Covid has changed the landscape forever; how should schools adapt their admissions process accordingly?

Over recent years we have seen many shifting trends within the world of education, especially movements towards an increasing reliance on a more digital approach to learning, research, and assessment. Arguably, Covid-19 has served as a catalyst in accelerating a move to learning online out of necessity, and with it has brought many fresh challenges to schools, as well as exacerbating long-standing ones.

Not only have schools had to race to create a stable online provision for remote learning in order to efficiently teach their pupils, but they also still face the challenge of securing new applicants that fit in with the ethos and academic rigour of the school. It goes without saying that a key factor of ensuring this, is the method in which the candidates are assessed when they apply, and given that schools can no longer invite candidates to visit in person, they must work out how to make their admissions ‘Covid-friendly’, without compromising the insight that their assessments previously provided. All whilst ensuring that it remains as smooth a process as possible.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, many schools had already made use of tools like the ISEB Common Pre-Test, or the UK Independent Schools’ Entry Test (UKiset), alongside their own internal assessments, as means of testing potential pupils. The reasons for this are that these tests are adaptive and there is no need for candidates to sit the assessment at the exact same time as everyone else taking it, as each individual’s questions are bespoke. Covid has, in many ways made these methods of testing imperative, given that the majority of candidates, especially international ones, are unable to be physically present at the school to take the test.

Another reason is that these tests are used by hundreds of schools, linking a network of prestigious schools from around the world together, and ensuring a fair, standardised assessment for all candidates. In other words, everyone’s result can be easily compared to their peers’, without the worry of discrepancies between those who mark the papers. In turn, this has helped speed up the admissions process by decreasing pressure on admissions departments, and reducing — sometimes even eliminating — the need for schools to set and mark their own additional entry assessments.

There are benefits for the candidates taking these assessments too; whilst preparing for these tests, they learn valuable transferable skills which will help them going forward in the British education system, as well as beyond, to university and in their careers. By taking something like the UKiset, they can also apply to several schools at once, reducing time and stress.

As a testament to the reliability and security of these assessment tools, they are becoming increasingly commonplace to aid admissions processes in more and more British and international schools across the world. For instance, Lucton school in Shanghai has made UKiset a prerequisite for entry, as well as over 150 others within the UK also using it as a means of entry assessment.

In conclusion, as we go forward into the uncertain post-Covid future, there is sufficient reason why schools should be looking increasingly to transform their admissions into a more comprehensive online process, given that as well as being pandemic-friendly, the benefits are tenfold.

If you’d like more information on how UKiset could benefit your school and those who are applying, head to our UKiset for schools page or get in touch via email or telephone.

 

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This article from Isabel Sheehan at Gabbitas first appeared in the April 2021 edition of Independent Education Today

Examinations scheduled between 30 April and 22 May 2020 will no longer be held. The IB intends to release results to universities and schools as planned on 5 July.

• All student coursework and associated predicted grades will need to be uploaded by 20 April, if not sooner, to guarantee delivery of results by 5 July.
• Students will be able to do retakes. If the current May session students would like to sit exams in the November session, IB would welcome it, and therefore they are prepared for that eventuality.
• The student will be awarded either a diploma or a course certificate which reflects their standard of work.
• The achievement will be based around the students’ coursework and the established assessment expertise.

IB will be using vast historical assessment data to ensure that they follow a rigorous process of due diligence in what is a truly unprecedented situation. They will be undertaking significant data analysis from previous exam sessions, individual school data, subject data as well as comparative data of schools who have already completed uploading requirements and those who have not. IB will require schools to submit the coursework for all candidates.

IB will externally mark work that is usually marked by teachers, instead of taking samples and applying moderation.

They will use a calculation that is based on the relationship between coursework marks, predicted grades and subject grades to estimate the subject grades candidates would have received if the exams had gone ahead.

If the relationship between these elements shows that in previous sessions candidates globally tended to achieve higher outcomes on their exams than their coursework, the calculation used this session will reflect that.

At a subject level, students will be awarded a grade on the normal IB 1-7 scale. Theory of Knowledge (TOK), the Extended Essay and the Career-Related Programme Reflective Project will be awarded a grade on the normal IB A-E scale. The DP core will be awarded on the normal IB 0-3 scale. A total points score will be awarded for the Diploma, out of 45 as normal.

The IB is communicating with universities globally about the current situation and will continue to do so. Further details will be available shortly.

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To see how Gabbitas can advise you on the best next steps to help in these circumstances please contact us by emailing info@gabbitas.com or call one of our consultants on 0207 734 0161.

What can I expect from the new system being introduced by the UK Government?

The UK government have announced that this year’s GCSE, AS and A level exams have been cancelled. As a result, grades will now be awarded based on a student’s performance in mock exams and other non-exam assessment data available to teachers.

How will this work in practice?

