Bitesize Research: Supporting Students With Exam Anxiety

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week! With exams well underway for IB and coming up for GCSE, and following a bitesize post I wrote last year on exam anxiety and it’s relationship to exam performance, I was interested to see an article in TES about how to support students with exam anxiety.

Objectives: To understand how to support students with exam anxiety

Summary: 

• The article states that it may be that a quarter of students suffer from exam anxiety - defined as an ‘anxiety condition focused on evaluative situations’.

• They suggest some of the following research-informed strategies to support students who may be dealing with this:

• Expressive writing - asking students to write about their thoughts and feelings openly as possible about the task they are about to undertake. 

• Emotional reappraisal - explaining to students that the physical feelings they are experiencing e.g. faster heartbeat also occur in pleasant situations. This can support students to understand that for some, therefore, anxiety is transient and normal. They are also keen to stress, though, that for some students, more severe anxiety requires clinical support.

• Cognitive reappraisal techniques - this requires a longer-term reexamination of the causes, thoughts and feelings that are associated with exam anxiety, then challenging them to seek information that contradicts their negative thoughts.

• They also argue that at a whole school level, improving ‘feedback literacy’ can support to alleviate test anxiety. This involves getting students to really deeply understand what we are assessing, and the purpose of assessing and getting feedback on it.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How am I currently noticing students’ exam anxiety manifest?

• How am I currently supporting students with exam anxiety?

• What support do I need to improve my practice with working with students with exam anxiety?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you! 

CPD Reflections: Being An Examiner

By Donna Boam, Sophia Evans, Sid Garg, Mira Jugoo, David Madden, Dipesh Patel & Divisha Patel

1. What is involved? Donna: As an examiner, you get given a number of questions to mark from a particular exam. I mark for Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 2 and also the IB English Language and Literature orals. Before commencing marking, you attend some remote training and then have to complete qualification, which is when a more experienced examiner checks over your marks. You then commence marking, and some of your scripts are "seeds" and others are checked by a more experienced examiner, meaning that your marking is often being double marked to ensure you are accurate. You are given direct feedback about where you need to adjust your marks. It is a hefty additional workload that can be quite daunting, and you do have to be very organised. The exam boards set incremental marking targets so that you don't leave it all to the last minute, which I would advise anyone to stick to. Also, remember that the marking takes place during the glorious summer months; this past weekend when I wanted to be out enjoying the sunshine I was inside my flat marking! 2. What have you learned from being an examiner? Dipesh: It has radically changed my thinking in terms of how to apply mark schemes as well as how they are constructed. Generally speaking, it has improved my knowledge across the board (mathematical, written, practical questions) but a few main ideas that stand out are the level of detail required to 'show understanding' and 'how to answer the question'. It has shown me how students who clearly have a detailed understanding of a concept, still lose marks due to their own idea of how to respond. The success is in the detail. Sophia: How important presentation of work is. Some students have worked out that it is all over the page and is quite tricky to read. Sitting in the examiner’s chair has made me understand what it is like to read and mark their work (and when this can be tricky). Additionally, the importance of language when answering questions. The mark scheme underlines keywords that need to be in specific answers (such as “angles subtended by the same arc are equal). Many students miss out on marks because they have written their answers without these words, despite us understanding what they’re trying to say. Divisha: I've learnt that it is a disservice to heavily emphasize the use of writing frames and sentence starters with students, because whilst those answers score well, it's not enough to get a 9, so if your teaching is too focused on this approach, it limits the higher ability students. In Geography, I've also learnt that students often miss map/graph skills because they get used to looking for longer answers. Similarly to this, students get hung up on the number of lines provided by the exam board so deliberately limit their answers but should be encouraged to use extra paper if needed. David: The biggest takeaway I’ve learned is that pupils are generally not good at providing answers where they need to write an explanation or describe what has happened. For example, a question required pupils to draw a box plot for a set of data (online sales) and then compare the data results with a box plot included in the question (in shop sales). Many pupils had difficulty in explaining a comparison, especially in terms of the context of the question. I would also concur with Sophia’s comments - it was often difficult to follow a pupil's train of thought as working out was often completed in random spaces on the question sheet. Nana: I have understood how students use methods with limited understanding of the process. E.g. finding the median of a grouped data. A lot of students attempted methods but were unable to complete it adequately showing significant gaps in understanding. 2. How have you/do you intend to use your learning within your lessons/teaching in the future? Sophia: Stressing the importance of laying out work for younger year groups. I think it’s easy for students to slip into bad habits when writing out they are working (being all over the place and hard to read). I also think focusing on literacy (which I know is a school-wide focus) by being strict when marking these types of questions and getting students to use this language orally in class more. Divisha: Since I've become an exam marker, I understand how to cut the 'fluff' from answers so that students' answers become more concise, so when they produce work, I cross out their work (with a pencil!) which is not relevant. In the future, I want to start incorporating this approach into peer assessment, so that students learn by doing. Nana: As a teacher, I will be making a mark scheme template for my students to use for peer marking so that they have an overview of how GCSE marking is done. This is to highlight the importance of completing a process in order to receive the necessary marks. In addition, I hope to build students' understanding of mathematics by hammering and iterating the reasons and importance of certain methods and using AFL to secure such understanding where students are able to complete a method and explain the logic behind it.

