Dreaming Spires Revision

I'm really happy to announce that Yvonne Mason, my colleague at Dreaming Spires Home Learning , is joining the revision team for offering short courses over Easter to help hone a student's skills for their English Language IGCSE. Meeting up in Autumn Just like the CAIE course that I've run for almost a decade, Yvonne's course will go through past papers and suggest best practice, sharing tips, giving warnings of places where students often trip up. She won't, however, mark any mocks like I do for the CAIE due to time constraints this year. We can make suggestions as to someone who will mark mocks for you instead if you so wish. Both courses - my CAIE and her Edexcel - will run live, online daily during the Easter holidays starting the 15th of April. Hers will meet at 6 pm and mine at 7 pm. If this is something you want for your teen, then don't delay: we have a limited number of spaces and they're likely to fill up fast. To register for...

Students wanted a longer holiday, so we've compromised: we're now starting the crammer on the 4th of September and will run it for just four days, from 2-4 pm daily. I blame it on CIE for scheduling the exam so early this Autumn, but it is the last one of the current spec, so probably safest exam to take in the foreseeable future in terms of track record of past papers and examiners knowing how to mark it. Let me show you the way to go! (PS This isn't me in the photo, but it is my son and my dog)

We're excited to announce that, starting August this year, Dreaming Spires Revision is offering daily crammers for not just CIE English Language exams (0500), but now the CIE English Literature exam (0486), too! Both courses will be offered on a daily basis during the fortnight of 13th-24th August, and registration is now open, so grab your place before we're full. Check out the "Upcoming Courses in English Language" tab for days and times for the 0500 crammer. Check out the "New Courses in English Literature" tab for days and times for the 0486 crammer. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the contact form in the right-hand menu (PC), or email me at dreamingspiresrevision<at>gmail<dot>com

Students are making a hash of this question, probably over-thinking it. They can also under-think it ... by not reading the question! Almost every time, Question 3 on Paper 2 wants a list based off the insert that has been GENERALISED from the specific example in the insert. Many years ago, candidates were asked to read the insert and pick out points about characteristics of fictional detectives. Another one was about difficulties and obstacles to building the Panama Canal. Another one was about declining bee populations, and still another about Houdini. I've just been marking mock exams where the insert was about Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, but the question wanted to know what was the allure of Wild West shows in general. So where students were saying who Buffalo Bill was, and that his show once played for Queen Victoria, they weren't answering the question about how these shows in general were capturing imaginations of the populace: details lik...

We're just two days away from the Autumn sittings for the CIE English Language IGCSE exam, and I'm already looking ahead to Spring by opening up registrations for the LIVE AND ONLINE weekly January course as well as the daily Easter crammer to help students prepare for their exams for the summer of 2018. Dreaming Spires Revision time??? I'm so excited!!!! We'll be looking at the summer exams from last year, and taking advantage of my years of experience with this exam and what examiners are looking for.  So why slog through reinventing the wheel when I can point your teens to exactly the way to focus on each question, AND mark a mock for them to help them see where they can revise more efficiently? This course is delivered live and online, and is open to students from all over the world. We regularly have people attend from New Zealand, India, Singapore, and throughout Europe. If the weekly course doesn't suit your time zone, then let me know that...

Do you feel stressed about the CIE 0500 English Language exam that's coming up this Autumn? Come along to our daily crammer and get all the strategies to make you feel more prepared, focused, and confident. After taking Dr P's crammer course, "Wilfred" felt in control. Now taking student registrations for the daily course that's starting 2nd of October,  meeting at 8 am because nobody has anything planned then but a few extra zzzzzzs!!! What: Dreaming Spires Revision crammer course for CIE 0500 IGCSE in English Language (higher tier) Where: On your computer - it's live and online When: 2nd-6th, and 9th and 10th October, 8 am daily. Cost: £80 including mocking a mark exam (2 papers) How: Register here to receive details of sending payment Who: Only 20 of you, so don't miss the chance to get live tuition from Dr P, author of "How to Ace the English Language IGCSE" , available on ebook and paperback from Amazon.

Welcome to Dreaming Spires Revision and the new series of exam tips I'm running for this year. If you're not sure who I am, my name is Dr Kat Patrick, a home-educator for more than a decade who is also a former secondary school teacher in English and examiner for the Cambridge International Board's 0500 English Language iGCSE exam. I run online crammer courses about three times a year to help coach students do their best on this exam, and have also written a revision guide that you can buy from Amazon at the link below: http://tinyurl.com/hr8bmyl On a recent Facebook discussion about UK exams, someone challenged me about why I often mention that my revision courses give tips and tricks that only a current examiner can know. The answer is simple: no matter how many past papers you download, how many mark schemes or examiner's reports you read, you'll never know the ins and outs of the way examining works unless you've been in those standardisation meet...

