How to make the most out of MathsWatch CD

Up until six years ago, one of the most common questions that GCSE students used to ask me was, “How do I revise for Maths?”.  They simply didn’t know where to get started or how long to spend on each topic.  They would often spend half an hour just settling down to revise, wasting valuable revision time.  They would also make the mistake of just reading through their exercise books, class notes or revision guides.  Although this is better than nothing it doesn’t test what they actually know or highlight the gaps in their knowledge. 

Engage with maths!

Students need to ‘do maths’ in order to find out what they do or don’t actually know. Then, as a school, we came across the MathsWatch revision CD, which is only available to buy from schools or colleges.  Students can either purchase the CD or are given access to the MathsWatch CD via their school’s VLE.  This fantastic resource helps students revise in an efficient and comprehensive manner.  Each GCSE topic is covered via the use of a video clip which lasts between just three and eight minutes.  The teacher introduces the topic by way of an example that the student works through at the same time, pausing and restarting the clip.  Practice questions are then introduced and finally exam style questions round the clip off.  In the space of just three to eight minutes they have fully revised that part of the GCSE course. To really focus our students and to maximise their chances of success, I put together a seven-week revision programme for both the Foundation and Higher tier.  By completing just three clips per day, students could complete their whole GCSE Mathematics revision in just seven weeks. However, we encouraged our students to complete the timetable several times for maximum effect.  Students and parents really valued the timetable as it made it clear what was to be studied and when; it was easy for parents to monitor and support.  It also freed up valuable study time for their other GCSE subjects.  The only complaint from students was that they wished they could change the teacher’s voices like you can on a Sat Nav in order to mix things up!  We could always tell which students were following the programme closely as their performance in lessons really improved with this regular, daily practice.  This was supplemented with weekly past GCSE paper practice both in lessons and at home.  Our school’s GCSE Maths pass rate, which was already significantly above the national average, improved further. The seven-week timetables can be viewed below:

Seven-week MathsWatch Foundation tier timetable

Now do One minute maths on your Maths Watch CD. These clips literally take one minute each and should be used to refresh topics, rather than learn them. Choose ten clips per day.  Alternatively select whole clips from above that you need to keep practising.  

Seven-week MathsWatch Higher tier timetable

Now do One minute maths on your Maths Watch CD. These clips literally take one minute each and should be used to refresh topics, rather than learn them. Choose ten clips per day.  Alternatively, select whole clips from above that you need to keep practising. Good luck and enjoy!

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