Palmerston North Boys’ High School examinations will take place for the junior school in week 4 of Term 4, from Monday, 7 November to Friday, 11 November 2022.  Information about the topics to be assessed in the core subjects can be found below.

 Year 9 Science

Topics to be examined are:

· Ecology

· Microbiology

· Plants

The examination will consist of multiple-choice questions, short answer, and long answer questions. The content will be directly from the Content Learning Outcomes presented at the beginning of every unit (please see the attached document). A graphing question may also be included.

Year 9 Mathematics

Topics to be examined are:

· Number: Integers, fractions, decimals, ratios, percentages

· Measurement and Geometry: Units, perimeter, area, volume, time, shape naming

· Algebra: Algebraic meaning, expanding, factorising, simplifying expressions, algebraic fractions, substitution, solving.

· Probability: Basic probability, probability trees, two way tables

Year 9 English

There are three sections to the examination:

Written Text Study - 30%

· Writing an extended paragraph on a text studied in class this year. All questions for this task begin with “Describe….and Explain”.

· The above is marked on the ideas presented by the student, depth and accuracy of supporting examples and their relevance to the question.

· Students should expect to spend around 35 minutes planning and writing this section.

Unfamiliar Text – Fiction, Poetry & Non-fiction - 50%

· There are 3 texts to read and answer questions about.

· Students will be tested on their reading comprehension, as well as knowledge and understanding of language terms from the Junior English Vocabulary List (available on Stratus).

· Question types include short answer, identification of language features, and analysis of language and its effects.

· Students should spend approximately 1 hour on this section.

Punctuation & Grammar - 20%

· Same format as mid-year exam (identification and application).

· Skills include parts of speech, capital letters, full stops, commas, apostrophes, sentence types, conjunctions, plurals, homophones. (See Vocabulary list on Stratus).

· Students should spend approximately 25 minutes on this section

Year 9 Social Studies

The examination content-based questions will come from the following:

Pre-European Māori

· Explain how Māori identify and interact with the land – relationship with places, use of resources.

· Describe ways in which Māori society organied itself (social groupings, different roles in society, gender roles) and explain how social controls were important (chiefly authority, rules, tapu etc.)

Asian Neighbours

· Define Asia as a geographic concept – what is Asia? (Countries / Regions and major Cities, Population facts, the important features natural and cultural).

· Recognise that people live richly but differently in different environments.

· Recognise the challenges / difficulties which students (and their families) face in the’ new’ New Zealand environment – ways of doing things in practical sense / Communicating / Foods / Family ties / Religion and faith.

Use the 2021 examination provided, to see how these questions are asked. The types of questions asked in November will remain similar to the 2021 paper.

The examination format will be:

Short Answer section: (15 marks x 2) = 30 Marks

· There will be 15 marks awarded for short answer questions in each of the two topics above – these will be similar types of short answer questions as in previous years.

· Ten of these marks will involve short answer recall, while five of these marks will require longer answers using a combination of memory recall and resource interpretation.

· The 2021 November examination paper will be available on the Social Studies Stratus page.

Essay: (15 Marks)

· There will be a choice of three essays.

· Students are to complete one of these choices.

· Taking 5 minutes to plan is an important part of essay writing and space will be left in the answer booklet to make this possible.

· 30 minutes of the examination time should be given to the essay question.

· The essay questions will relate to the topics outlined in bold at the top of the page and a question based on class work completed around the topic ‘Current Issues’.

Skills: (20 Marks)

· Students will be required to read information from graphs and tables of information.

· Recognise basic patterns and / or relationships and / or trends from graphs and tables of information.

· Make reasoned statements (infer) based on information provided

· This section is based on skills ability – not memory preparation. Skills practice is the way to prepare.

· This content will be introduced to students in the first weeks of Term 4.

· These questions are not based on notes taken in class and therefore do not involve memorising notes.

Current Events: (10 Marks)

· The examination will involve matching lists of headlines, events, places, or people to a current event from June – October 2022.

· Recognising people from a current event from June – October 2022.

· Writing sentences to explain a current event from June – October 2022.