Hey, everybody -- if you have a student who is doing the CIE iGCSE 0500 English Language exam in the near future (that's the higher tier option), then you'll want to get on board the raffle for a free copy of my revision guide. If you're not doing it, could you please share this giveaway on your social media?  The link below will take you to the giveaway site and tell you what you need to do, or go to our Facebook page to enter it from there:  https://www.facebook.com/dreamingspiresrevision/app/228910107186452/ a Rafflecopter giveaway

Returning for January 2017, the weekly crammer course is making an appearance again. Running on Mondays at 1 pm from the 16th of January, it spreads the 8 sessions over a longer period of time. We're also running the Easter crammer as usual -- eight straight days starting the 10th of April, at 7:30 pm. Either one is £80 to get tutored in person by the author who wrote the book "How to Ace the CIE iGCSE English Language exam." The basis for both it and the Easter crammer will be last summer's exam, so if you're revising on your own already, you might want to avoid doing that one so you come to it fresh.

I've just closed the window on the last live webinar for the August crammer course. The students have been inundated with Dos and Don'ts from examiner's reports, mark schemes, and my own experience on "the other side". Even before the week had ended, people were asking when I'm next offering the course. That would be the Easter holidays next year, 2017. Easter is really late this year, so a crammer at that point will really be the final polishing before exams start in May. If you want to get a head start on what to study, then buy my revision guide: there are plenty of examples there of good practice, tips for revision, and ways to improve your writing in advance of taking the crammer. Buy it here from Amazon, either as a Kindle book or paperback:  http://tinyurl.com/hr8bmyl What would it add to your child's study to attend the crammer if you've got the book? New examples, for one. A chance to have homework and questions marked by me, with my e...

Today is the annual rite of GCSE results, and I've felt such a part of it after receiving all the lovely emails from students who took the Dreaming Spires crammer course earlier in the year. Below is just a small sample of their effusive reports, but remember that I'm teaching my online crammer again from 22nd of August (7 pm). As always, I'll be sharing all the tips and tricks from being a current examiner. If you can't make the live course, then you can get the next-best thing by buying my course book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Language-iGCSE-version-Higher-ebook/dp/B01E42XQK0/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1460534833&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=how+to+ace+the+gcse+english+language+exam *************** “E” did your English revision course at Easter, just letting you know she got an A*. (Much to her surprise:-) ) *************** Dear Dr P, I got my results for my English language GCSE today and was overjoyed to see that I h...

If you're taking the CIE exam in the autumn, or you are expecting a full timetable in term time, then you might want to be one of fifteen students who takes my live, online crammer starting the 22nd of August. Live and Online iGCSE Revision with Dreaming Spires For eight straight days (22nd-31st, not counting weekends), we will meet for one hour from 7 pm UK time, when I will go through a set of past papers, question by question. I'll tell you how an examiner views answers, and the best way to save time while honing down to the nub of question in the most efficient manner. The format will be just like my revision guide, but with new examples, and of course, you will have my direct input into your child's work. At the end of the eight days, I will mark a mock exam for you. Click on the registration tab to reserve your place today.

By popular demand, Dreaming Spires Revision is now offering additional extensions to its crammer course for its students to benefit from even more guided exam preparation. The first extension is called Homework Club . It's a two-week, focused period where a student can submit answers to each of the exam questions for detailed commentary and marking, submitting one each day. It's like taking a second mock, but over an extended period of time. The second extension is marking an additional mock to the mock exam that's included in the crammer course. Each extension costs £25, a reflection of the time-intensive nature of giving detailed feedback. Both together will be only £40. There are no discounts for siblings for these addition. If you want to sign up your student for these, then use the registration form as usual, putting in the extension you want to add. The deadline for registering for these is 1st April. Unfortunately, these extensions are not offered to s...

Now that the January crammer course has kicked off on Tuesdays at noon, registration for it is now closed. BUT WAIT!!! We're running another Easter crammer for 8 days from 21st March to 1st April, 2016, meeting at 9 am daily. We won't meeting Good Friday or Easter Monday. As always, this crammer course is online, and focuses specifically on the tips and tricks of successful exam techniques for the CIE 0500 iGCSE English Language exam that I've learned by being an examiner. Register on the registration tab for your child's place today!