Dipesh: I will disseminate what I have learned to my department. Our shared improved knowledge will then be systematically applied to the lessons we teach. This will especially affect the way we question students during practicals, in terms of how to improve practicals as well as in terms of accuracy and precision.

3. What are your top tips for staff trying to apply exam board mark schemes in their own classes? Dipesh: When teaching, highlight the way the mark scheme works to help students to identify what is essential for a concept (e.g. {these brackets mean either /or must be said} - so that they then would highlight that section in their notes. Divisha: For levelled/banded questions, consider what the triggers are for each level/band. For example, do they need to use a case study to move into the next band? Do they need to compare/contrast? Incorporating these skills into lessons will develop the students' critical thinking skills, whilst also developing their flair for writing. Sophia: Be strict and vigilant with the mark scheme. Process marks don’t let you carry over numbers if they are worked out from using the wrong process. It is easy for us to mark papers more generously because we know what the students are trying to say, even if it’s not exactly correct. Examiners in maths don’t seem to care much about rounding (but I think this is good to not tell students!). Nana: As previously mentioned by my colleagues above it is important to understand and follow the mark scheme rigorously. This eliminates discrepancies in marking and gives students a better idea of their performance. It is important to clarify the mark scheme and make time for making so that marking is being done accurately and consistently. It is easy to be empathetic during marking in order to boost students’ confidence but this does not prepare students for the GCSE expectations. CASE STUDY: Mira Jugoo My summer 2022 exam series started last Christmas when I received an email from Pearson asking if I’d like to be an examiner again this year. Being offered contracts so far in advance (including all the key dates) makes it easier to plan ahead and balance school work with exam marking and personal commitments. A few weeks before the exam I was contacted by the BTEC Business Level 3 Team with details of the marking software (Epen), information about online training resources that are available for examiners and a project plan for that particular exam paper. Epen Software used by Pearson for onscreen marking All of the dates were laid out clearly so, again, I knew exactly when the important deadlines were. Approximately a week prior to the exam, I was contacted by my Team Leader who checked in on a more personal and supportive level to ensure that I was prepared and had everything I needed for the standardisation training day. Standardisation ran very smoothly and the Principal Examiner was very clear and on hand to solve any issues; the use of live text chat meant that it was easy to ask Team Leaders a question, and it was nice to hear a variety of voices when going through the different questions. What I particularly like is the time taken to discuss reasons why a mark is awarded and to what extent an Assessment Objective has been met. It also allowed me to work out if I was being too harsh or too generous. It was made clear that we are looking to find what we can reward and to adopt an approach of positive marking. Once the marking was underway, my Team Leader was my main source of support, offering encouragement, guidance on queries and useful reminders of marking progress. So much importance is placed on the quality of marking and all examiners need to submit a first sample of marking to be checked by their Team Leader before they are allowed to begin marking live scripts. Marking live scripts on Epen From then on, the main marking began and I was regularly monitored on the accuracy of my marking which is quality assured every few days. The performance peek feature was particularly helpful in being aware of how accurate my marking was.

Performance Peek Dashboard on Epen Even the little details like the visual graphic of the marking progress line was so helpful in monitoring my progress – there was a real sense of achievement in seeing the blue line pass each of the marking milestones. Being an examiner whilst teaching leads me to reflect as to how much it’s done for my own professional development which I can eventually share with my colleagues in the Enterprise department. Additionally, it is the most effective CPD I have been able to benefit from to improve my teaching practice.

