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 10 Science

Topics to be examined are:

· Electricity,

· Sexual Reproduction and Genetics

· Carbon fuels and the Environment.

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 (document attached below). A graphing question may also be included.

Year 10 Mathematics

Topics to be assessed are:

· Number: Percentage of a quantity, increase, decrease, inverse percent, GST, ratios and rates, fractions, fractions of a quantity.

· Algebra: Simplifying, solving, substitution, rearranging, expanding and factorising.

· Probability: Calculating probability, two-way tables, probability trees, calculating expected number.

· Measurement: Measurement conversions, calculating perimeter, area and volume (formula will be provided on the cover page of the examination).

· Angles: Calculating size of angles and giving geometric reasons.

· Right Angled Triangles: Pythagoras only.

· Linear Graphs: Linear patterns, write equations for lines, draw lines from equations, application questions

Students will be required to bring: a calculator, ruler and pens.

Students are advised to access past End of Year examinations from Stratus.

Year 10 English

There are three sections to the exam:

Film Study - 40% (50 minutes)

· Matching film technique terminology with definitions (5%). Students should spend around 5-10 minutes on this section.

· Writing an introduction and two developed paragraphs on a film they have studied in class this year (35%). All questions for this task begin with “Describe….and Explain” and cover aspects such as character, setting, ideas/themes, relationships, conflict etc.

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

· Students should expect to spend around 45 minutes planning and writing this section.

Unfamiliar Text - Non-Fiction - 40% (50 minutes)

· Matching terms and definitions (5%).

· Reading skills - two pieces of unfamiliar text, non-fiction focus (35%).

· Students need to understand terms such as purpose, point of view, main idea, summarise, in your own words. As well as a range of language features that may be relevant to non-fiction text e.g. simile, metaphor, alliteration, imperative, listing, facts, statistics, rhetorical question, direct address, personal pronouns, emotive language, colloquial language, minor sentence, etc.

· Question types include multi-choice, identification of language features, and analysis of language and its effects.

Punctuation & Grammar - 20%

· Same format as mid-year exam.

· Skills may include capital letters, full stops, commas, apostrophes, dependent and independent clauses, conjunctions, plurals, homophones, contractions.

· Students should spend up to 20 minutes on this section.

Year 10 Social Studies

There are four sections in this examination.

This examination is worth 80% of the end of year grade (the rest coming from both of the topic common assessments).

The format will be:

Global Issues & Turning Points of History:

· There are four sections in this examination. This examination is worth 80% of the end of year grade (the rest coming from both of the topic common assessments).

Resource Interpretation section: (20 marks in total)

Part 1 (10 marks)

· There are 25 marks for this section. These will involve interpreting historical sources of which the content will relate to various turning points – however these will be unknown to the student.

· Students are being assessed on resource interpretation skills – therefore skills such as identifying primary and secondary evidence, examining the reliability and usefulness of information, where the information came from, its purpose, and what the source is telling us.

In order to revise for this, students must practice their resource interpretation skills that they have developed through the studying of the turning point topic.

Part 2 (10 marks)

· The questions will be based on the interpretation of resources that are provided in the exam. For this section, students need to have studied and understand:

· The impacts of climate change on our future – especially sea level rises and climate change – and looking at current and future examples.

The 2020 November examination paper (and its marking schedule) is available on the Social Studies Stratus page.

However, please note that there are differences between this past exam and the 2022 exam – as is outlined in this guideline. It will be useful for an indication of structure and some content. The previous exam includes other topics.

2. Essay Writing (20 Marks)Students complete an essay from a choice of questions based on EITHER:

· The cause and significance of a studied turning point;.

OR

· The cause and impact of a studied Global Issue (e.g. climate change, child labour)

Please note that these are not the exact questions – rather the questions will be based on these topics.

Please note this is a step up from the mid-year examination where the expectation was only for two body paragraphs. The end of year exam is an essay that will require an introduction, 1-2 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Students should be writing extended and appropriate statements and explanations, and be using a PEEL paragraph structure or similar. Students will require two body paragraphs to achieve a Merit and Excellence level. There will be no stimulus material provided in the examination paper for this section – student responses rely on preparation and revision of content.

3. Skills: (15 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.

4. Current Events: (10 Marks)

· This section will involve matching lists of headlines, events, places or people to a

current event from mid-2021 to now.

● Recognising people from a current event from mid-2021 to now.

● Writing sentences to explain a current event from mid-2021 to now.