Using the following:

• Non-exam assessment/coursework (complete or incomplete)
• Homework
• Mock exams
• Any other records of student performance over the course of study
• Any records of performance in subjects such as PE, Music and Drama
• Recent and relevant public exam and external testing such AS-level grades, BMAT/UCAT which can also be included in the evidence.

Teachers will use their professional experience to make a fair and objective judgement of the grade they believe a student would have achieved had they sat their exams this year. The final grades awarded in each subject will be internally moderated by the relevant departmental staff at the school.

How will my grades be finalised?

Schools have been asked to rank students in order of performance in each grade and subject and will submit these to the relevant exam boards.

The Exam Boards will then standardise the results by comparing grades between schools and colleges to achieve fairness overall.

How the schools have performed historically will also be considered.

Therefore, the grade predicted from the school may be adjusted up or down by the exam board.

Schools will have until 29 May 2020 at the earliest to submit grades to the exam boards, and probably up until 12 June 2020 according to the guidance to date.

As a result, students have a window of opportunity in the next few weeks to maximise their academic potential by evidencing progress and attainment through the timely completion of classwork, homework and other tasks set by their teachers. 

As of now (but it may change) students will receive their grades by mid-August if not earlier.

Appeals and Autumn Exams

Students who feel that their grades from the summer do not reflect their ability will have the opportunity to take their exams in an Autumn series of exams yet to be finalised or in summer 2021.

Keep in mind:

• It is unsure how the ‘appeal’ procedure will work for students who do not agree with their final grades.
• Universities have yet to confirm how the papers sat this Autumn will be judged but one leading university has already confirmed that these written papers will not be considered as ‘resits’ and students will not be at a disadvantage.

Overseas student guidelines

UKVI have not yet changed their visa requirements (Tier 4 General) regarding IELTS.  As soon as centres reopen, students will be asked to take IELTS.

• In mainland China and Hong Kong the IELTS centres are re-opening.

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To see how Gabbitas can advise you on the best next steps to help in these circumstances, contact us by emailing info@gabbitas.com or call one of our consultants on 0207 734 0161

Picture this, you’ve been studying hard for your exams but as soon as you walk into the exam hall, your mind goes blank. Your palms start to sweat, your heart rate quickens and you feel a deep pit in your stomach. These are classic signs of exam anxiety and sadly may mean you child’s scores don’t reflect the hard work they’ve put into preparing for the exam.

However, do not fear as there are some simple strategies to help! Sara Boomsma from Gabbitas Middle East shares some top tips for parents to help students manage anxiety during exams.

Be prepared

This may seem obvious but the more prepared your child is, the more confident they will be walking into that exam hall. Encourage them to utilise practice papers with exam conditions leading up to the real thing. This will help ensure they have practiced managing their anxiety during timed conditions.

Normalise exam stress

Talk to your child about exam stress being a perfectly normal thing. Share your experiences of sitting exams and how you felt leading up to and during them. Helping your child realise they are not alone and that feeling like this isn’t unusual will really help. Plus, mention that a bit of nerves can often be a good thing!

Remember, physical wellbeing helps mental wellbeing

One of the most important aspects of mental health is physical health. If you want your child to remain focused and resilient throughout the revision and exam season, make sure they are also prioritising their physical health too.

Early nights, eating healthy and exercise are all key aspects to this. Make sure as a parent you are rigorous with these as your child will often give up playing in their regular sports teams or going to bed at the usual time in order to make more time for study. But this will certainly not help in the long run!

Arrive early

There is nothing worse that feeling rushed when you are on the way to an exam. Make sure your child is packed and ready to go the night before and leave yourself plenty of time to get to the location. Don’t allow your child another reason to be anxious in the morning!

Read and read again!

Stress to your child to take their time and read through the questions carefully. There is nothing worse than getting halfway through a question and realising you are not on target. They have plenty of time so advise them to slow down and take their time when reading through the questions.

Don’t pay attention to others

Try to ensure your child resists the urge to look around the exam hall at what everyone else is doing – trust us, it won’t help! Encourage them to stay focused on their own timings and pace.

Watch the clock

Your child’s teachers would have talked through allocating a certain amount of time to each question to make sure they can get through everything on time. Often the longest essay questions which are worth the most marks will be at the end of the paper, don’t forget to leave time for these!

Think positive

Talk to your child about replacing unhelpful, negative thoughts with more encouraging self-talk by challenging worried and negative thoughts. Get a mantra going with your child on the morning of the exam with affirmations like “I have done my best” and “I will be OK, whatever happens” and “I can do this, I am confident”. Try utilising mindfulness techniques with your child to focus on the present task in hand rather than the “what if?”

Breathe!

A helpful strategy to share with your child is as follows: as soon as they sit down in the exam hall, take in five slow, deep breaths and imagine that you are breathing in warm, calming air and breathing out self-doubt.

Don’t talk about it afterwards

As soon as your child leaves the exam hall it can be so tempting to talk through each question in detail with their friends. Ensure you say to your child not to dwell on it and move on, they have their next exam to focus on after all!

We wish all students sitting exams over the next few months the very best of luck!