Tracking progress and marking milestones on Epen I have a more in-depth knowledge of the assessments and I get to see how different students across the country have been taught to tackle exam questions. Altogether this experience has enhanced my teaching and developed my skills whilst also opening my career path to more senior opportunities in assessment design and delivery. This has been my tenth year as an examiner and it is always a pleasure working with such a well-organised and efficient team at Pearson. After working so hard during an intense period, I’m now looking forward to a well-earned summer break in Mauritius and using my hard-earned marking bonus which can be between £500 - £1000 depending on the type and volume of paper which is being marked.

Bitesize Research: Impact Of Exam Anxiety On Exam Performance

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone had a good week so far! As this is the final week of our YR11s being with us, I was interested to read a summary of some recent research into exam anxiety and exam performance by the Institute of Education. Objectives: To understand the links between exam anxiety and exam performance for YR11s.

Summary:

• The study revealed no clear relationship between those students with high levels of exam anxiety and exam performance
• A maximum difference of one-fifth was found between the most and least anxious groups.
• There were no meaningful differences in subgroups - including prior attainment groupings and deprivation indexes.
• This is contrary to other literature which suggests a negative impact of anxiety on test performance. The authors conclude two possible reasons for this: 1) It is possible that the motivating elements of anxiety outweigh the negative impacts 2) It is possible that structures to alleviate anxiety, such as separate rooms or extra time, are already in place.
• This study highlights the need for more in-depth research into the impact of mental health on GCSE exam performance. It also proposes a more detailed examination of the long-term impacts of exam anxiety.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How have I supported students who have exam anxiety? How can I encourage exam anxiety as a motivating factor?
• What understanding or support do I need to be able to help students who suffer from exam anxiety? Here are Paul Mulvihill’s tips for students with exam anxiety: 1. Prepare them well in advance - for example, talk them through the smaller details 2. Normalise anxious feelings or worries - e.g. if you are worried about an exam it shows you care about doing well! 3. Encourage students not to compare themselves to others and remember that exams are a tool to identify areas of development
• How might the ‘I don’t care’ attitude act as a proxy for exam anxiety? How might we deal with this?

If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Teacher Influence On Student Attainment

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone had a great half term, and that you’re having a good week so far. Given that we are in the thick of GCSE exams, this week, I was interested to see the TES reporting of the findings of research by the Nuffield Foundation about teacher influences on student attainment (specifically GCSE results). Objectives: To understand the influences that teachers have on student attainment. Summary:

• The data for this study was from 14,000 students, in 32 secondary schools
• The study confirms that the classroom practices of teachers do matter and do influence student results. It also shows that the classroom practices vary from subject to subject in terms of their impact.
• For example, in English lessons - facilitating interactions and discussions between students appear to be important to raising test scores
• In Maths lessons - making time for students to practice individually appears to be important in raising test scores
• Teacher ratings were also examined, and the teachers ranked most highly by peers appeared to have the biggest impact on GCSE scores
• The report authors suggest that peer observations of these highly ranked teachers are likely to be helpful in both professional learning and in improving student outcomes

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• What do I notice about my planned classroom activities and their relationship to student attainment? What evidence do I have?
• When was the last time I observed a colleague who is highly rated by students? What did I learn?
• How can I factor in time for observation in T6 of a highly rated colleague?

If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Supporting Revision & Exam Preparation

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s had a great week so far! As we draw closer to exams, I wanted to get in touch about some recent work from the Education Endowment Foundation about supporting effective revision using the EEF’s evidence-based work on metacognition and self-regulated learning. Objectives: To use evidence-based methods to support student revision and exam preparation. Summary:

• The EEF propose the explicit teaching of revision strategies as teachers cannot assume that students will be strong independent learners or know how to revise independently.
• They advocate the use of a seven-step model, as summarised below:

1. Activating prior knowledge
2. Explicit strategy instruction
3. Modelling of learned strategy
4. Memorisation of strategy
5. Guided practice
6. Independent practice
7. Structured reflection

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How do I currently support students to improve their metacognition and ability to revise independently?
• Which parts of the seven-step model do I use already? Which do I need support with to secure them into my practice? What might this support look like?
• How can I scaffold and support students to prepare for their exams in these final stages? If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!