Preparing for final exams

The Northern Cape’s winter school camps held recently gave the province’s matriculants an opportunity to be better prepared for the rest of the school year.

Beginning with a test, the Northern Cape’s winter school camps set each learner’s level for multiple subjects before the extra classes began. Spread across eight residential camps and 17 day schools, the camps gave the Class of 2017 the opportunity to revise work they had done in class and get to grips with subjects they were struggling with.

Martha Bartlett, Northern Cape MEC for Education, believes the camps will help to improve the province’s pass rate. “We do believe that the Class of 2016 provided us with the perfect stepping stone to further improve the success rate of our learners. We will continue to invest into the future of all our children until every child succeeds.”

Improving on success

The camps follow April’s autumn camps and are part of the province’s campaign to help determined learners and to supplement the school programme. “This is our commitment to our learners and the people of the province to improve the overall learner performance and the quality of education in the Northern Cape.”

The winter school camps focused on English first additional language, Afrikaans home language, mathematics, mathematical literacy, agricultural science, life sciences, physical science, accounting, business studies, economics, history and geography.  At the end of the week, the participants were tested on the work that was covered.

The camps offer structured revision and help with homework over the course of a week. Bartlett believes this will lead to a better pass rate at the end of the year.

The programme will resume during the spring holidays. “We are geared up and have confidence in our education system as we provide continuous support and guidance to the Class of 2017. We will also conduct visits to underperforming schools weekly.”

Bartlett says the programme was designed to give learners confidence going into their final exams. She also hoped the study groups formed through the week would continue away from the camps.

She provided a few pointers for the learners ahead of the exam season. “Be focused on your studies and believe in your abilities, work out a clear study programme in preparation for the examinations, manage your time well and maintain a calm state of mind.”