the required reading by clicking on the number shown under the topic. You can also then use this information to send reading assignments from this section to those students who need to catch up with their reading. 

Insights feature: Check the Textbook tab in Insights to observe the student's progression on each part of the syllabus. The Textbook tab will allow you to see which sections of a topic the students have read and completed and sections that still need to be completed.

Students can also track their own reading progress and can easily spot the areas they need to catch up on before their exams. Guide them to the platform so they can do this in their own time. Students should aim to see only 'green colored' Progress markers in their individual Table of contents, as they approach the exam period.

4. Copy and resend your old question assignments. 

A great benefit of using Kognity regularly during the school year is that any assignment can be copied between classes and re-sent during revision periods. The copy icon to the right of each assignment is a great time saver and allows you to manage several classes efficiently. You will also have the option to view questions you haven't sent out to students before, so make sure you review the question list for each topic to confirm if you've covered everything.

5. Create new assignments or copy old assignments and save them under 'Draft assignments' in your Assignment section. You can easily create assignments in advance and they will be saved for you in 'Draft assignments.' When you are ready to send the previously created assignments out in the future for revision purposes, they are available to you by just pressing the “send” button. These assignments can then be used by your students for further practice, to test their knowledge and of course, will enable you to easily identify any specific areas for further improvement. 

6. Use the Exam Style Questions feature in your classroom. 

The Exam-Style Questions featured in Kognity are new questions in the same format as past exam questions. They are unique questions and paired with example answers and mark schemes, which have been created by examiners and teachers knowledgeable on what is required in the exams. Your students will find the exam-style questions in their Practice centre, and you can find the same questions in the Table of contents.

In-class time: Utilise these questions as more advanced material to drive a higher level of discussion between your students. Share your screen with them and ask them to start a discussion around the Exam Style Question, providing their answers and the reasons for it. This will not only help enhance student engagement in your classroom but also allow you to listen to the different answers and explanations your students have about a specific question.  

Send them as an assignment: You can now send our exam-style questions as assignments. Students will complete them on a piece of paper and return this back to you for marking and grading. This is a great opportunity for your students to practice and get comfortable with this style of question, prior to taking the actual exams.

Make sure to add instructions: Students will complete their assignments, whilst following the submission instructions that you have added to each individual assignment. It is important that you also explain these instructions during class time so that your students can ask you any questions that they may have and you can also make sure that they have a good understanding of your requirements. 

7. Don't forget to check the following:

Study boxes: 

Our textbooks contain a number of boxes that you can use to prepare your students for examinations.

Hint boxes:  Help you choose an appropriate problem-solving strategy to approach a question.

What you should know boxes:
Allow you to check your prior knowledge before you begin a sub-topic and then review your learning at the end. Core and Extended syllabus content is listed separately.

Investigation Section :
Allow you to explore some interesting tasks using your reasoning, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Do you have any other ideas on how to incorporate Kognity in the revision period?
E-mail us at support@kognity.com or contact us through the chat bubble in the lower right corner of your screen to share your best recommendations.

Best of luck with the preparations! 

Your friends at Kognity

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