It’s that time of the year again – mocks exams are looming after the winter break.  So the upcoming holiday will require some time spent on revision…But what is the best way to survive the rigours of revision and how do you make sure your child is making the best of their time? In this blog, we share our top tips for revision and how you can help your child.

Draw up a revision timetable

Plan what you are going to do each day and how much time you are going to spend on it. This way you won’t waste time pottering around thinking about what to do and finding the right books, you can hit the decks running. Don’t waste lots of time making this look pretty – tempting but that does not count as revision.

 

Plan your time well

No-one can focus for longer than 30 minutes effectively, so allow yourself 45 minute slots. This will give you time to get set up , to have 30 minutes of effective revision and then 10 minutes at the end to review what you have done or test yourself.

 

Factor in short breaks

5-10 minutes is ample, longer than that and you will start getting distracted by other things and lose momentum. Use this time for fixing a drink, grabbing a healthy snack or running around the garden to get some fresh air and exercise.

 

Don’t let revision take up your whole day

If you have planned to do 4 hours a day get up early and get it over and done with by lunch time.  Then you have the whole of the rest of the day free.  Or split it with 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening.  It’s important you keep a balance and you will resent the revision far less if you have other things to look forward to in the day.

 

Find a quiet place to work

Once located, make sure it is set up with all the pens, paper books etc you need. Ask other people to respect this space and recognise that you are working and not to be disturbed.  Try to eliminate as many distractions from this space as possible, keep your phone turned off when you are revising and turn off email alerts on your computer too!

 

Make summary notes

This has proved to be the most successful way of memorising information. Summarise the information from your original notes, then summarise the summary. See if you can get each topic down to one side of A4 or try using index cards for revision notes.

 

Use colours and mind maps in your revision notes

Colourful notes are more easily absorbed by the brain than black and white ones! Write key points on coloured post it notes and stick them around the house – the bathroom mirror is a particularly good place!

 

Remember, revision is only part of the equation

You also need to master exam technique to score the really good grades. Do plenty of past papers in each subject so that you are thoroughly familiar with the style of questions and what is expected. Do some of these in timed conditions to get a feel for what it will be like to complete a whole paper in one sitting.

 

Start your revision early

The longer you have the more prepared you can be. Cramming might create a feel-good factor when a subject is covered in a single afternoon, however, the study of ‘spaced repetition’ demonstrates that studying a subject for one hour a day every day for a week results in greater recall, as the brain can only remember five to seven bits of new information at a time.

 

Finally – try to relax!

Feeling stressed about revision? Try practicing mindfulness to help manage anxiety and tension. Focus on the moment and allow feelings to come and go. Use breathing exercises to slow down the heart and reduce tension.

Luke Baerschmidt is in his final year at Sedbergh School and has been predicted great grades in his A’ Levels.  Luke is applying for a degree in Business Analytics and knows he will have to deliver on those predictions to secure his place.  Here are the tech tips he is using to help him study and revise.

For the average teenager, studying and revision isn’t the first thing on our minds and for lots of us it’s hard to get things done without a nudge in the right direction.  But with the pressure mounting it’s time to get serious and I have found these 4 tools vital in helping me achieve my mock results and buckle down for next year.

Tool 1: Cold Turkey

The first revision tool is the foundation of how I start my revising, as for myself I know that I can’t do any work if I have distractions all around me. This app, ‘Cold Turkey’ shuts down any incoming notifications during set periods of time that you choose to fit your timetable.  I find it incredibly helpful as it gives me my own bubble to concentrate and work and without it I would find it much harder to get things done. An alternative to this is ‘Forest’, it is a softer form of shutting yourself off from the world. With this one you keep your phone on that app only whilst you revise, you start with a seed which grows to a tree and the longer you revise the bigger your forest grows.  It’s satisfying for those who enjoy a subtle reward for hard work.

 

Tool 2: Grammarly

The second tool I use is ‘Grammarly.’ When writing essays or projects I find this tool very valuable for the final draft; it checks all your grammar and word choice based on set criteria that you choose, whether it is to inform or explain to experts or beginners and it sculpts your form of writing around that set criteria. In fact, I even checked this entire piece on it!   Another feature that I like about this tool is the analytical check, this tells you the rarity of the words you use and the average length of each word which then gives you a performance score and a summary and I find that helpful for seeing how my work would appear to a professional.

 

Tool 3: Simplemind

The third tool is ‘Simplemind’, I use this for mind maps to keep all the information clear. It is super easy to use and you can print off the finished map. I use it mainly for my Psychology work and I could claim that this was the main reason for my A* prediction for this subject!

 

Tool 4: School Planner

Lastly, ‘School Planner’ is essential for organising my work and keeping on top of it. It is a super simple tool that records your daily activities and work and also leaves gaps for sport and social time since you have to have that vice. The nice thing for me is that it builds in a weekly report of if you are keeping up with your schedule which I use as a form of guilt trip if I can’t complete my weekly tasks.