Only 20 days left to Matric exams

However, ten people did like the status update and only one of them was a learner.

With only 20 days remaining before the start of the 2013 final Grade 12 examinations ensuring that learners are adequately prepared for the upcoming final examinations.

“As part of our preparation for these examinations, the Gauteng Department of Education has implemented several programmes to ensure that Gauteng’s learners are well prepared and as ready as possible to tackle this important event in their lives,” said MEC for Gauteng Education department, Barbara Creecy.

Since the implementation of SSIP Creecy reveals that they have seen significant improvements in the Grade 12 examination results. “The GDE’s main intervention has been the Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP), which has offered additional tuition on Saturdays and during school holidays to about 65 000 Grade 12 learners in 385 priority schools.”

Creecy further revealed in a statement that in 2009, Gauteng learners achieved a pass rate of 71.8%. With the help of SSIP the 2010 pass rate increased to 78.1%. Gauteng exceeded its target of 80% in 2011 with a pass rate of 81.1%. The continued implementation of the SSIP in 2012 helped us to further improve Gauteng’s pass rate to 83.9%. We are working hard to consolidate these gains and look forward to another credible achievement by the class of 2013.

Comaro CHRONCILE spoke to grade 12 pupils from schools including Sir John’s in Winchester Hills, Jeppe High School for Girls in Kensington, Hyde Park High School and Bracken High School, on the methods they have taken to ensure that they were ready and prepared for the upcoming exams; this is what they had to say:

Sarah Strydom said that she prefers to study by reading aloud. “I study by making rhymes, and going on YouTube to search for videos to help. You need to know last year’s work in order to understand this new year’s work, so don’t throw away your books!”

Sheldon Reddy: “Preparation for me is a process of relaxation and understanding. I make sure I am at my calmest, and the work I’m about to be examined on I completely understand. The most important method that I use is music as a study tool. Not only does it give you a specific mind frame to study in, it also helps with learning by association. I always study with last year’s work as it helps with the understanding of new of newer concept in the current years’ work.

Ian Carstens: “I study as well as meditate – the way of the Buddha, I also make use of Master Math/Science”

Chrislyn Naude: “I’m preparing for exams by getting portfolio work ready as studying is done from there. I’m also starting to get study notes for each subject ready – finding info for parts of studies that I don’t understand. The study methods I use include making maps and writing down info – never just reading it. I then highlight the work and summaries I’ve made and read over that. I’m using basically everything from last year in my studies this year.”

Thulisile Lukheli: “I’m preparing for exams by having lots of exercise to keep my stress levels low. I play soccer around 5 times a week, and I’m eating healthy too. I find that using speech cards to study makes it a lot easier and more comfortable for me as an individual. I always study as soon as I know the test or breakdown because it benefits me. I am using a lot of what I learnt last year. I’ve learnt that things from the previous year always come of use in the current year.”

Good luck to all matriculants!